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。
錢能買來幸?！袝r候
俗語說錢不能買來幸福。不過Ryan Howell相信錢能買來幸?！袝r候。Howell是舊金山州立大學(xué)的一名研究人員，他認(rèn)為如果把錢花在用于提高我們的心理幸福的活動上，那么這時候錢可能顯得重要。這些活動是人們真正喜歡而且又能提高精神生活。
在目前Tampa舉行的“個性和社會心理學(xué)研究會”年會上，Howell報告了他的研究結(jié)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買的一次經(jīng)歷(比如下館子或者去劇院)寫下來，另外一半人把他們花錢買的一件事物寫下來。這兩組人都把他們從花錢中得到的感受寫下來，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)那些花錢買經(jīng)歷的人明顯感覺更高的幸福，而且認(rèn)為錢花得很值。
Howell說這些幸福感可能來自于感受到自己的主動性以及與朋友和社區(qū)緊密聯(lián)系在一起。他還說我們不會對幸福的回憶感到厭煩，但是我們會對購買一件物品感到疲憊。所以該研究對那句關(guān)于錢的古老諺語(這里指“錢不能買來幸福”)提出了挑戰(zhàn)---因?yàn)榭赡苠X能買到幸福，如果錢不僅僅花在實(shí)物上的話。
