第一周阅读

玲至

日语1901 周玲至
Your Brain’s Love of Happy Endings Could Make You Unhappy
来源扇贝阅读
Science and Hollywood both have proof that people prefer happy endings. Research shows that people are more likely to repeat experiences that finish on a high note. But a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that people's affinity for happy endings could actually hinder one's ability to make decisions that maximize enjoyment.  
研究证明人们更喜欢大团圆结局，这份对大团圆结局的偏爱甚至会影响一个人做出收获最大喜悦的决定的能力。

Final impressions can be deceiving  

Cambridge University's Martin Vestergaard, PhD, and Wolfram Schultz, PhD, who both work in the university's department of physiology, development, and neuroscience, use the example of a rainy holiday to illustrate the findings of their empirical study: that focusing too narrowly on the conclusion of an experience can prevent people from accurately assessing its value as a whole.  
剑桥大学的专家通过实验中的例子得出：太集中于一个经历的结果会导致人们错过它的整体价值。
In their study, the researchers presented 27 male participants with a digital simulation while monitoring brain activity with the help of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Subjects were asked to watch two series of coins fall into separate pots and then determine which pot held more value. The larger the coin, the more it was worth.  
专家邀请27个男性参与者做一个实验并用MRI辅助观测，参与者要观察两份硬币落入不同的水壶中然后决定哪个水壶的硬币价值更大。
"It comes down to our ability to summarize an experience that takes place over time," Vestergaard says. Getting hung up on the conclusion can distract us from accurately judging the full duration.  
专家指出这个实验可以归结到人总结经验的能力上，纠结于结果会扰乱我们对总体的判断。
"If you can't control your attraction to happy endings, then you cannot trust your choices to serve your best interest."  
如果你不能控制对大团圆结局的兴趣，就不能相信你对服务于最大利益的选择。
One sequence the participants were shown featured smaller coins in the final moments (an unhappy ending). Subjects who thought those smaller coins meant the pot was worth less showed increased activity in their anterior insula. This part of the brain focused on the final impression of diminished returns, the study found, and "excessively marked down" the value of the whole. Study authors referred to these subjects as "suboptimal decision-makers" for fixating too narrowly on the end of the sequence.  
有一种结果的参与者认为硬币越小水壶越没有价值，专家观测到他们使用的脑的部分注重于回报减少的最后印象并过度削减整体价值。作者将这些狭隘注重于结果的人命名为“次优解决定者”
On the other hand, those who correctly chose the more valuable pot showed increased activity in a part of the brain called the amygdala, which seemed to accurately analyze the overall total. The authors called these subjects "optimal decision-makers" for their ability to evaluate the entire sequence correctly rather than fixate on the conclusion.
另一方面，专家发现正确判断水壶价值的人使用了另一部分脑子并准确分析了整体，作者叫他们“最优解决定者”，因为他们拥有整体判断的能力。  

The study authors suggest that optimal decision-makers take a long view and consider the overall experience while suboptimal decision-makers sour on the whole if it doesn't end well.  
作者暗示最优解决定者用长远的目光考虑了整个经过，然而次优解决定者对没有好结果的整体感到厌烦。
Focus more on the journey, not the ending  

What about endings that are inherently disappointing?  

"Relationships essentially come down to cost-benefit analysis," says Galena Rhoades, PhD, a clinical psychologist and research professor in the department of psychology at the University of Denver. "You may have a longer list of pros and cons or a more complex set of variables" than in other situations, "but the decision-making process is essentially the same in that we're heavily influenced by recent extreme events." Processing those extremes and working toward greater perspective is often the work of clinical therapy.  
专家认为人际关系可以归结于成本效益的分析。并指出决定的过程与我们受最近极端事件的影响是一样的，加工这些极端并且朝着最优角度努力是临床试验的工作。
As Rhoades has proven in her field research, and as many people can attest, breaking up is painful and often leads to psychological distress. A breakup is "by definition a disappointing end to a relationship," Vestergaard says. "But you're doing yourself a disservice" if you judge the whole relationship by the rocky final months or weeks, he says. "You may end up thinking that you've wasted years of your life" when, in fact, you likely enjoyed at least some (or much) of that time.  
许多人认为分手是痛苦的，并且把分手定义为一段关系最令人失望的结局，但是专家认为这是对自己的虐待，因为你会因为分手而认为你浪费了人生，事实上你在这段关系中也有过享受。
"If you have a good relationship that ends, you may be able to look back and see the positives rather than getting bogged down by the negatives. Taking with you what you want to and leaving behind what you should."  
如果你的关系美满为结局，回望的时候比起不好的部分，会更多关注好的部分，带走你想要的而留下你应该留下的。
Discounting what pleasure you derived from the relationship doesn't just lead to more emotional distress; it's actually an inaccurate assessment of the overall experience.  
看扁你从一段关系中获得的愉悦不仅仅会导致心情郁结，还会导致对整件事的不准确评估。