They say that money can’t buy happiness. Ryan Howell believes that it can—sometimes. Howell is a researcher at San Francisco State University. He thought that maybe money matters if it’s spent on things that bolster our psychological well-being—activities that people truly enjoy and that enhance their lives in nonmaterial ways。
Howell recently presented his research at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in Tampa. He recruited 154 participants between 19 and 50. Half wrote a paragraph about a recent experience they purchased, such as eating out or going to the theater. The other half wrote a paragraph about a thing they bought. Both also wrote about their feelings about what they got for their money. Turned out those who bought experiences reported significantly higher levels of feeling happy, and like it was money well-spent。
Howell says these feelings of well-being might come from feeling active and connected to friends and community. He also says we don’t get bored of happy memories, while we might get tired of a purchase. So the study challenges the old adage about money—because maybe money can buy happiness. If it’s not spent on just things。
錢(qián)能買(mǎi)來(lái)幸?！袝r(shí)候
俗語(yǔ)說(shuō)錢(qián)不能買(mǎi)來(lái)幸福。不過(guò)Ryan Howell相信錢(qián)能買(mǎi)來(lái)幸?！袝r(shí)候。Howell是舊金山州立大學(xué)的一名研究人員，他認為如果把錢(qián)花在用于提高我們的心理幸福的活動(dòng)上，那么這時(shí)候錢(qián)可能顯得重要。這些活動(dòng)是人們真正喜歡而且又能提高精神生活。
在目前Tampa舉行的“個(gè)性和社會(huì )心理學(xué)研究會(huì )”年會(huì )上，Howell報告了他的研究結果。他招募了154名年齡在19至50歲之間的參與者。其中一半的人把他們最近花錢(qián)買(mǎi)的一次經(jīng)歷(比如下館子或者去劇院)寫(xiě)下來(lái)，另外一半人把他們花錢(qián)買(mǎi)的一件事物寫(xiě)下來(lái)。這兩組人都把他們從花錢(qián)中得到的感受寫(xiě)下來(lái)，結果發(fā)現那些花錢(qián)買(mǎi)經(jīng)歷的人明顯感覺(jué)更高的幸福，而且認為錢(qián)花得很值。
Howell說(shuō)這些幸福感可能來(lái)自于感受到自己的主動(dòng)性以及與朋友和社區緊密聯(lián)系在一起。他還說(shuō)我們不會(huì )對幸福的回憶感到厭煩，但是我們會(huì )對購買(mǎi)一件物品感到疲憊。所以該研究對那句關(guān)于錢(qián)的古老諺語(yǔ)(這里指“錢(qián)不能買(mǎi)來(lái)幸福”)提出了挑戰---因為可能錢(qián)能買(mǎi)到幸福，如果錢(qián)不僅僅花在實(shí)物上的話(huà)。
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