By CLAUDIA BUCK — It's an age-old question: Can money buy happiness?

The answer is, well, it depends. And it's not for a lack of effort in debating, analyzing and quantifying the question. In the last few decades, there have been innumerable books, blogs, essays and Ph.D. dissertations on the money-equals-happiness equation.

More recently, a San Francisco State University researcher and associate professor of psychology, Ryan T. Howell, is putting the question to the public.

Howell, 38, and his colleagues host a website, BeyondThePurchase.org, that offers a free series of psychology quizzes designed to help us understand why we buy stuff and whether it makes us happier or not.

Here's an excerpt of an interview with Howell:

Q: So right to the point: Can money buy us happiness?

A: Of course. No question that money can buy you happiness. Nobody has ever shown there's zero correlation between money and happiness. But it's surprisingly weaker than we would expect.

Q: How does your site work?

A: Our mission at BeyondThePurchase.org is to help people understand the relationship between money and happiness. To learn about what might be influencing how you spend your money. We ask people to register (for free) ... and then they can take any of our 30 happiness quizzes, as well as consumer-psychology surveys and personality tests. After each quiz, we provide personalized feedback and happiness tips.

Q: Among the many books and research papers on money and happiness, the common denominator seems to be that it's better to acquire experiences than things, that we get more satisfaction from "doing" than "having." Has that proved true among your respondents?

A: Yes. We have two published papers demonstrating quite robustly that people are happier when they are doing instead of having.

There are mountains of data showing that one of the ingredients to happiness is having social connections.

Q: We all make mistakes in buying things we think we need or want, but that wind up gathering dust. How do you avoid those purchases?

A: Every time you make a purchase, run through the list: Will my emotional state be that much different a week (from now)? How much will it bring me closer to other people? Is it a true expression of who I am?

When my wife and I moved to San Francisco, we bought a fondue pot, thinking we'd have "Fondue Friday" parties that would be a great way to socialize with friends. It's still in the box. ...

We can buy things with great intentions, but never use them. It's often a trick people use to make themselves do something they think they should: If I buy these expensive running shoes, it'll force me to run. That rarely works. In fact, it can end up backfiring: You don't (start running or biking) and have less money and more guilt.

Q: What are some of the common purchasing pitfalls?

A: One theme we see is when people buy things to impress other people. We see it a lot with clothes (by both men and women). "I wasn't feeling happy, so I went to the mall and bought this cute outfit. It made me feel good about myself. ... If I wear it, friends will tell me how cute or cool I look."

There's nothing wrong with that, but that (happiness) effect fades with time. When your happiness is dictated by how much other people respond to what you bought or what you did, you'll be disappointed.

(Reach Claudia Buck at cbuck@sacbee.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, shns.com.)