出處 http://0rz.tw/8cuzh
December 29, 2009
Carpe Diem? Maybe Tomorrow
及時行樂? 明天再說
By JOHN TIERNEY
For once, social scientists have discovered a flaw in the human psyche that
will not be tedious to correct. You may not even need a support group. You
could try on your own by starting with this simple New Year’s resolution:
Have fun ... now!
社會科學家終於發現一項不那麼讓人排斥去改進的惡習。我們甚至不需要互助團體就可以
改進。你可以在家就試試看，當作新年新希望：那就是及時行樂！
Then you just need the strength to cash in your gift certificates, drink that
special bottle of wine, redeem your frequent flier miles and take that
vacation you always promised yourself. If your resolve weakens, do not
succumb to guilt or shame. Acknowledge what you are: a recovering
procrastinator of pleasure.
你要做的只是去花掉禮券、喝掉珍藏的酒、消化飛行哩程與來趟夢寐以求的旅行。如果你
的決心不夠也別太引咎自責。你要認清自己：你只是個懶得行樂的人。
It sounds odd, but this is actually a widespread form of procrastination —
just ask the airlines and other marketers who save billions of dollars
annually from gift certificates that expire unredeemed. Or the poets who have
kept turning out exhortations to seize the day and gather rosebuds.
雖然你會覺得奇怪，但這的確是種普遍的因循心態，你只要問問航空公司或是商人就知道
，商人每年都因為禮券過期而省下數百萬，而詩人不也常勸君花開堪折直需折嗎?
But it has taken awhile for psychologists and behavioral economists to
analyze this condition. Now they have begun to explore the strange impulse to
put off until tomorrow what could be enjoyed today.
但心理學家跟行為經濟學家可是花了一番功夫才了解了這個狀況。他們開始探索人為什麼
會推遲享樂。
Why, for instance, is it so hard to find time to visit landmarks in your own
backyard? People who have moved to Chicago, Dallas and London get to fewer
local landmarks during their entire first year than the typical tourist
visits during a two-week stay, according to a study conducted by Suzanne B.
Shu and Ayelet Gneezy, who are professors of marketing at the University of
California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Diego,
respectively. The Chicagoans in the study had visited more landmarks in other
cities than in their own, and even their relatively small amount of local
sightseeing was done mainly in the course of entertaining out-of-towners.
Otherwise, the only time Chicagoans rushed to see the local landmarks was
just before they were about to move to another city, when that deadline
inspired sudden passions for taking architectural tours and going to the zoo.
就像是為什麼我們遲遲不去參訪住家附近的名勝？搬到芝加哥、達拉斯與倫敦的人，一年
內參訪當地名勝的數目，比到當地的觀光客兩星期內的參訪數還少。這份研究是由加州大
學洛杉磯分校的Suzanne教授與聖地牙哥分校的Ayelet教授完成的。研究指出芝加哥人在
別地參觀的名勝比本地還多，就連他們在本地的參訪大多都是服務觀光客的業務。芝加哥
人只有在搬遷到其它都市之前才會趕忙參觀當地名勝，因為有限的時間會激起他們來趟建
築之旅或是去逛逛動物園。
When there is no immediate deadline, we’re liable to put off going to the
zoo this weekend because we assume that we will be less busy next weekend —
or the weekend after that, or next summer. This is the same sort of thinking
that causes us to put the gift certificate in the drawer because we expect to
have more time for shopping in the future.
由於我們認為時間充裕，所以我們會傾向延遲周末的動物園之行，反正下星期還有時間嘛
，再不下下星期或是明年夏天還是會有時間。這種念頭也造成我們遲遲不去使用禮券而把
它供奉在抽屜裡，因為我們早認定以後還是有時間去使用。
We’re trying to do a cost-benefit analysis of the time lost versus the
pleasure or money to be gained, but we’re not accurate in our estimates of “
resource slack,” as it is termed by Gal Zauberman and John G. Lynch. These
behavioral economists found that when people were asked to anticipate how
much extra money and time they would have in the future, they realistically
assumed that money would be tight, but they expected free time to magically
materialize.
我
們雖然試著去衡量時間流逝與獲得快樂、金錢的損益，但我們總是不夠精確，Gal
Zauberman與G. Lynch稱之為「應變遲緩」。行為經濟學家發現人在估量未來能獲得的金錢與時間時，對金錢會估得較保守，但對時間則是不可思議的樂觀。
Hence you’re more likely to agree to a commitment next year, like giving a
speech, that you would turn down if asked to find time for it in the next
month. This produces what researchers call the “Yes ... Damn!” effect: when
the speech comes due next year, you bitterly discover you’re still as busy
as ever.
因此你很隨便就會答應明年的邀約，但如果要你下個月就上台演講你可能就會拒絕了。科
學家稱之為「沒問題...糟了」效應：就算演講延到明年，你還是會苦惱於自己怎麼一樣
的忙。
Dr. Shu and Dr. Gneezy demonstrated another effect of this fallacy by giving
people gift certificates good for movie tickets and French pastries. Some got
certificates that expired within two to three weeks; others got certificates
good for six to eight weeks.
