Ending Of An Experience More Significant When Experienced Alone, Study Finds

According to researchers from the University of Texas, San Antonio, and University of Virginia, the ending of an experience is more significant when experienced alone while the beginning is more significant when experienced with friends or family.

Happiness is best when shared and hence the experiences we have with friends and family are of utmost value. However, researchers from the University of Texas, San Antonio, and University of Virginia conducted a study to analyze the link between how satisfying an experience is when spent alone or with friends.

They found that when an experience (dinner, vacation or special occasion) is consumed alone by a person, the end of the experience holds more significance with regards to how satisfying the person rates that experience to be. However, when with friends, the beginning of an experience holds more importance when judging how satisfying the experience was.

For the study, participants were showed a series of paintings either while seated alone or with companions. One group was shown paintings arranged first with the "least enjoyable" paintings and ending with the "most enjoyable" paintings while the other group was shown the paintings in the reverse order.

It was observed that participants that were seated alone rated the experience as more satisfactory when the "most enjoyable" paintings were presented to them last while participants sitting with other companions rated the experience as more satisfactory when the "most enjoyable" paintings were presented to them first.

This led researchers to conclude that while there are many factors contributing to how satisfying an experience was, people often judge experiences depending on whether they are shared with others or consumed alone.

Authors of the study claim that these findings could be very useful to tour operators, museum curators, event planners, spa and resort managers in providing their customers with satisfying experiences.