Ted英语演讲：JacqNancy Etcoff 奇妙的幸福科学
令人惊讶的幸福科学：我们天性倾向于快乐么？ 对幸福的追求是一种义务。人渴望幸福，只希望幸福，而不会希望不幸福。我们天生向往幸福，不仅仅是希望享受它，而且想要越来越多的幸福。——南希·伊特考夫
观看《南希·伊特考夫：令人惊讶的幸福科学》。伊特考夫回顾了我们所了解的幸福生物学，探索了大脑中奖赏和快感枢纽的结构和化学反应，以及掌管我们对环境的正面和负面反应的实时交感系统。这项基于大脑研究的“幸福新科学”让伊特考夫和其同事重新审思传统心理治疗。
nancy etcoff: happiness and its surprises 奇妙的幸福科学
this is called hooked on a feeling: the pursuit of happiness and human design. i put up a somewhat dour darwin, but a very happy chimp up there. my first point is that the pursuit of happiness is obligatory. man wishes to be happy, only wishes to be happy, and cannot wish not to be so. we are wired to pursue happiness, not only to enjoy it, but to want more and more of it.
今天的主题是“感觉情结” 追求幸福与人性化设计 我把有点严肃的达尔文放在上面 不过旁边还有一只乐呵呵的黑猩猩 我要说的第一点是 对幸福的追求是一种义务 人渴求幸福 只会渴求幸福 而不会拒绝幸福 我们热切地向往幸福 不仅希望享受幸福 而且想要越来越幸福
so given that that’s true, how good are we at increasing our happiness? well, we certainly try. if you look on the amazon site, there are over 2,000 titles with advice on the seven habits, the nine choices, the 10 secrets, the 14,000 thoughts that are supposed to bring happiness. now another way we try to increase our happiness is we medicate ourselves. and so there’s over 120 million prescriptions out there for antidepressants. prozac was really the first absolute blockbuster drug. it was clean, efficient, there was no high, there was really no danger, it had no street value. in 1995, illegal drugs were a $400 billion business, representing eight percent of world trade, roughly the same as gas and oil.
如果这是真的 那么我们在堆砌幸福上有多在行呢 当然 我们很努力 如果你上亚马逊网看 上面有超过2000个标题 关于七个习惯 九个选择 十个秘诀 14000个幸福的建议 我们现在又有了一个增加幸福的新招 那就是给自己灌药 现在有超过1亿2千万抗抑郁的处方药 百忧解就是第一种非常受欢迎的药物 它很干净 有效 没有兴奋作用 没有危险 没有贩卖价值 1995年 非法药物买卖达到了4000亿美元 相当于世界贸易的8% 几乎与油汽相当
these routes to happiness haven’t really increased happiness very much. one problem that’s happening now is, although the rates of happiness are about as flat as the surface of the moon, depression and anxiety are rising. some people say this is because we have better diagnosis, and more people are being found out. it isn’t just that. we’re seeing it all over the world. in the united states right now there are more suicides than homicides. there is a rash of suicide in china. and the world health organization predicts by the year 2020 that depression will be the second largest cause of disability.
这些通往幸福的路线似乎并未让幸福增加多少 其中一个问题是 一方面幸福增加的比率 不尽如人意 而另一方面 抑郁与不安的比率正在上升 有人说这是因为我们的医术更加高明了 所以更多的病例被诊断出来 其实不然 我们是从整个世界来看的 现在在美国 自杀的要多于他杀 在中国 自杀案件骤增 世界卫生组织预测 到了2020年 抑郁会成为 残疾的第二大至因
now the good news here is that if you take surveys from around the world, we see that about three quarters of people will say they are at least pretty happy. but this does not follow any of the usual trends. for example, these two show great growth in income, absolutely flat happiness curves.
所幸的是 如何你在全世界做问卷调查 你会发现四分之三的人 会说他们挺幸福的 但是这并不是主流 比如说 这两幅图显示 在收入的大幅增加的情况下 幸福曲线仍然平缓
my field, the field of psychology, hasn’t done a whole lot to help us move forward in understanding human happiness. in part, we have the legacy of freud, who was a pessimist, who said that pursuit of happiness is a doomed quest, is propelled by infantile aspects of the individual that can never be met in reality. he said, “one feels inclined to say that the intention that man should be happy is not included in the plan of creation.” so the ultimate goal of psychoanalytic psychotherapy was really what freud called ordinary misery.
