"We have found that material possessions don't provide as much enduring happiness as the pursuit of life experiences," said Professor Leaf Van Boven of the University of Colorado.

"The mistake we can sometimes make is believing that pursuing material possessions will gain us status and admiration while also improving our social relationships."

"In fact, it seems to have exactly the opposite effect."

"This is really problematic because we know that having quality social relationships is one of the best predictors of happiness, health and well-being."

"So for many of us we should rethink these decisions that we might make in terms of pursuing material possessions versus life experiences."

"Trying to have a happier life by the acquisition of material possessions is probably not a very wise decision."

In one experiment, undergraduates discussed a material possession or a life experience they had purchased and were happy with.

After talking for 15 or 20 minutes, they were then asked about their conversation partners by the researchers.

"What we found was that people who had discussed their material possessions liked their conversation partner less than those who had discussed an experience they had purchased," Professor Van Boven said.

"They also were less interested in forming a friendship with them, so there's a real social cost to being associated with material possessions rather than life experiences."

In another experiment using a national survey, the researchers told people about someone who had purchased a material item such as a new shirt or a life experience like a concert ticket.

They then asked them a number of questions about that person and found that simply learning that someone made a material purchase caused them to like him or her less.

"We have pretty negative stereotypes of people who are materialistic," said Professor Van Boven said.

"When we asked people to think of someone who is materialistic and describe their personality traits, selfish and self-centred come up pretty frequently."

"However, when we asked people to describe someone who is more experiential in nature, things like altruistic, friendly and outgoing come up much more frequently."

So what do you do if you really likes to buy lots of material possessions?

"The short answer is you should try to change," Professor Van Boven said.

"Not just our research, but a lot of other research has found that people who are materialistic incur many mental health costs and social costs -- they're less happy and more prone to depression."

One thing you can do is choose to be around people who are less interested in material goods.

"It's not a quick fix, but it can be done," said Professor Van Boven.

"I think what makes it particularly challenging is that it requires some extra effort and mindfulness about the way we make decisions about how to be happy in life."