金钱能买来幸福吗？Can Money Buy You Happiness?

链接：http://online.wsj.com/articles/can-money-buy-happiness-heres-what-science-has-to-say-1415569538



Can Money Buy You Happiness?
金钱能买来幸福吗？

It’s True to Some Extent. But Chances Are You’re not Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck.
在一定程度上的确如此，但很有可能您花钱没有买到最大收益。

It’s an age-old question: Can money buy happiness?
金钱能买来幸福吗？这是一个古老问题。

Over the past few years, new research has given us a much deeper understanding of the relationship between what we earn and how we feel. Economists have been scrutinizing the links between income and happiness across nations, and psychologists have probed individuals to find out what really makes us tick when it comes to cash.
在过去几年中，新的研究让我们对获得和感受之间的关系有了更深入的了解。在许多国家，经济学家一直在审视收入和幸福的联系，心理学家对人类的个体的研究发现，在涉及现金时，什么真正令我们怦然心动。

The results, at first glance, may seem a bit obvious: Yes, people with higher incomes are, broadly speaking, happier than those who struggle to get by.
乍一看来，结果似乎有点显而易见：是的，从广义上说，高收入者比勉强摆脱贫困的人更快乐。

But dig a little deeper into the findings, and they get a lot more surprising—and a lot more useful.
不过，对发现进行更深入的探究之后，他们得到了大量更令人惊讶、也更加有用的结论。

In short, this latest research suggests, wealth alone doesn’t provide any guarantee of a good life. What matters a lot more than a big income is how people spend it. For instance, giving money away makes people a lot happier than lavishing it on themselves. And when they do spend money on themselves, people are a lot happier when they use it for experiences like travel than for material goods.
简而言之，这项最新研究表明，财富本身并不能为美好生活提供任何保证。比高收入更为重要的，是人们如何花钱。举例来说，与为自己花钱相比，捐钱更令人愉快。而且，当人们把钱花在自己身上时，花钱旅游、增长见识比购买物质产品更让人开心。

With that in mind, here’s what the latest research says about how people can make smarter use of their dollars and maximize their happiness.
在我们将上述观点牢记于心的同时，可以看看对于指导人们更明智地使用金钱、最大限度地提升幸福感，最新研究有哪些高见。

Experiences Are Worth More Than You Think
经历的价值超出想象

Ryan Howell was bothered by a conundrum. Numerous studies conducted over the past 10 years have shown that life experiences give us more lasting pleasure than material things, and yet people still often deny themselves experiences and prioritize buying material goods.
瑞安·豪威尔被一个难题所困扰。在过去十年间进行的大量研究表明，相对于物质，生活经历可以赋予我们更持久的快乐，但人们还是经常否定自己的经历，优先购买物质产品。

So, Prof. Howell, associate professor of psychology at San Francisco State University, decided to look at what’s going on. In a study published earlier this year, he found that people think material purchases offer better value for the money because experiences are fleeting, and material goods last longer. So, although they’ll occasionally splurge on a big vacation or concert tickets, when they’re in more money-conscious mode, they stick to material goods.
因此，作为旧金山州立大学心理学副教授，豪威尔教授决定一探究竟。在今年早些时候发表的一项研究中他发现，人们之所以认为物资采购能够更好地体现金钱的价值，是因为经历转瞬即逝，而物质产品的使用寿命更长。所以，尽管人们偶尔会花一大笔钱去度假或购买演唱会门票，当在手头不甚宽裕的情况下，他们坚持购买物质产品。

But in fact, Prof. Howell found that when people looked back at their purchases, they realized that experiences actually provided better value.
但事实上，豪威尔教授发现，当人们回顾自己所买的东西时，他们意识到，经历确实更具价值。

“What we find is that there’s this huge misforecast,” he says. “People think that experiences are only going to provide temporary happiness, but they actually provide both more happiness and more lasting value.” And yet we still keep on buying material things, he says, because they’re tangible and we think we can keep on using them.
“我们的发现是，其中存在着重大的预测偏差，”他说。 “人们认为经历只能提供短暂的快乐，但实际上，它们同时提供更多的快乐和更持久的价值。”然而，我们仍然继续购买物质产品，他说，因为人们认为它们是实实在在的，经久耐用。

