In 2006, a man named Abraham Shakespeare won 17 million dollars in the lottery.
2006年,一位名叫亚伯拉罕·莎士比亚的男子买彩票赢得了1700万美元。
But years later, he told his brother that he'd have been better off broke.
但是多年以后,他告诉他的兄弟,要是破产就好了。
In fact, many lottery winners find that it doesn't improve their lives the way they expect.
事实上,许多彩票中奖者发现,中奖并没有像他们预期的那样改善他们的生活。
Basically, they can't buy happiness.
根本上来说,他们无法买到幸福。
But everybody likes—and to some extent needs—money.
但每个人都喜欢——并且在某种程度上需要——钱。
And past a certain point of wealth,
过去有钱了,
you can just go out and get books and yachts and houses without batting an eye.
人们可以出去买书,买游艇,买房子,而不会有任何顾虑
That's the catch, though.
这就是问题所在。
Spending money on stuff like that probably won't make you feel much better.
把钱花在这样的事情上会让你感觉好极了。
But psychologists have found that there are some ways that money can buy happiness.
但心理学家发现,金钱可以买到幸福。
There are two big ways to look at subjective well-being:
主观幸福感有两种:
your emotions like happiness, which can change a lot from moment to moment, and life satisfaction.
情绪,比如幸福,可以随时改变,以及生活满意度,
Life satisfaction is measured by asking people to look at their life as a whole
生活满意度通过让人们把生活看成一个整体来衡量
—for instance, by picturing a ladder.
——例如,画一个梯子。
Are you down toward the bottom, or near the top living your best life?
你是在底层还是接近顶层生活得更好?
For the most part, people who remember mostly happy days rate themselves as living better lives.
很大程度上,那些记忆中大部分为快乐时光的人认为自己过得更好。
But occasionally these ideas can conflict. Take lottery winners.
但也会有例外,以彩票中奖者为例,
Winning improves their life satisfaction
中奖提高了他们的生活满意度
—they look back and see an exciting event in the story of their lives.
——回首过去,再去看这件激动人心的事件,
But it doesn't seem to improve day-to-day happiness very much.
但这似乎并没有提升幸福感。
This is true for us non-lottery-winners too.
对我们这些非彩票中奖者而言也是如此
Income and daily emotions like happiness and stress
收入和日常情绪——比如快乐和压力
seem to be closely related until you're comfortably middle-class.
似乎紧密相关,直至成为小康之家,收入对情绪的影响才会变小。
And that makes sense if you can make sure your bills are paid, see a doctor if you need one, and enjoy some free time.
如果你能确保支付账单,生病时去看医生,享受闲暇时光,这样就说的通了
According to a study in 2010 on over 450,000 people,
根据2010年的一项研究,受试者超过45万人
that happens at right about $75,000 a year in the United States.
他们在美国的年薪约为75,000美元
After that, life satisfaction keeps going up,
此后,他们的生活满意度持续上升,
but money and status alone don't do much for day-to-day emotions.
但金钱和地位本身对日常情绪没有太大作用。
So how do you spend your hard-earned money to really make you happy?
那么如何花辛苦赚来的钱让自己开心呢?
Psychologists have found a couple patterns that we might all be able to learn from.
心理学家已经找到提升幸福感的两种方法,我们都可以学习。
One way is to buy back some down time, by paying others to do things that can be a burden like chores and cooking.
一种方法是通过付钱给别人做家务和做饭等可能成为负担的事来得到一些空闲时间。
For example, in a 2017 study of thousands of people in four countries,
例如,2017年对4个国家的数千人进行的一项研究,
researchers found that people who report more time-saving purchases are more satisfied with their lives than those that don't
研究人员发现,那些声称自己购买了更多省时物品的人比那些没有购买此类产品的人更满意自己的生活
—no matter if they're rich or less well-off.
——不管他们富有还是不富有。
Stress reduction might explain why, since people who didn't report a lot of time-related stress didn't show this effect as much.
我们可以用减压对其进行解释,因为那些声称有时间压力的人效果更好。
To check, the same team recruited 60 people and gave them all $40,
为了验证,同一个团队招募了60人,每人给40美元。
telling half to spend the money on something that saves them time, and half to treat themselves to something nice.
告诉30人把钱花在节省时间的事物上,另外30人把钱花在享受美好事物上。
Treat yo self!
自我治疗哟!
The next weekend, they did the same thing, but switched the two groups.
第二个周末,他们又进行了一次试验,但调换了两组。
And both groups reported being happier and less stressed on the weekend they spent their $40 on something time-saving.
两组人都表示,他们在周末更快乐、压力更小,他们把40美元花在了一些节省时间的事情上。
Another strategy for more lasting happiness is to buy experiences like vacations and concerts,
更持久更幸福的策略是购买假期和音乐会等体验,
instead of things like clothes or fancy gadgets.
