Pods Fight Poverty: Why Giving Money to Others Makes us Happier | from The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

How to Be a Better Human

TED

Personal Growth, Education, Better Human, Self-improvement, Interviews, Chris Duffy, Self-help, Emotional Awareness

4.2 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Money can buy you happiness – but not in the way we think. Giving money away – especially to help others – has been shown make us happier than spending on ourselves.

Social psychologist Lara Aknin explains the best ways to spend on loved ones, friends and even total strangers to get the biggest happiness bang for your buck.

And Harvard’s Josh Greene reveals how much money Happiness Lab listeners gave to charity via Giving Multiplier last year – and how many lives you saved.

Pods Fight Poverty: https://GiveDirectly.org/betterhuman

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, how to be a better human listeners. As you know, we usually come to you on Mondays with a new episode, but we've got something special for you this week.
0:07.6	We are joining with the Happiness Lab and dozens of other shows for Pods Fight Poverty.
0:13.5	This is a campaign to raise $1 million to lift three villages in Rwanda out of extreme poverty.
0:19.3	And the reason that we have chosen that goal
0:22.2	is rooted in research by Dr. Lori Santos. So today we're going to share an episode from
0:27.6	Lori with you. Lori is the host of the Happiness Lab. And this episode explores why giving makes us
0:33.6	happier and how sending cash directly to families in need, no middlemen, no strings
0:38.4	attached, can transform lives. I think you're going to love this episode because it's a way of
0:43.8	addressing big international issues that is practical, actionable, and something that a regular
0:49.7	person like me or you can actually do and really does make a big impact, as Dr.
0:55.3	Lori Santos is going to explain. So if you're inspired by what you hear, you can join us and
1:00.1	all of the other podcasts that are part of this campaign at give directly.org slash better
1:05.7	human. Donations go straight to families in Rwanda and first-time givers even get their gifts matched by giving multiplier.
1:12.6	So your impact goes further.
1:14.6	Okay. Without further ado, here is the Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos. Pushkin.
1:36.2	Hello and welcome to a special edition of the Happiness Lab podcast.
1:39.9	I hope all my listeners who celebrate had a happy Thanksgiving.
1:44.9	But the day I really look forward to each November is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
1:49.9	Forget Black Friday and Cyber Monday. My holiday of choice is Giving Tuesday.
1:55.5	Giving Tuesday is the global holiday of charitable giving that falls right in the midst of our shopping frenzy, a day that's not about commerce, but compassion. Here at the Happiness Lab, we tend to make a big deal out of giving Tuesday.
2:04.3	Every year we share a special episode that explores why doing good for others is super good for our own happiness.
2:10.5	We also like to give our listeners a chance to team up and donate to a charitable cause that really does good in the world.
	...

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