Cornell University psychology professor Thomas Gilovich has reached similar conclusions. “People often make a rational calculation: I have a limited amount of money, and I can either go there, or I can have this,” he says. “If I go there, it’ll be great, but it’ll be done in no time. If I buy this thing, at least I’ll always have it. That is factually true, but not psychologically true. We adapt to our material goods.”
美国康奈尔大学心理学教授托马斯·季洛维奇得出了类似的结论。“人们常常进行理性的计算：我的钱有限，要么那里，要么买这个，”他说。“如果我去那里，会很不错，但很快就结束了。如果我买这件东西，至少可以永远拥有它。这在事实上是正确的，但在心理层面上却未必，因为我们对自己物质财富会习以为常。”

It’s this process of “hedonic adaptation” that makes it so hard to buy happiness through material purchases. The new dress or the fancy car provides a brief thrill, but we soon come to take it for granted.
这种过程叫做“享乐适应”，它的存在使得人们难以通过购买物质感受到幸福。新衣服或时髦汽车可让人获得短暂的快感，但我们很快就认为它们理所当然了。

Experiences, on the other hand, tend to meet more of our underlying psychological needs, says Prof. Gilovich. They’re often shared with other people, giving us a greater sense of connection, and they form a bigger part of our sense of identity. If you’ve climbed in the Himalayas, that’s something you’ll always remember and talk about, long after all your favorite gadgets have gone to the landfill.
另一方面，经历往往能够满足我们更多的潜在心理需求，季洛维奇教授认为。我们可以经常与其他人共享自己的经历，不但能与他人有更广泛的联系，还有利于形成更高的认同感。如果您攀登过喜马拉雅山，那么，即使很久以后所有钟爱的小玩意儿都被抛在脑后，您还可以常常回忆和谈论这段经历。

And, crucially, we tend not to compare our experiences with other people so much. “Keeping up with the Joneses is much more prominent for material things than for experiential things,” he says. “Imagine you’ve just bought a new computer that you really like, and I show up and say I’ve paid the same amount for one with a brighter monitor and faster processor. How much would that bug you?”
而且重要的是，我们往往不会拿自己的经历跟他人攀比。“与体验类东西相比，物质方面的攀比要突出得多，”他说。“想象一下您刚刚买了一台新电脑，真的很喜欢，接着我出现了，说我花了同样的钱买了一台显示屏更亮、处理器更快的机器。您该觉得多不爽啊？！”

In experiments he’s run, it bugs people a lot. But when people are told to imagine they’ve gone on vacation to New Zealand, and someone else has had a slightly better vacation, “it bothers people somewhat, but you still have your own experiences and your own memories, and so it tends to trouble you less.”
在他主持的实验中，不爽的人比比皆是。但是，当人们被告知去想象一下自己已经去新西兰度假，而且，别人的假期过得更开心一点，“人们就觉得有点儿烦躁了，但您仍然拥有自己的经历和回忆，所以，便不会那么闹心了。”

In a recent paper called “Waiting for Merlot,” Prof. Gilovich and colleagues showed that we also get more pleasure out of anticipating experiences than anticipating the acquisition of material things. People waiting for an event were generally excited, whereas waiting for material things “seemed to have an impatient quality.”
在最近一篇题为《等待梅洛》的文章中，季洛维奇教授和他的同事们发现，期待一段美妙的经历要比等着购买实际的有形商品更能带来快感。等待一个事件的发生一般会令人兴奋，期待物质性东西则“似乎让人不耐烦”。

