True happiness lies in rewarding relationships, not material wealth, according to new research. Scientists have said that a close circle of friends and family is most important for happiness, and that owning things such as iPhones, computers, being wealthy and owning a sports car do not provide the same level of satisfaction.
The study was done by psychologists at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Lund University, in Sweden. The experts analyzed(分析) articles in Swedish newspapers published in 2010 and recorded which words most often occurred in the same articles as the Swedish word for happiness. In this way, they could know our common happiness.
Co-author Dr Danilo Garcia, a researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy’s Centre for Ethics, Law and Mental Health, said, “It’s relationships that are most important, not material things that we possess, and this is in line with other findings in happiness research.”
The study, which contained more than 10 million words, showed that terms such as “grandmother” and personal pronouns such as “you”, “me”, “us” and “them” often emerge in the same article as the Swedish word for happiness. Researchers found that words such as “iPhone”, “millions” and “Google” almost never appear with the word “happiness”.
The study is a part of a larger research project on how people describe both positive and negative events in their lives. The researchers believe that the word analysis reflects a common perception among the members of our society as to what should make us happy.
Dr Danilo Garcia said, “Just as the Beatles sang, most people understand that money can’t buy you happiness or love. But even if we can understand the importance of close and warm relationships at a social level, it isn’t certain that everyone is aware that such relationships are actually necessary for our own personal happiness.”
【小题1】New research mainly shows that .| A．various things can lead to happiness in people |
| B．having some close friends is very important to us |
| C．owning expensive things can actually make us unhappy |
| D．rewarding relationships make us happy instead of material wealth |
| A．explain something new |
| B．are unbelievable to many people |
| C．prove material things are unimportant |
| D．confirm previous findings in happiness research |
| A．money really buys us happiness or love |
| B．rewarding relationships really lead to personal happiness |
| C．close and warm relationships are important at a social level |
| D．all people know rewarding relationships lead to personal happiness |
| A．By doing surveys. |
| B．By doing experiments. |
| C．By analyzing printed articles. |
| D．By referring to previous studies. |
