以爲中了彩票大獎會讓你永遠快樂嗎？大綱

Many of us do, including a US shopkeeper who just scooped $338 millionin the Powerball lottery – the fourth largest prize in the game's history.

我們大多數人都這麼認爲，包括剛在“威力球”彩票贏了3.38億美元——該彩票史上的第四大獎的一名美國店主。

Before the last Powerball jackpot in the United States, tickets were beingsnapped up at a rate of around 130,000 a minute.

在美國威力球最新的頭獎開獎前，彩票以一分鐘13萬張的速度被搶購一空。

But before you place all your hopes and dreams on another ticket, here’ssomething you should know.

但是，在你把全部希望和夢想放在另一張彩票前，有些事是你必須知道的。

All the evidence suggests a big payout won’t make that much of a differencein the end.

所有證據表明賺了大錢到最後並不會帶來太大的差別。

Winning the lottery isn't a ticket to true happiness, however enticing itmight be to imagine never working again and being able to afford anything youwant.

中彩票並不能讓你真正感到快樂，儘管想象着無須再工作且可以負擔得起你想要的一切是多麼地誘人。

One study faMously foundthat people who had big wins on the lottery ended up no happier than those whohad bought tickets but didn't win.

一項研究驚奇地發現贏了鉅額彩票的人到最後比那些買彩票卻沒贏的人還要不快樂。

It seems that as long as you can afford to avoid the basic miseries of life,having loads of spare cash doesn't make you very much happier than having verylittle.

看來只要你生活基本不貧困，有很多的餘款並不會讓你比只有很少餘款的人更快樂。

One way of accounting for this is to assume that lottery winners get used totheir new level of wealth, and simply adjust back to a baseline level ofhappiness – something called the “hedonic treadmill”.

其中一個解釋是大獎得主習慣了新的財富水平，然後重新調整回到快樂的基線水平——這就是所謂的“快樂水車”。

Another explanation is that our happiness depends on how we feel relative toour peers.

另一個解釋是我們的快樂建築在和同輩人的比較上。

If you win the lottery you may feel richer than your neighbours, and thinkthat moving to a mansion in a new neighbourhood would make you happy, but thenyou look out of the window and realise that all your new friends live in biggermansions.

如果贏了彩票讓你覺得比鄰居還富有，想着搬進新的鄰里的大廈也許能讓你開心，但是當你往窗外一看，發現新朋友們都住在更大的大廈裏。

Both of these phenomena undoubtedly play a role, but the deeper mystery iswhy we're so bad at knowing what will give us true satisfaction in the firstplace.

兩種現象無疑地起了作用，但是更深入的謎是首先爲什麼我們一點都不明白什麼才能帶來真正的滿足感。

You might think we should be able to predict this, even if it isn'tstraightforward.

你可能心想我們應該可以預知的，即使它並不是那麼簡單。

Lottery winners could take account of hedonic treadmill and socialcomparison effects when they spend their money.

大獎得主可以在花錢的時候顧慮到“快樂水車”和社會比較的影響。

So, why don't they, in short, spend their winnings in ways that buyhappiness?

所以，總而言之，爲什麼他們不把錢花在讓他們快樂的地方上？

Picking up points

要點摘錄

Part of the problem is that happiness isn't a quality like height, weight orincome that can be easily measured and given a number (whatever psychologiststry and pretend).

一部分的問題是快樂並不是]像高度，重量還是收入那般容易衡量，並提供一個數字（無論心理學家如何嘗試及自以爲）。

Happiness is a complex, nebulous state that is fed by transient simplepleasures, as well as the more sustained rewards of activities that only makesense from a perspective of years or decades.

快樂是複雜朦朧的狀態，由短暫簡單的快事以及經年累月有意義的活動帶來更持久的回報所組成。

So, perhaps it isn't surprising that we sometimes have trouble acting in away that will bring us the most happiness.

因此，也許毫不驚訝地，我們有時不能夠做讓我們得到最大快樂的事。

Imperfect memories and imaginations mean that our moment-to-moment choicesdon't always reflect our long-term interests.