Don’t Adapt to What You Buy
不要对所购物品习以为常

One of the main reasons why having more stuff doesn’t always make us happy is that we adapt to it. “Human beings are remarkably good at getting used to changes in their lives, especially positive changes,” says Sonja Lyubomirsky, psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside. “If you have a rise in income, it gives you a boost, but then your aspirations rise too. Maybe you buy a bigger home in a new neighborhood, and so your neighbors are richer, and you start wanting even more. You’ve stepped on the hedonic treadmill. Trying to prevent that or slow it down is really a challenge.”
拥有更多东西并不总让我们欣喜，其中一个主要原因是我们习以为常了。“人类极其善于习惯于生活中的变化，尤其是是积极的变化，”加州河滨大学心理学教授索尼娅·吕波密斯基说。“如果您的收入增加了，会给您带来刺激，但您的愿望也水涨船高了。也许您在新的居民区买了一座更大的房子，邻居们也更有钱，您开始想要的更多。您已经踩上了“享乐跑步机”，试图让它停下来或减慢速度，确实是一种挑战。”

One approach that can work, she says, is consciously trying to foster appreciation and gratitude for what you have. The process of adaptation, after all, comes from taking what you have for granted, so you can slow it down by reminding yourself of why you value what you have.
她说，一种可行的方法是尽量有意识地欣赏和感谢您的所有。毕竟在习以为常之前，您早已认为眼前这些都是理所当然的，所以，您可以借着提醒自己敝帚自珍，将“享乐跑步机”的速度减缓下来。

It could be as simple as setting aside time every day to follow the traditional advice of “counting your blessings.” Or you might want to keep a daily journal or express your gratitude to other people. The key is to find a way to remain conscious of everything you own and avoid simply adapting to having it around.
这可以简单到每天安排固定的时间，遵照古训，“数数自己的幸福。”或者您可能想记日记，或向他人表达感激之情。关键是要找到一种方法，对自己所拥有的一切保持清醒的认识，避免简单地把它们摆在四周。

Because you’re working against your natural inclination, Prof. Lyubomirsky acknowledges that feelings of gratitude and appreciation can be very difficult to sustain. If your journal or daily list becomes just a stale routine, it will no longer have much effect. You might have to keep switching techniques.
吕波密斯基教授坦承，因为您是在与自己的自然倾向作斗争，所以，感激和赞赏之情会非常难以维持长远。如果您的日记或每日清单变成了乏味的例行公事，就不再有什么作用了。您可能需要变换使用其他技巧。

Increasing variety, novelty or surprise can also help you to enjoy your possessions more. “When things become unchanging, that’s when you adapt to them,” Prof. Lyubomirsky says.
增加多样性、新颖性或惊喜，也可以帮助您更珍惜自己的所有。吕波密斯基教授说，“当事情一成不变时，您就开始习以为常了。”

If you keep a painting hanging in the same spot on the same wall, for example, you’ll stop noticing it after a while. But swap it with a painting from another room, and you’ll see each of them with fresh eyes, and appreciate them more. Try sharing your possessions with other people, too, and opening yourself up to new experiences, she says.
比方说，如果把一幅画挂在同一面墙的同一点上，您会停下来留心注视一段时间。但是，如果把它与另一个房间的一幅画对调，您就会用新鲜的眼光观看两幅画，而且会更欣赏它们。她建议，应尝试与他人分享您的所有，并敞开心扉，迎接新体验。

This could even mean depriving yourself of your possessions for a while, perhaps by lending them or sharing them with someone else. Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and co-author of the book “Happy Money,” recently conducted an experiment where she sent people home with a big bag of chocolate, telling some of them to eat as much of it as they could and others that they were forbidden to eat it. A third group could choose how much to eat.
这甚至可能意味着您的财产将被剥夺一段时间，也许是借给别人，或者与他人分享。伊丽莎白·邓恩是不列颠哥伦比亚大学的心理学副教授、《幸福理财》一书的合著者，最近她做了一场实验，给某些人家里寄去了一大包巧克力，告诉其中一些人尽可能多吃，告诉另一些人不准吃。第三组人可以选择吃多少。

The result? The people who had been forbidden from eating chocolate were able to enjoy their next chocolate bar much more than those who’d either eaten a lot or consumed their normal amount. “Giving something up temporarily can actually help to preserve our capacity to enjoy it,” Prof. Dunn says.
结果如何呢？在享受下一个巧克力棒时，与可以大量吃或按照通常食量吃的人相比，被禁止吃巧克力的人吃得更有滋有味。“暂时放弃一些东西确实有助于我们保持乐在其中的能力，”邓恩教授说。

