幸福生活的七大秘訣

 

       One of the most infamous findings in happiness research is that money doesn’t buy a lot of happiness – or at least not as much as we think it should. According to the economist Richard Easterlin, part of the reason for this is that we care a great deal more about what other people earn than what we do ourselves.
       幸福研究領(lǐng)域的最著名發(fā)現(xiàn)之一是，很多幸福是金錢(qián)買(mǎi)不來(lái)的，或者至少不像我們想象的那么多。經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家理查德•伊斯特林(Richard Easterlin)表示，部分原因在于，我們對(duì)于別人收入的關(guān)心程度，要遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出對(duì)我們自己收入的關(guān)心。
 
       For those whose most basic needs are already met, money buys additional happiness only if it can lead to higher status in society, which is hard when everyone else is also getting richer over time. Since people’s comparison group varies from place to place, those living in more affluent areas of London, for example, would probably need to earn at least £200k a year to ensure that they are staying well ahead of most other Londoners – and even that might not be enough.
        對(duì)于那些最基本需求已得到滿足的人而言，只有當(dāng)金錢(qián)可以帶來(lái)更高的社會(huì)地位時(shí)，才會(huì)意味著更多幸福。要做到這一點(diǎn)很難，因?yàn)槠渌艘仓饾u變得更為富有。不同地區(qū)的人們的對(duì)比群組不同，舉例而言，那些生活在倫敦較富裕地區(qū)的人，每年或許得掙至少20萬(wàn)英鎊，才能確保自己的處境遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)強(qiáng)于多數(shù)其他倫敦人——即使是這樣的收入或許都不夠。
 
      Moreover, according to the Princeton University psychologist Daniel Kahneman, the weak relationship between happiness and income can also be explained, in part, by the evidence that richer people tend to spend more time engaging in activities associated with no greater happiness, on average, but with slightly higher tension and stress – such as work, childcare and shopping. By contrast, people with lower incomes tend to spend more time engaging in happiness-rich experiences such as socialising with friends and other passive leisure activities such as resting and watching TV.
       此外，普林斯頓大學(xué)(Princeton University)心理學(xué)家丹尼爾•卡納曼(Daniel Kahneman)表示，之所以說(shuō)幸福與收入的關(guān)系較為松散，一定程度上是因?yàn)橛凶C據(jù)表明，一般而言，更富有的人往往用更多時(shí)間從事不會(huì)帶來(lái)更大幸福感的活動(dòng)，這些活動(dòng)的緊張及壓力程度略高——例如工作、育兒和購(gòu)物。相比之下，收入較低的人往往把更多時(shí)間花在幸福感十足的事情上，例如與朋友社交，以及休息和看電視等其它被動(dòng)的娛樂(lè)活動(dòng)。
 
      However, when these high- and low-income earners are prompted to think about the impact of income on their happiness, both tend to focus more on the conventional possibilities of money when evaluating its effects. This leads to the conclusion that life must be significantly happier for the rich than for the poor.
       然而，當(dāng)有人提醒這些高收入者和低收入者考慮收入對(duì)幸福的影響時(shí)，他們?cè)谠u(píng)估時(shí)往往更多地關(guān)注金錢(qián)的傳統(tǒng)潛在價(jià)值。由此得出了以下結(jié)論：富人的生活肯定遠(yuǎn)比窮人幸福。
 
      The truth is quite the opposite: poorer people can – and often do – lead significantly happier lives than the rich.
      實(shí)際情況恰恰相反：窮人能夠——而且確實(shí)經(jīng)常——比富人生活得更加幸福。