Happiness is medal-color blind: Happy people value silver and bronze medals more than unhappy people

The present research examined whether happy and unhappy people perceived the value of Olympic medals (i.e., Gold, Silver, and Bronze) differently. We hypothesized that, compared to unhappy people, happy people would perceive greater value for silver and bronze medals in relation to a gold medal because happy people habitually savor even small things more than unhappy people. In support of our argument, happy relative to unhappy participants preferred more the total-medal method (i.e., counting all medals, regardless of color) over the gold-first method (i.e., counting only gold medals) for the Olympic medal ranking (Study 1). In addition, happy people believed that smaller numbers of silvers and bronzes would be equal to one gold in value than unhappy people (Studies 2 and 3). Moreover, the belief about the frequency-not-intensity principle of happiness mediated the effects of happiness on the perception of the value of medals (Study 3).