Try Giving It Away
试着给别人钱

The paradox of money is that although earning more of it tends to enhance our well-being, we become happier by giving it away than by spending it on ourselves.
说到钱，一种自相矛盾的观点是，虽然赚更多的钱可能会提升我们的幸福感，但是，给别人钱却比为自己花钱更令人快乐。

That’s the finding from a series of studies by Prof. Dunn. She began by handing out cash to students on campus and telling some to spend it on themselves and others to spend it on someone else. Those who spent money on other people were happier than those who treated themselves.
这是从邓恩教授的一系列研究中发现的。一开始她在校园里向学生派发现金，并告诉一些人要把钱花在自己身上，告诉另一些人把钱花在别人身上。结果显示，后者比前者更开心。

Prof. Dunn has since repeated the experiment in other countries across the world, and has extended it to look at whether people were still happy when giving away their own money rather than free money handed to them by a professor. She found that in countries as diverse as Canada, South Africa and Uganda, giving away money consistently made people happier. This was even true when people were giving away their own money, and even when they themselves were relatively poor.
此后，邓恩教授反复在世界各地的其他国家重复这一实验，并将实验方式拓展为让人们送出自己的钱，而不是从教授那里白得的现金，以便观察人们是否依然高兴。她发现，在加拿大、南非和乌干达等不同国家，施舍金钱让人们更快乐，毫无例外。即使当人们囊中羞涩时，送出自己的钱仍然令人快乐不已。

She also worked with economists to analyze survey data from 100 countries in the Gallup World Poll, and found that people who donated money to charity were happier, in poor and rich countries alike.
她还与来自100个国家的经济学家分析了盖洛普世界民意调查数据，并发现，向慈善机构捐款的人更加快乐，在穷国和富国皆是如此。

“The fact that we were able to observe the same effect that we’d seen in Canada in places like South Africa and Uganda was probably the biggest surprise of my career,” she says. “A lot of us think we’ll give to charity one day, when we’re richer, but actually we see the benefits of giving even among people who are struggling to meet their own basic needs.”
“事实是，我们能够在加拿大观察到与南非和乌干达等地一模一样的效果，在我的从业生涯中，这无疑是最大的惊喜，”她说。“很多人的想法是，等我们有钱了，就向慈善机构捐款，但实际上我们看到的乐于***的人，往往是正在贫困线上挣扎、努力满足自身基本需要的人。”

What moves the needle in terms of happiness is not so much the dollar amount you give, Prof. Dunn says, but the perceived impact of your donation. If you can see your money *** a difference in other people’s lives, it will make you happy even if the amount you gave was quite small.
就幸福而言，指针的移动与您拥有的金钱数额关系不大，邓恩教授说，但与您的捐款所产生的感知效应相关。如果您看到自己的钱让别人的生活有所不同，就会使您快乐，即使您出资的数额微不足道。

Be Sure to Buy Time, Too
还要确保花钱买时间

It’s also important to consider how what you’re buying will affect how you spend your time. That big house in the suburbs may seem like a good idea, but a 2004 study by Alois Stutzer and Bruno Frey of the University of Zurich found that people with longer commutes reported lower overall life satisfaction, all other things being equal. They calculated that you would need a 40% raise to offset the added misery of a one-hour commute.
同样重要的考量是，您正在购买的东西将对您的时间消费产生怎样的影响。在郊区购置大宅似乎是一个不错的主意，但苏黎世大学的阿洛伊斯·史图则和布鲁诺·弗雷2004年的一项研究发现，在其他条件不变的前提下，长时间通勤时间会降低总体生活满意度。根据他们的计算，您需要加薪40％，才能抵消一小时通勤所增加的痛苦。

“Use money to buy yourself better time,” says Prof. Dunn. “Don’t buy a slightly fancier car so that you have heated seats during your two-hour commute. Buy a place close to work, so that you can use that final hour of daylight to kick a ball around in the park with your kids.”
“花钱购买更好的时间，”邓恩教授说。 “不要购买一辆更花哨一点的汽车，只为了上下班可以在车座上磨蹭两小时。购买一处离工作地点很近的房子，如此一来，您就可以利用日落前一小时，与您的孩子在公园周围踢踢球。”

