Flowing Data out with a new interactive that plots happiness and meaning scores on a 2X2 matrix for common activities. Find out how happiness and meaning from completing homework compares to watching TV/Movies. 

Answer: TV/Movies has higher happiness score than homework but lower meaningfulness score! 

Questions for students: 

Prior to reviewing the interactive: 

• What activities would you consider high on scale of happiness and meaning for you? 
• Can you think of activities that are high on the meaningful scale but would score lower on happiness scale for you? 

While reviewing the interactive:

• What activities score highest when it comes to happiness and meaningfulness (upper right of interactive)? 
  • Apparently we find lots of meaning in traveling to get our car repaired:)
• Pick at least three of the activities in the upper right of the interactive and estimate a cost for that activity. Do you think there's a relationship between happiness/meaning and the cost of an activity? 
• Scroll over the individual bubbles in the chart. Identify 3-4 of the most common activities (the larger the bubble the more common the activity). 
• Pick one of the activities where the happiness and meaningfulness scores match how you would score it. 

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Check out NGPF's Behavioral Economics unit from NGPF's flagship Semester Course which includes a lesson on happiness and hedonic adaptation. 

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 Enjoy more interactives from the NGPF Blog. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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