Iris Lok

Iris Lok

Iris Lok is a researcher and first author of the 2022 PLOS ONE survey on prosocial spending and buying time.

Who they are

The work of Iris Lok reaches this site through the paper listed below. The name is tied to Buying Time. Their paper reports: Lok and Dunn, PLOS ONE 17(6), 2022, e0269636.

Key papers

Lok, I., & Dunn, E. W. (2022). Are the benefits of prosocial spending and buying time moderated by age, gender, or income? PLOS ONE, 17(6), e0269636. What it reports: Lok and Dunn, PLOS ONE 17(6), 2022, e0269636. Survey of about 15,545 Americans from diverse economic backgrounds. Prosocial spending and buying time both linked to happiness across age, gender and income groups. People who valued time over money were happier when they used money to buy time. Gender and income did not moderate the time-buying link, which was somewhat weaker than the prosocial spending link.

Key ideas

Buying Time: Spending money on services that free up time, such as delivery or help with chores, instead of on material goods.

Sources

  1. Lok, I., & Dunn, E. W. (2022). Are the benefits of prosocial spending and buying time moderated by age, gender, or income? PLOS ONE, 17(6), e0269636.