我这一行 也就是心理学 在了解人类幸福这一方们 并没有做出很大的贡献 我们有弗洛伊德的遗产 他是个悲观主义者 他说对幸福的追求最终必定失败 它源于个人幼稚的各个方面 而永远不会实现 他说：“人不情愿承认 人类追求幸福的意图 并不在神创人的计划中。” 因此 心理分析治疗的终极目标 实际上就是弗洛伊德所谓的”自讨苦吃”
(laughter)
（众人笑）
and freud in part reflects the anatomy of the human emotion system — which is that we have both a positive and a negative system, and our negative system is extremely sensitive. so for example, we’re born loving the taste of something sweet and reacting aversively to the taste of something bitter. we also find that people are more averse to losing than they are happy to gain. the formula for a happy marriage is five positive remarks, or interactions, for every one negative. and that’s how powerful the one negative is. especially expressions of contempt or disgust, well you really need a lot of positives to upset that.
弗洛伊德部分反映了 人类情绪系统的剖析 我们有一个积极的和一个消极的系统 而我们消极的系统 非常敏感 比如说 我们天生就爱吃甜食 而特别厌恶苦的味道 还有人对失去的厌恶感 要强于他们得到时的幸福感 幸福婚姻的方程式是 五个积极互动 才抵得过一个消极互动 一个消极互动就是这么厉害 尤其是轻视或厌恶的表示 你必须用一大堆的积极情绪才能抵消
i also put in here the stress response. we’re wired for dangers that are immediate, that are physical, that are imminent, and so our body goes into an incredible reaction where endogenous opioids come in. we have a system that is really ancient, and really there for physical danger. and so over time, this becomes a stress response, which has enormous effects on the body. cortisol floods the brain; it destroys hippocampal cells and memory, and can lead to all kinds of health problems.
我还把压力反应加上去了 我们天生就对直接的 物理的 切近的危险 我们的身体会发生不可思议反应 产生内源性阿片类物质 我们身体的系统自古以来就是如此 专门为防备身体伤害 经过漫长的时间 这成为了一种压力反应 对身体产生巨大影响 皮质醇充斥大脑 摧毁海马神经细胞和记忆 能够引起各种健康问题
but unfortunately, we need this system in part. if we were only governed by pleasure we would not survive. we really have two command posts. emotions are short-lived intense responses to challenge and to opportunity. and each one of them allows us to click into alternate selves that tune in, turn on, drop out thoughts, perceptions, feelings and memories. we tend to think of emotions as just feelings. but in fact, emotions are an all-systems alert that change what we remember, what kind of decisions we make, and how we perceive things.
然而 在某种程度上 我们需要这个系统 如果我们只受愉悦支配 那么我们是活不下去的 我们实际上是由两方面控制的 情绪对挑战和机遇的 短期强烈反应 每个反应都让我们做自我调整 将思想 观念 感觉 记忆 放大 打开 关闭 我们总以为情绪就是感觉 但其实 情绪是所有系统的警报 改变我们的记忆 所做的决定 以及对事物的看法
so let me go forward to the new science of happiness. we’ve come away from the freudian gloom, and people are now actively studying this. and one of the key points in the science of happiness is that happiness and unhappiness are not endpoints of a single continuum. the freudian model is really one continuum that, as you get less miserable, you get happier. and that isn’t true — when you get less miserable, you get less miserable. and that happiness is a whole other end of the equation. and it’s been missing. it’s been missing from psychotherapy. so when people’s symptoms go away, they tend to recur, because there isn’t a sense of the other half — of what pleasure, happiness, compassion, gratitude, what are the positive emotions. and of course we know this intuitively, that happiness is not just the absence of misery. but somehow it was not put forward until very recently, seeing these as two parallel systems. so that the body can both look for opportunity and also protect itself from danger, at the same time. and they’re sort of two reciprocal and dynamically interacting systems.
