We all know the joy of sharing a fun experience with a friend, whether that’s a joint dinner, a vacation, or even just getting an ice-cream after watching a movie together. As fun as such experiences can be, there’s often some awkwardness around picking up the tab. Sometimes it’s easy, when each person pays for themselves. But many times, there’s a joint bill that can’t easily be split fairly. People can try to pay 50:50, or one person treats the other and pays in full.

Although any savings expert would advise you to split the bill to save money, new research in consumer psychology suggests a counterintuitive solution: Pick up the tab for both your friend and for you, and not only will you treat them, but you’ll also be happier as a result. In one experiment with hundreds of US-based pane

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