而不是花在衣服或花哨的小玩意上。
A few decades of research looks into this idea, and there are a couple reasons it might work.
经过几十年的研究,我们发现了这个想法,有几个原因可以解释其可行性。
One is how they're perceived socially.
一个是人们对于事物的认知。
In a series of studies published in 2010 in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
2010年发表在《个性与社会心理学公报》上的一系列研究中,
researchers found that purchasing objects suggests to others that someone is materialistic.
研究人员发现,购买物品会向别人暗示某人是物质主义者。
So it might help to avoid negative stereotypes.
所以这可能有助于避免负面的定式思维。
People might also try to compare their own purchases and possessions when talking about material stuff,
当谈论物质的时候,人们也会试图比较购买物和财产,
which tends to bring everybody down a little.
这会让所有人情绪低落。
There's also the way things age.
事物也有一定的存在时间
If you buy a brand new car, 10 years later there are scratches and dents and everything's broken and frustrating.
如你购买一辆全新的汽车,10年后上面出现划痕和凹痕,破碎不堪,令人沮丧。
But experiences don't age the same way.
但经历不会以同样的方式衰退
Like, you'll probably forget some things about your vacation from 10 years ago,
就像,你可能会忘记10年前度假的一些事情,
and mostly remember the good parts.
大部分都是开心的记忆。
Some researchers even showed that
一些研究人员甚至证明了这一点:
people feel differently about purchases depending on whether they're framed as an object or as an experience.
人们对购买的感觉会有所不同,这取决于他们是被当作一个对象来看待,还是作为一种体验来看待。
There was a study in 2012 about a hypothetical purchase of a 3D TV.
2012年有一项研究假设购买一台3D电视。
Some participants were told where the TV would go in their apartment and what it would look like,
一些参与者被告知电视机将放在公寓的什么地方,会是什么样子,
while others were primed to think about having fun watching it with friends and experiencing a new kind of TV.
而其他人则准备和朋友一起看电视,并体验一种新型电视带来的乐趣。
And people who had the sales pitch framed as an experience said that not buying it would cause more regret.
那些有技巧的推销人员会会从体验上着手,说道不买的话会后悔。
A final way to buy happiness is to not spend your money on you.
最后一种方法是不要把钱花在自己身上
One experiment involved giving 46 people some cash—either $5 or $20—
一项实验是给46人一些现金——5美元或20美元——
and telling them to spend it on either themselves or someone else.
告诉他们把钱花在自己或别人身上。
And in a follow-up later in the day,
在当天晚些时候的后续研究中,
the people who spent it on others reported being happier than those who spent it on themselves,
那些把钱花在别人身上的人比那些把钱花在自己身上的人更快乐,
no matter how much they spent.
无论钱多钱少。
A similar study was done with over 200 students from Canada and South Africa.
来自加拿大和南非的200多名学生进行了类似研究。
Some were given an option to buy a small goodie bag for themselves,
有些人选择为自己买一个小礼包,
but others were given a choice to buy one for a sick child at a nearby hospital.
但其他人选择在附近一家医院为生病的孩子买一个小礼包。
After making the choice, those who bought the product for charity were happier,
做出选择后,那些为慈善机构购买产品的人更快乐,
even though they didn't have any connection to the person they might help.
即使他们和帮助对象没有任何关系。
In fact, according to surveys conducted in 136 different countries,
事实上,根据136个国家进行的调查,
how much you spend on others is correlated with your happiness
在别人身上花的钱与幸福感有关
—whether the country is rich or poor.
——不论这个国家富裕还是贫穷。
And we're not entirely sure why this is.
我们并不完全确定这是为什么。
Some research has suggested that knowing the impact of your spending helps.
一些研究表明了解自己的消费影响有助于提升幸福感。
When donors are told how a charity will use their funds,
当捐赠者被告知慈善机构将如何使用资金时,
they report more happiness than if they're in the dark.
他们声称这比匿名捐赠的幸福感更强。
But others say that this widespread effect might just be something that's deeply ingrained in human nature:
但也有人说,这种普遍影响可能是人类本性中根深蒂固的一些东西:
we feel better when we help others.
帮助别人时,我们的感觉会更好。
So if you've got some extra money, you might be able to buy some happiness
所以如果你有多余的钱,也许可以买到一些快乐
—if you know how to spend it.
——前提是你知道怎么花。
And we can't think of a better time to remind you about one of our sister channels, The Financial Diet.
此刻是提醒我们的同类频道——《理财指南》的最佳时机。
From the emotional side of money to technical financial terms,
从金钱的情感层面到融资条件,
you'll learn tricks to improve your life by getting a better handle on money.
你会学到一些改善生活的理财技巧,
Check out their video on specific ways money can be used to make personal happiness possible.
观看我们的视频,看看钱如何让个人幸福成为可能。