下面我转到关于幸福的新科学 我们从弗洛伊德的悲观中走出来 现在人们开始积极地做这项研究 关于幸福的科学 其中关键的一点是 幸福与不幸福 并不是一个连续统一体的两端 弗洛伊德模式是一个连续统一体 那就是你的烦恼越少 你就越开心 但事实并非如此 你的烦恼少了 你只是没那么不开心了 而幸福在等式另一端 幸福缺失了 从心理治疗中缺失了 因而 当人们的症状消失了 又复返了 这是因为另一半缺失了 那就是愉悦 幸福 同情心 感激之情 这些积极的情绪 直觉告诉我们 幸福并不意味着没有烦恼 但是 直到最近 人们才把两者作为平行系统看待 这样身体才能一边寻找机遇 一边保护自己 这两者是互补 并活跃互动的系统
people have also wanted to deconstruct. we use this word “happy,” and it’s this very large umbrella of a term. and then three emotions for which there are no english words: fiero, which is the pride in accomplishment of a challenge; schadenfreude, which is happiness in another’s misfortune, a malicious pleasure; and naches, which is a pride and joy in one’s children. absent from this list, and absent from any discussions of happiness, are happiness in another’s happiness. we don’t seem to have a word for that. we are very sensitive to the negative, but it is in part offset by the fact that we have a positivity.
人们也想过解析幸福 我们用“幸福”这个词 这是一个概念的一把大伞 伞下是三种情绪 都是非英文单词 fiero 是指战胜了挑战后的骄傲 schadenfreude 是指建立在他人痛苦之上的幸福 不怀好意的愉悦 naches 对自己孩子抱有的骄傲与喜悦 不管是这上面还是任何关于幸福的探讨 都没有谈到对他人所抱有的幸福感 我们似乎找不到一个词来表达 我们对消极事物非常敏感 而这由于我们拥有积极感 而被抵消了
we’re also born pleasure-seekers. babies love the taste of sweet and hate the taste of bitter. they love to touch smooth surfaces rather than rough ones. they like to look at beautiful faces rather than plain faces. they like to listen to consonant melodies instead of dissonant melodies. babies really are born with a lot of innate pleasures. there was once a statement made by a psychologist that said that 80 percent of the pursuit of happiness is really just about the genes, and it’s as difficult to become happier as it is to become taller. that’s nonsense. there is a decent contribution to happiness from the genes — about 50 percent — but there is still that 50 percent that is unaccounted for.
我们天生就会寻求愉悦感 婴儿喜欢甜味 而讨厌苦味 他们喜欢平滑的表面而不是粗糙的表面 他们喜欢看漂亮的脸蛋 而非平庸的脸蛋 他们喜欢听和谐的旋律 而非不和谐的旋律 婴儿有许多 与生俱来的内在快感 一位心理学家曾说 对幸福80%的追求 都由基因决定 变得幸福跟长高一样难 一派胡言 基因对幸福是有一定的影响 大概占50% 但另外50%就与基因无关了
let’s just go into the brain for a moment, and see where does happiness arise from in evolution. we have basically at least two systems here, and they both are very ancient. one is the reward system, and that’s fed by the chemical dopamine. and it starts in the ventral tegmental area. it goes to the nucleus accumbens, all the way up to the prefrontal cortex, orbital frontal cortex, where decisions are made, high level. this was originally seen as a system that was the pleasure system of the brain. in the 1950s, olds and milner put electrodes into the brain of a rat. and the rat would just keep pressing that bar thousands and thousands and thousands of times. it wouldn’t eat. it wouldn’t sleep. it wouldn’t have sex. it wouldn’t do anything but press this bar. so they assumed this must be, you know, the brain’s orgasmatron.
我们来看看大脑内部 看看幸福感 是从进化的哪一阶段出现的 这里至少有两个系统 都非常古老 一个是犒赏系统 分泌出多巴胺 从腹侧被盖区域开始 进入伏隔核 一直到达前额叶皮质 眶额叶皮质 这里是做决定的地方 高级别 这原本被看做是 大脑的快感系统 在二十世纪50年代 奥德斯和米尔纳将电极植入一只老鼠的大脑 结果这只老鼠不停地按那根铁杆 成千上万次 它不吃不睡不交配 它一直在按那个铁杆 他们以为 这肯定是大脑的兴奋诱导器
our pleasures are really ancient. and we learn, of course, many, many pleasures, but many of them are base. and one of them, of course, is biophilia — that we have a response to the natural world that’s very profound. very interesting studies done on people recovering from surgery, who found that people who faced a brick wall versus people who looked out on trees and nature, the people who looked out on the brick wall were in the hospital longer, needed more medication, and had more medical complications. there is something very restorative about nature, and it’s part of how we are tuned.