不完美的記憶和想象力意味着我們即時的選擇不常反映出長期的利益。

It even seems like the very act of trying to measuring it can distract usfrom what might make us most happy.

甚至企圖衡量這些利益看起來攪亂我們追求快樂。

An important studyby Christopher Hsee of the Chicago School of Business and colleagues showed howthis could happen.

芝加哥大學商學院的奚愷元和他的同事做了一個重要的實驗展示這是怎麼回事。

Hsee’s study was based around a simple choice: participants were offered theoption of working at a 6-minute task for a gallon of vanilla ice cream reward,or a 7-minute task for a gallon of pistachio ice cream.

奚愷元的實驗圍繞着一個簡單的選擇：參與者可選擇做6分鐘的工作換取一加侖的香草冰淇淋爲報酬，或是做7分鐘的工作換取一加侖的開心果冰淇淋。

Under normal conditions, less than 30% of people chose the 7-minute task,mainly because they liked pistachio ice cream more than vanilla.

正常的情況下，少過30%的人只因爲喜歡開心果冰淇淋甚於香草而選擇7分鐘的工作。

For happiness scholars, this isn't hard to interpret –those who preferredpistachio ice cream had enough motivation to choose the longer task.

對研究快樂的學者而言，這並不難解讀——那些更喜歡開心果冰淇淋的人有足夠的動力選擇了更長的工作。

But the experiment had a vital extra comparison.

可是這項實驗有一個很重要的額外比較。

Another group of participants were offered the same choice, but with anintervening points system: the choice was between working for 6 minutes to earn60 points, or 7 minutes to earn 100 points.

另一組參與者也被給予同樣的選擇，但隔了一個分數制度：選擇工作6分鐘得60分，或工作7分鐘得100分。

With 50-99 points, participants were told they could receive a gallon ofvanilla ice cream.

參與者被告知50至99分能夠得到一加侖的香草冰淇淋。

For 100 points they could receive a gallon of pistachio ice cream.

100分可以得到一加侖的開心果冰淇淋。

Although the actions and the effects are the same, introducing the pointssystem dramatically affected the choices people made.

雖然行爲和結果相同，分數系統的引入顯著影響人們做的選擇。

Now, the majority chose the longer task and earn the 100 points, which theycould spend on the pistachio reward – even though the same proportion (about70%) still said they preferred vanilla.

現在，大部分的人選擇更長的工作以得到100分，換得開心果冰淇淋獎賞——即使相同比例的人（約70%）仍直言他們比較喜歡香草。

Based on this, and otherexperiments [5], Hsee concluded that participants are maximising theirpoints at the expense of maximising their happiness.

根據這個結果及其它實驗[5]，奚愷元得出的結論是參與者犧牲了快樂以追求最高分數。

The points are just a medium – something that allows us to get the thingthat will create enjoyment.

分數只是個媒介——一種讓我們得到使我們快樂的事情的東西。

But because the points are so easy to measure and compare – 100 is obviouslymuch more than 60 – this overshadows our knowledge of what kind of ice cream weenjoy most.

可是因爲分數十分容易衡量及比較——100明顯地多過60——遮蓋了我們最喜歡的冰淇淋種類的認知。

So next time you are buying a lottery ticket because of the amount it ispaying out, or choosing wine by looking at the price, or comparing jobs bylooking at the salaries, you might do well to remember to think hard about howmuch the bet, wine, or job will really promote your happiness, rather thansimply relying on the numbers to do the comparison.

所以下次當你因爲可能贏得的金額而買彩票，根據價格挑選酒，或是根據薪金比較工作，與其僅僅依靠數字作比較，不如想想賭注、酒或工作能帶給你多少快樂。

Money doesn't buy you happiness, and part of the reason for that might bethat money itself distracts us from what we really enjoy.

金錢買不到快樂，而且一部分的原因可能是金錢本身攪亂了我們做真正喜歡的事情。