Shu博士與Gneezy博士發給受試者電影票與法國派的交換券來證明了這個謬論。有人拿到
兩三周內就要過期的禮券；有人則是拿到六至八周內會過期的禮券。
The people who received the long-term certificates were more confident than
the others that they would redeem the gifts — a logical enough assumption,
given all the extra time they had. But they just kept putting it off, and
ultimately they were more likely to let the gift go unredeemed than the
people who had received the short-term certificates.
期限較長的禮券讓受試者更有信心能用掉禮券，這個推測很合理，因為他們有更多的時間
去消費。但這些受試者會一拖再拖，他們的禮券到最後反而更容易過期。
Once you start procrastinating pleasure, it can become a self-perpetuating
process if you fixate on some imagined nirvana. The longer you wait to open
that prize bottle of wine, the more special the occasion has to be.
一旦你開始拖延享樂，一直在等帶最佳想樂時機，就會形成自我持續過程。你等越久，你
享用珍藏酒釀的場合就必須要越特別。
If you’re determined to get the absolute maximum out of those frequent flier
miles, you can end up wasting them, as Dr. Shu found in an experiment
offering people a chance to use discount coupons in the course of buying a
series of plane tickets. Once the subjects were told that they might have a
chance at a free flight worth $1,000, they scorned lesser awards and hung on
to their coupons so long that in the end they had to use them for much
cheaper flights.
如果受試者拿到飛機的折扣票券，他們就會用盡其極想發揮飛行哩程的最大效用，但最後
都會浪費掉這些哩程數，這是Shu博士在實驗中所觀察到的現象。一旦受試者拿到等值一
千美金的機票，他們就會鄙棄較便宜的班機，但同時卻會把機票供奉起來，到最後他們只
能用來搭較便宜的班機。
“People can become overly focused on an ideal,” Dr. Shu said. “Even if
they know it’s unlikely, they get so focused on the perfect scenario that
they block everything else. Or they anticipate that they’ll kick themselves
later if they take second-best option and then see the best one is still
available. But they don’t realize that regret can go the other way. They’ll
end up with something worse and regret not taking the second-best one.”
Shu博士說：「人太容易執著於理想狀態，他們明知不可為卻為之。當他們拿到次等獎時
，他們就會後悔，並期望下次能戒掉拖延的惡習。但是他們沒想到下次情況可能會更糟，
最後連次等獎都拿不到。」
But even if you know about all this research, how can you apply these
lessons? How can you avoid the temptation to postpone pleasure? One immediate
strategy, Dr. Shu said, is to cash in quickly any gift certificate you
received this holiday season. “The biggest danger is that it will be
forgotten and expire,” she said. “One of the best presents you can give
back to the giver is to use it quickly and then tell them how much you
enjoyed it. The regret from not using it will be bigger than the regret from
using it on a nonperfect occasion, for you and especially for the person who
gave it.”
我們知道有這些現象，那麼要如何從中學取教訓呢？該如何抵抗推遲行樂的惰性呢？Shu
博士有個直截了當的方法，就是把這個連假拿到的禮券立刻拿去兌現。她說：「禮券最大
的風險就是沒存在感或是過期。拿到禮券就立刻使用，告訴贈方他的禮券有多麼好用就是
給贈方最好的回饋。忘了使用禮券比買個不實用的東西還要更讓人後悔。」
Another tactic is to give yourself deadlines. Cash in the miles by summer,
even if you can’t get a round-the-world trip out of them. Instead of waiting
for a special occasion to indulge yourself, create one. Dr. Shu approvingly
cites the pioneering therapeutic work of Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher,
who for the past decade used their Wall Street Journal column on wine to
proclaim the last Saturday of February to be “Open That Bottle Night.”
或是你也可以給自己設個期限。即使無法來趟環遊世界之旅，也要在夏天前把哩程數消化
完。如果沒辦法找到特別的時機來放縱自己，那就隨便找個理由來放縱啊！Shu博士非常贊同Dorothy Gaiter與John Brecher前衛又健康的做法，他們在華爾街日報有個評酒專欄，並把二月最後一個星期六定為「開瓶有益之夜」。
But you don’t even have to wait until Feb. 27. Remember the advice offered
in the movie “Sideways” to Miles, who has been holding on to a ’61 Cheval
Blanc so long that it is in danger of going bad. When Miles says he is
waiting for a special occasion, his friend Maya puts matters in perspective:
“The day you open a ’61 Cheval Blanc, that’s the special occasion.”
但我們也不用一定要等到這天才能享樂。電影《尋找新方向》裡的Miles把一瓶61年份的
白馬酒放到快要走味了，他告訴朋友Maya說他在等待特別的日子來享受這瓶酒，Maya卻意味深長地說：「你開這瓶酒的那天就是特別的日子。」