人的快感有着很长的历史 许多快感是习得的 但也有许多是最基本的 其中一个就是 我们对自然界做出反应的自卫本能 这非常重要 一些研究非常有意思 关于人们接受外科手术后的恢复情况 对象为面对砖墙的人 和面向树木和自然的人 那些面对砖墙的人 住院的时间更长 需要更多药物 并且出现更多并发症 大自然拥有非常强大的恢复力量 它对我们的恢复发挥一定的作用
humans, particularly so, we’re very imitative creatures. and we imitate from almost the second we are born. here is a three-week-old baby. and if you stick your tongue out at this baby, the baby will do the same. we are social beings from the beginning. and even studies of cooperation show that cooperation between individuals lights up reward centers of the brain. one problem that psychology has had is instead of looking at this intersubjectivity — or the importance of the social brain to humans who come into the world helpless and need each other tremendously — is that they focus instead on the self and self-esteem, and not self-other. it’s sort of “me,” not “we.” and i think this has been a really tremendous problem that goes against our biology and nature, and hasn’t made us any happier at all.
人类尤为如此 我们是善于模仿的造物 我们几乎从一出生就开始模仿了 这是个三周大的婴儿 如果你向他伸出舌头 他会学你 我们自出世就是社会性的人 关于合作的研究 也显示人与人之间的合作 点亮大脑的犒赏中心 心理学的一个问题在于 没有关注这一主体间性 或社会性头脑 对于初生于世 孤立无援 需要彼此的人类的重要性 而关注的是自身 自尊心 而不是人与人之间的关系 强调“我”而不是“我们” 我认为这是个很严重的问题 违背了我们的生理和本质 并没有让我们变得更幸福
because when you think about it, people are happiest when in flow, when they’re absorbed in something out in the world, when they’re with other people, when they’re active, engaged in sports, focusing on a loved one, learning, having sex, whatever. they’re not sitting in front of the mirror trying to figure themselves out, or thinking about themselves. these are not the periods when you feel happiest. the other thing is, that a piece of evidence is, is if you look at computerized text analysis of people who commit suicide, what you find there, and it’s quite interesting, is use of the first person singular — “i,” “me,” “my,” not “we” and “us” — and the letters are less hopeless than they are really alone. and being alone is very unnatural to the human. there is a profound need to belong.
人们最开心的时候是当他们处于心流之中 醉心于外界的某项活动中 与别人相处 身体动起来 做运动 专情于某人 学习 性生活 等等 他们并不是坐在镜子前 分析自己 或者琢磨自己 这可不是你最快乐的时候 还有一点 有证据显示 在自杀者的 计算机文本分析中 你会发现一些有意思的现象 里面有许多第一人称单数的用法 “我” “我的” 而不是“我们” 这些信中更多地表达的是孤独 而不是绝望 孤独对人类来说是非常不自然的 有归属是一种关键的需要
but there are ways in which our evolutionary history can really trip us up. because, for example, the genes don’t care whether we’re happy, they care that we replicate, that we pass our genes on. so for example we have three systems that underlie reproduction, because it’s so important. there’s lust, which is just wanting to have sex. and that’s really mediated by the sex hormones. romantic attraction, that gets into the desire system. and that’s dopamine-fed. and that’s, “i must have this one person.” there’s attachment, which is oxytocin, and the opiates, which says, “this is a long-term bond.” see the problem is that, as humans, these three can separate. so a person can be in a long term attachment, become romantically infatuated with someone else, and want to have sex with a third person.
然而 进化史有许多容易误导人的地方 例如 基因并不关心我们快乐与否 只关心我们复制 把基因传给后代 我们有这样三个系统 是生殖的基础 因为这非常重要 一个是性欲 也就是对性的渴望 这受性激素的调节 吸引 这属于欲望系统 分泌多巴胺 也就是“我必须得到这个人。” 还有依恋 也就是催产素 也就是“这是一段长期的关系。” 问题是 对于人类而言 这三者可以分开 也就是说 一个人可以处于一段长期关系中 同时喜欢上另一个人 并想要与第三个人发生性关系
the other way in which our genes can sometimes lead us astray is in social status. we are very acutely aware of our social status and always seek to further and increase it. now in the animal world, there is only one way to increase status, and that’s dominance. i seize command by physical prowess, and i keep it by beating my chest, and you make submissive gestures. now, the human has a whole other way to rise to the top, and that is a prestige route, which is freely conferred. someone has expertise and knowledge, and knows how to do things, and we give that person status. and that’s clearly the way for us to create many more niches of status so that people don’t have to be lower on the status hierarchy as they are in the animal world.
