在商品社会里，金钱是我们生活中必不可少的。可是您知道吗？过分追求物质享受会使您失去生活中许多其他的东西。
By Carey Goldberg
北京联合大学师范学院 冀玲惠/注
Aline Zoldbrod, a psychologist and couple therapist1, is all too2 familiar with this picture: A husband and wife no longer connect3. They are so exhausted from the pursuit4 of “nice things”—a big house, private school for the kids, fancy cars5—that they are time-starved and depleted6. Life is luxurious but unsatisfying and simply no fun.
Zoldbrod said it is not only her clinical experience7 that tells her such clients8 are on the wrong track. It’s a growing body of research.9
Using statistics and psychological tests, researchers are nailing down10 what clerics11 and philosophers have preached12 for thousands of years: Materialism is bad for the soul. Only, in the new formulation13, materialism is bad for your emotional well-being.
In recent years, researchers have reported an ever- growing list of downsides to getting and spending14—damage to relationships and self-esteem15, a heightened risk of depression and anxiety, less time for what the research indicates truly makes people happy, like family, friendship and engaging work16. And maybe even headaches.
“Consumer culture is continually bombarding17 us with the message that materialism will make us happy,” said Tim Kasser, a psychology professor at Knox College in Illinois， who has led some of the recent work. “What this research shows is that that’s not true.”
The research is more nuanced18 than that, of course. For people who are living paycheck to paycheck19, more money unquestionably brings greater well-being. And for the comfortable20, a raise or a new purchase can certainly feel good—for a little while, anyway. Also, economic research indicates that a hunger for money can motivate21 people to perform better and even more creatively.
There is also a question of cause and effect. Feelings of insecurity incline people toward materialist values22, the research suggests, and that insecurity can also lead to relationship troubles and other problems associated with23 a materialistic lifestyle.
But Kasser argues that when people turn to material things to feel better, they compound the problem, because they seek experiences that “don’t do a very good job of meeting their psychological needs.”24
Ed Diener, a University of Illinois psychology professor and happiness expert, said in an e-mail that he has found that “those who value material success more than they value happiness are likely to experience almost as many negative moods as positive moods, whereas those who value happiness over material success are likely to experience considerably more pleasant moods and emotions than unpleasant moods and emotions.”
Studies show that poor people who emphasize materialistic goals are especially likely to be unhappy, while in some studies, materialistic rich people show fewer ill effects, presumably because they are meeting more of their goals25. But even for the better-off26, materialism can create a nagging appetite27 that can never be satisfied.
Materialism becomes “a more difficult goal than many,” Diener said, “because it is open-ended and goes on forever—we can always want more, which is usually not true of other goals such as friendship. With friends, we have them and enjoy them but usually are not taught that we keep needing more28.”
There’s also an opportunity cost to chasing the wrong goals29, said Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard psychology professor who focuses on people’s flawed ability to predict their emotional reactions30. When people spend their effort pursuing material goods in the belief that they will bring happiness, he said, they’re ignoring other, more effective routes to happiness31.
So why is materialism so common? The trouble is that the error is subtle32. “If it were the case that money made us totally miserable, we’d figure out33 we were wrong” to pursue it, Gilbert said. But “it’s wrong in a more nuanced way. We think money will bring lots of happiness for a long time, and actually it brings a little happiness for a short time.”
Whether warnings from social scientists will make a dent34 in popular consuming values remains to be seen. Kasser compared the expanding pool of data35 on the potential harm of materialism to the data on lung cancer caused by smoking. Preachers36 had long called smoking “the devil’s work,” he said, but it was only when the cancer connection was proved scientifically that smoking really began to wane37.
Gilbert of Harvard, however, is skeptical38. “Let’s try. Let’s give them the data. Let’s shout it from the mountaintops,” he said. “But let’s not be too surprised when all the people in the valley nod their heads knowingly39 and then go on to covet40 a Porsche41 and a new home and tickets to the Super Bowl42”.
Notes:
1. couple therapist夫妻关系诊治专家
2. all too 太，再……不过了
3. connect连接，来往
4. pursuit追求
5. fancy car 豪华汽车
6. time-starved and depleted缺少时间、耗尽心力的
7. clinical experience临床经验
8. client 顾客，客户
9. 本句意为：越来越多的研究也表明了这一点。
10. nail down 明确
11. cleric牧师，传教士
12. preach宣扬，鼓吹
13. formulation表达方法 14. downsides to getting and spending 赚钱、花钱的不利方面
15. self-esteem自尊心
16. engaging work令人喜爱的工作。engaging 吸引人的，迷人的
17. bombard炮击，轰击
18. nuanced有细微差别的
19. live paycheck to paycheck 工资仅够维持生活
20. the comfortable 生活舒适的人
21. motivate激发
22. Feelings of insecurity ... materialist values 缺乏安全感使人们倾向于物质主义价值观
23. associated with同……相关联的
24. 本句意为：但Kasser认为，当人们转向物质以寻求好感觉时，他们便使问题更加复杂化，因为他们寻求的体验“并没很好地满足其心理需要”。compound 使合成，加重
25. materialistic rich people ... of their goals追求物质享受的富人表现出的负面影响要少，大概是因为他们正在实现更多的目标
26. the better-off 经济状况较好的人
27. nagging appetite无休止的欲望
28. keep needing more 需要交更多（朋友）
29. There’s also an ... wrong goals追求错误目标也有机会成本
30. focus on people’s ... emotional reactions集中研究人们预测自己情感反映的能力缺陷
31. other, more effective routes to happiness通向幸福的其他更有效的途径
32. subtle太细小而难以观测或分析的
33. figure out发现
34. dent引起注意，取得初步（或有效）进展
35. expanding pool of data 越来越多的数据
36. preacher传教士
37. it was only when ... really began to wane直到吸烟与癌症的关系被科学证明，吸烟现象才真正开始减少。wane 衰落，减小
38. skeptical怀疑的，不相信的
39. nod their heads knowingly 会意地点头
40. covet垂涎, 觊觎
41. Porsche保时捷（汽车）
42. the Super Bowl “超级投球”（美国最著名的橄榄球队之一） |