Another way to buy yourself time, Prof. Dunn says, is by outsourcing tasks you dislike. Whereas hiring personal assistants used to be the preserve of the wealthy, it’s now easier and more affordable to hire freelancers and virtual assistants online to help you with either regular administration or just individual tasks.
邓恩教授说，另一种为自己购买时间的方式是把不喜欢的工作外包出去。尽管聘请私人助理曾经是富人的专利，但现在可以更方便、更实惠地雇佣自由职业者和晚上虚拟助理，帮您完成日常管理，或只是单个任务。

She’s currently doing research on how people actually spend the time they save by outsourcing tasks and whether it makes them happier. The preliminary findings, she says, are that most people do become happier by buying time for themselves, but only if they use the time in the right way.
目前，她正在做的研究涉及到人们外包任务后如何花销因此所节省的时间，以及这样做是否使他们更快乐。她说，初步调查结果表明，通过为自己购买时间，大多数人确实变得更加快乐，但前提是他们使用时间的方法正确无误。

“Our hypothesis is that people will be much more likely to derive an emotional benefit if they think of it as ‘windfall time’ and use it to do something good, rather than just taking it for granted,” she says.
她说，“我们的假设是，如果人们将它视为是‘意外得到的时间’，并用它做点好事，而不仅仅认为它是理所当然，那么，他们将更容易在情感上受益。”

But while buying time is a good idea, putting a dollar value on your time may not be. In another piece of research in progress, Prof. Dunn is finding that when people think of their time as money, it makes them less likely to spend even small amounts of time on things that are not financially compensated. “Seeing time as money may have a number of destructive consequences,” she says.
不过，虽然购买时间不失为一个好主意，但用美元来衡量时间的价值却未必可行。在另一项正在进行的研究中邓恩教授则发现，一旦人们把时间当做金钱，便不太可能花时间去做没有经济收益的事，即使是少量时间也不行。她认为，“将时间当做金钱可能会造成一些破坏性后果。”

Money Only Brings Happiness Up to a Point
钱只会在一定程度上带来幸福

When looking at all of these research results, there’s an important caveat to bear in mind. Those in the field divide happiness into two components, and you need to have both parts working together to be truly happy. But only one of those components keeps improving the more you earn. The other tops out after a certain point.当您看到上述所有研究成果时，请将一条重要警告铭记于心。在那些将幸福一分为二的领域，两个部分必须协同作用，您才能获得真正的幸福。但是，如果只有其中一个部分不断改善越多、您越赚越多赚的话，另一个部分早晚要出问题。

The first measure of happiness is “evaluative.” Prof. Lyubomirsky defines it as “a sense that your life is good—you’re satisfied with your life, you’re progressing towards your life goals.” That’s the measure used by economists Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson, who have conducted extensive research comparing economic data and happiness surveys across the world. “We found very clear evidence that in just about every country around the world, rich people are happier than poor people,” says Prof. Wolfers. “And people in rich countries are happier than people in poor countries.”
幸福的第一个衡量指标是“可评估性”。吕波密斯基教授将其定义为“从某种意义上说，您的生活是美好的——您对自己的生活满意，正在朝着人生目标迈进。”这是经济学家贾斯汀·沃尔弗斯和贝齐·史蒂文森所使用的衡量指标，他们两人对世界各地的经济数据和幸福调查进行了广泛的研究比对。“我们发现有非常明显的证据表明，在世界各地几乎每一个国家，富人都比穷人更幸福，”沃尔弗斯教授说，“而且，富裕国家的人比贫穷国家的人更幸福。”

The other component of happiness—“affective”—looks at how often you experience positive emotions like joy, affection and tranquility, as opposed to negative ones, explains Prof. Lyubomirsky. “You could be satisfied with your life overall but you may not actually be happy at the time,” she says. “Of course, happy people experience negative emotions, just not as often. So you have to have both components.”
幸福的另一个要素是“情感性”，吕波密斯基教授解释说，这是指一个人经历愉悦、喜欢和安宁等正面情绪和与此相对的负面情绪的频率。“您可能整体上对生活感到满意，但可能没有真正开心的时候，”她说。“当然了，快乐的人也会体验到负面情绪，只是没那么频繁。所以必须有两个组成部分。”

Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton of Princeton University found that when they looked at affective measures, happiness did not rise after a household reached an annual income of approximately $75,000. (They did, however, find a consistent rise in overall life satisfaction, matching the results of Profs. Wolfers and Stevenson.)
普林斯顿大学的丹尼尔·卡尼曼和安格斯·迪顿发现，当他们审视情感性指标时，一户家庭的年收入一旦达到月7.5万美元，他们的幸福便不再递增。（不过，他们的确发现，总体生活满意度一直在增长，这与沃尔弗斯和史蒂文森教授的研究结果不谋而合。）

The bottom line: When you don’t have much money, a little extra can go a long way, because you have more essential needs to fulfill. As you accumulate more wealth, however, it becomes more difficult to keep “buying” more happiness.
总之，当您钱不多的时候，额外一点点钱就会让您开心很久，因为您有能力满足更多基本需求了。然而，当您积累了更多财富时，“买到”更多幸福就变得难上加难了。

Don’t Get in Over Your Head
切忌入不敷出

Finally, although much of the research in this field is on spending money rather than saving it, the researchers agree that spending more than you can afford is a route to misery. Taking care of your basic needs and achieving a level of financial security is important.
最后，虽然这一领域的许多研究都侧重于如何花钱而不是如何省钱，研究人员认为，入不敷出将招致灾难。关照好您的基本需求，确保一定程度上的金融安全，是非常重要的。

Prof. Gilovich says that although his research shows that life experiences give more happiness than material goods, people should of course buy the essentials first. His findings hold true across a broad range of income levels and demographic groups, but not for people with very low incomes. “Those people don’t really have discretionary income; it pretty much all has to go on necessities,” he says.
季洛维奇教授认为，虽然他的研究表明相对于物质产品而言，生活经历能够给予人们更多幸福，但人们首先当然应该购买必需品。尽管他的研究结果可以涵盖广泛的收入水平和人口群体，但却不适用于收入非常低的人群。他说，“那些人真的无法自由支配收入，几乎全部用于购买必需品了。”

Some studies, meanwhile, have shown that debt has a detrimental effect on happiness, while savings and financial security tend to boost it. A survey of British households found that those with higher levels of debt reported lower happiness, and a separate piece of research on married couples showed that those in more debt had more marital conflict.
与此同时一些研究已经表明，债务对幸福感产生不利影响，而储蓄和金融安全往往会提升幸福感。一项关于英国家庭的调查发现，那些债务水平较高的人群拥有较低的幸福感，而一项针对已婚夫妇的独立研究则显示，更多债务意味着更多婚姻冲突。

“Savings are good for happiness; debt is bad for happiness. But debt is more potently bad than savings are good,” Prof. Dunn says. “From a happiness perspective, it’s more important to get rid of debt than to build savings.”
“储蓄有利于促进幸福；债务不利于幸福。但是，债务的弊端大于储蓄所带来的好处，”邓教授说。“从幸福的角度来看，更重要的是摆脱债务，而不是增加储蓄。”

So before you go out and spend all your money on a dream vacation, make sure you’ve taken care of the basics, paid off your debts, and have enough money to shield yourself from the worst of life’s troubles.
所以，在您走出去、花大钱享受梦想假期之前，请确保您已经照顾好自己的基本需要，还清了债务，并有足够的钱防范生活中最糟糕的事情从天而降。

“Financial advisers are actually right,” Prof. Howell says. “The first thing you should be doing with your money is building up a safety net. If you go into debt to buy these great life experiences, the stress you’ll feel when the credit-card bill comes in will probably wipe out the good that you got from the experience.”
“金融顾问其实是正确的，”豪威尔教授说。“您应该用自己的钱做的第一件事就是建立一张安全网。如果您为了获得一流的人生经历而举债度日，那么，当信用卡账单到来时，一流的人生经历所带来的快乐将被还款压力一笔勾销。”