基因还可以通过社会地位 对我们产生误导 我们对社会地位高度关注 总在寻求提高社会地位 在动物世界里 只有一种方法能够提高地位 那就是胜者为王 身强力壮就能掌握权力 通过捶胸来巩固权力 而你做出服从的姿态 而人类往上爬的方式则截然不同 是名声 可以自由授予 一个人有专长和知识 有才干 我们就给这个人地位 这样我们就创造了更多社会角色 人们也就不会像动物世界那样 处于社会等级中处于下层了
the data isn’t terribly supportive of money buying happiness. but it’s not irrelevant. so if you look at questions like this, life satisfaction, you see life satisfaction going up with each rung of income. you see mental distress going up with lower income. so clearly there is some effect. but the effect is relatively small. and one of the problems with money is materialism. what happens when people pursue money too avidly, is they forget about the real basic pleasures of life. so we have here, this couple. “do you think the less-fortunate are having better sex?” and then this kid over here is saying, “leave me alone with my toys.” so one of the things is that it really takes over. that whole dopamine-wanting system takes over and derails from any of the pleasure system.
数据显示 金钱并不能购买幸福 但是金钱与幸福还是有关系的 看看这些问题 生活满足感 生活满足感随收入的增长而增加 精神抑郁随收入的降低而增加 显然 金钱还是有一点影响的 但是这种影响较小 关于金钱的另一个问题是拜金主义 当人们过于热衷于金钱 他们就会忽略生活中基本的快感 这里有一对夫妇 “那些相对穷的人是不是更享受性生活呢？” 这个孩子在说：“别碰我的玩具。” 所以 问题之一就是 拜金主义有些过头了 这整个多巴胺－渴求系统 占了主导并背离了整个快感系统
maslow had this idea back in the 1950s that as people rise above their biological needs, as the world becomes safer and we don’t have to worry about basic needs being met — our biological system, whatever motivates us, is being satisfied — we can rise above them, to think beyond ourselves toward self-actualization or transcendence, and rise above the materialist.
马斯洛在二十世纪五十年代提出 当人们超越了生理需要 当世界变得更安全 我们就无需担心这些基本需要得不到满足 激励我们的生理系统 已经得到了满足 我们可以超越这些需要 超越自身思考 自我实现 自我超越 超越唯物者
so to just quickly conclude with some brief data that suggests this might be so. one is people who underwent what is called a quantum change: they felt their life and their whole values had changed. and sure enough, if you look at the kinds of values that come in, you see wealth, adventure, achievement, pleasure, fun, be respected, before the change, and much more post-materialist values after. women had a whole different set of value shifts. but very similarly, the only one that survived there was happiness. they went from attractiveness and happiness and wealth and self-control to generosity and forgiveness.
简短地概括一下这些数据 解释他说的可能是对的 一是 正在经历一个叫做量子飞跃过程的人 感觉他们的生活和价值观都改变了 当然 你可以看到 财富 冒险 成就 快感 娱乐等价值观 在变化前都受到尊重 而变化后 则更为后唯物主义了 女性的价值观变化截然不同 但相似的是 只有幸福是两者皆有的 从魅力 幸福 财富 自律 到慷慨与宽恕
i end with a few quotes. “there is only one question: how to love this world?” and rilke, “if your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself. tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.” “first, say to yourself what you would be. then do what you have to do.”
我引用几句名言来结尾 “问题只有一个： 如何热爱世界？” 里尔克：“如果你的日常生活很贫寒 别抱怨；怪你自己。 告诉自己 你不够诗情画意 招不来生活的丰富多彩。” “首先，告诉自己你想成为什么样子。 然后做你该做的事情。”
thank you. (applause)
感谢大家 （众人鼓掌）