Lead: It is generally understood that people's happiness should be related to their achievements. If you have good grades, you should be happy. If you have bad grades, you should be unhappy. According to this logic, silver medal players should be happier than bronze medal players. What is the real situation?
This morning, we gave a lecture on Social Psychology to the graduate students of the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University. We discussed a classic research report by Ginovich, a famous psychologist of Cornell University, and his students. The title is; Less might be better: the relationship between the counterfactual thinking of Olympic medal players and their satisfaction（ When less is more:Counterfactual thinking and satisfaction amongOlympic medalists) 。 This article was published on one thousand nine hundred and ninety-five The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published in was a classic experiment often involved in social psychology and positive psychology.
In this study, Ginovich and his two students, Maddy and Marty, asked Cornell University students to evaluate one thousand nine hundred and ninety-two The emotional performance of medal players in various competitions of the Barcelona Summer Olympic Games when they crossed the finish line and on the podium. Using a ten grade rating scale, ask students to rate the expression of these players' faces from pain to happiness.
As a result, they found that when the result of the game was just announced. The average score of silver medal players on the ten scale from pain to happiness four point eight The bronze medal players scored as high as seven point one Points. At the award ceremony, the happy expression of the bronze medal players was somewhat restrained, but still five point seven The score is high, while the silver medal player becomes more unhappy, and the happy expression becomes four point three Points. Statistical analysis shows that there is a significant difference in the level of happiness between bronze medal players and silver medal players. https://mmbiz.qlogo.cn/mmbiz/eF76gzFcRj8XS5JzP3p9ImtOIUnZLujCDYankTCcNCibexoIzdmWwRLxiamIDZ9x9V8NBZ9G7HfrNKyvxfuhyPYA/0
2014 Short Track Speed Skating - Men's 1500m Award Ceremony, winner of Canada's Hamelin (middle), runner up of China's Han Tianyu (right) and runner up of Russia's Victor at the award ceremony
Why is there such an unexpected result? According to our common understanding, people's happiness should be related to their achievements. If we perform well and achieve superior results, we should be happy. If we perform poorly and achieve inferior results, we should be unhappy. According to this logic, the silver medal player should be happier than the bronze medal player, because he is just below one person and above ten thousand.
Ginovich and others found that this unexpected result was mainly due to the different counterfactual thinking of the two kinds of people. All people are carrying out counterfactual thinking, that is, what they say will happen. The counterfactual thinking of the silver medal player must be upward comparison, because he will definitely win the gold medal if he works hard again, so this is the counterfactual thinking of upward comparison.
The bronze medal player is more likely to be the counterfactual thinking of the next match, because he may be the fourth place and won't get a medal. As for the silver medal players, they have already got the medal and regret that they almost won the gold medal. Therefore, it is natural for them to think counter factually. The bronze medal player almost has no medal, so the counterfactual thinking is more natural. Different directions of comparison have different impacts on people. https://mmbiz.qlogo.cn/mmbiz/eF76gzFcRj8XS5JzP3p9ImtOIUnZLujCDbByghMG6hOXh9cQCiaBMeDn9u8fE7Q26Xw1E8XZ85GfZDPD5rd3vuw/0
Romani's expression at the awarding scene when he won the silver medal by mistake in vault
More than ten years later, my good friend David Matsumoto of San Francisco State University（ David Matsumoto ）Professor and editor of American World Judo Magazine, Bob Willingham（ Willingham ）For those held in Athens two thousand and four At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the facial expressions of the gold, silver and bronze medalists who won the judo competition were analyzed by computer, especially the difference between their expressions just after the competition and those standing on the podium, which was very impressive.
They found that the gold medal players and bronze medal players had bright smiles after winning the competition, and no silver medal player had a smile after the competition; What's more interesting is that the silver medal players even showed a variety of negative emotional reactions from sadness, contempt to indifference. In other words, silver medal players not only show unhappiness, but also show strong negative emotional experience. However, the two scholars found that silver medal players would still smile on the podium. in fact, 96% Our athletes will smile on the podium.
However, after a careful analysis of the facial expressions of these players, the two scientists found that most of the silver medal players' smiles were disguised. And the gold medal and bronze medal players have appeared the true happiness that we psychologists call Dixiang smile. This kind of smile is a kind of heartfelt, infectious, happy and sincere smile, while the smiles of silver medal players are mostly polite smiles. Therefore, the two psychologists believe that those athletes who show a sincere smile after the competition are basically the same as those on the podium. Those who do not show a sincere smile at the end of the competition tend to put on a polite smile on the podium. It can be seen that silver medal players are not as happy as bronze medal players.
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Dixiang's smile
These studies vividly illustrate a basic finding of psychology: how much a person's achievements, gains and benefits are not completely proportional to his happiness, but rather have a considerable relationship with his understanding and judgment. When we compare with each other, it is difficult for us to feel the achievements we have achieved; When we compare with each other, we will feel the pleasure of "taking a step back".
When your salary goes up five hundred You may be very happy when you pay yuan; But when I learned that your colleague had risen one thousand Yuan, you may feel particularly uncomfortable. But if you had expected three hundred Yuan, actually up to five hundred You may also be very happy. If your colleague had expected one thousand and five hundred Yuan, actually only received one thousand Yuan, then he may be very unhappy. This shows that what really affects our happiness and happiness in life is our human expectations and comparisons.
In the morning class, we also discussed the issue of cultural differences, but, two thousand and four The facial expression analysis of judo players in Athens Olympic Games in is the result of cross culture. That is to say, no matter what culture the winners come from, they can get the same expression difference.
As the saying goes, literature is not the first, and martial arts is not the second. There are objective criteria for who is good and who is bad in sports competitions, and who gives more or less bonuses. But in real life, whose life is better? Whose kid is smarter? Whose husband is more successful? And whose wife is prettier? They are complex and comprehensive concepts without absolute objective standards.
At this time, we might as well think about what we have in our life? What strengths do I have that others do not have, what advantages do I have that others do not have, our spirit, pursuit, ideal and culture, etc. Are these life experiences without objective standards also rich and colorful?
Therefore, I especially advocate people's spiritual pursuit, which can give us unlimited psychological capital after a certain material basis is satisfied. It is not simply a denial of the truth Q Spirit is our cultural spirit of pursuing spirituality, understanding, kindness and sensibility; The difference between the two is completely different. Therefore, we might as well be more grateful for the life we have and less anxious than others. Only in this way can we really get the happiness and joy of life.
About the author: Peng Kaiping, director, professor and doctoral advisor of the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University, director of the Department of Social and Personality Psychology, director of the Culture and Cognition Laboratory, lifelong professor and doctoral advisor of the Department of Psychology of the University of California, Berkeley, and executive chairman of the China International Conference on Positive Psychology.
Thanks and excerpt: Peng Kaiping's personal public platform
( Final judgment: Wang Weihua; Editor in charge: Liu Lixin)
CPPA Happy China General Counsel : Peng Kaiping
Editor in Chief : Wang Weihua https://mmbiz.qlogo.cn/mmbiz/eF76gzFcRj8scIWlwp82g40EBsExhVNVdrPVPD91D1KKYrjUtEOyz32ETQ8hoACX4B9LcbJpu8Tau9TA0M4ZYQ/0
