你幸福吗？The Happy Baby Song

I recently stumbled on a youtube video of “The Happy Baby Song.” Caspar Addyman and Lauren Stewart, both psychologists at Goldsmiths, University of London, used babies’ brainwaves to find out what kinds of sounds make them happy. They like, for example, words that start with the letters “P” and “B”, but not with “L”. They like the pitch to be in the range of a female human voice, with fast tempos. Grammy award winning songwriter Imogen Heap used this research to write a song designed to make babies happy. It worked. All the babies in the video started laughing on hearing the song. My ten-month-old grandniece perked up and payed close attention when she heard it. I hope they are working on a “Happy Old Man” song next. Bhutan, the tiny Buddhist kingdom in the Himalayas, included the goal of enhancing “Gross National Happiness” in its 2008 constitution. Amazingly, the country’s legal code of 1729 states “if the government cannot create happiness for its people, there is no purpose for the government to exist.” Famously, the US Declaration of Independence says the reason governments exist is to secure the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The similar Chinese concept of “harmony” goes all the way back to Confucius. Unfortunately, GDP, which is the main metric of success for all countries, except Bhutan, has very little to do with happiness. It’s just a measure of the “goods and services” produced by the country. But, some of those goods are really “bads.” A company spewing chemicals into a lake would count as an increase in GDP, but no one would be happier—except maybe the company’s owner. Ironically, cleaning up the lake also counts as GDP. Putting a million new cars on Beijing’s roads would count as GDP, but almost everyone would be made less happy. Rich countries are not happier than poor ones. According to the 2015 Gallup Positive Experience Index, the poor South American country of Paraguay ranked happiest in the world. 89% of its people said “they experienced a lot of enjoyment, smiled and laughed a lot, felt well-rested and felt treated with respect.” 79% of Americans and 75% of Chinese agreed with that statement. Research by Nobel prize winning economists Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman concluded that, in the US, happiness increases with income up to about $75,000 per year. In most regions, that is about the amount a family needs to pay for the basics of life—food, housing, medical care, education, and the cars needed for transportation. After that, additional income does not lead to additional happiness. Logically, people could be made happy for less money if medical care and education were not so ridiculously expensive and if a better, cheaper, and a safer transportation system could be built. Research consistently shows that two factors are key to happiness--opportunities for social interaction and having a feeling of accomplishment. But in many countries, especially rich countries, society is structured to maximize goods production, while work time squeezes out social time. Too many people in the US work long hours and commute long distances so they can afford big houses, big cars and other material things, but they lose touch with their children and don’t know their neighbors. Dangerous, car-dependent cities deprive us of needed exercise, force us to waste time on the roads, and take away the places kids need to play. Of course, there are high pressure jobs and long commutes in China, too. But, many Chinese have been able to stick with family-based traditions. Countries are like people. They need to concentrate on material goods up to a point. After that, other things are much more important. 我最近偶然在YouTube上发现了“快乐宝贝歌”的视频。伦敦大学金史密斯学院的两位心理学家卡斯帕•阿迪曼（Caspar Addyman）和劳伦•斯图尔特（Lauren Stewart）通过婴儿的脑电波找出让婴儿们开心的音乐。比如，宝宝们喜欢以字母“P”和“B”开头的单词，而以字母“L”开头的单词不那么受他们青睐。宝宝们喜欢快节奏的，在女人音高范围内的音调。格莱美奖得主，作曲家伊莫金•希普（Imogen Heap）利用这项研究创作了一首旨在让宝宝快乐的歌曲。 这个歌很管用。视频中所有宝宝听到这首歌时都开始大笑。我十个月大的侄孙女一听到这歌，马上被吸引住了，变得非常活跃。 我希望接下来有作曲家能写一首“快乐老男人”歌。 不丹坐落于喜马拉雅山脚下，是一个很小的佛教王国。在2008年宪法中，不丹将提高“国民幸福总值”列为国家目标。令人惊奇的是，1729年的不丹国家法律规定，“如果政府不能为人民创造幸福，政府就失去了存在的价值。”著名的《美国独立宣言》中表示政府存在的原因就是要确保人人都有“生存，自由和追求幸福”的权利。而中国也有相似的概念，孔子时期就曾提出“和谐”。 不幸的是，GDP是所有国家(除了不丹)衡量成功的主要标准，它与幸福几乎没有关系。GDP只是衡量国家生产的“商品和服务”的指标。 但是，有些商品确实是“垃圾货”。公司向湖水中排放的化学物质将会计入GDP的增长，但除了公司的所有者，没有人会感到高兴。具有讽刺意味的是，清理湖水也算作GDP增长。北京的道路上增加一百万辆新车会被看成GDP的增长，但几乎没有人会因此感到幸福。 富国并不比穷国幸福。根据盖洛普（Gallup）2015年发布的全球积极体验指数（Positive Experience Index），贫穷的南美国家巴拉圭位居榜首。89%的巴拉圭人说:“他们经历了很多快乐，经常开怀地笑，休息的很好并且能够得到尊重。”而只有79%的美国人和75%的中国人表达了同样的观点。 诺贝尔奖得主、经济学家安格斯•迪顿(Angus Deaton)和丹尼尔•卡尼曼(Daniel Kahneman)的研究认为，在美国，幸福感会随着收入的增加而增加，但是能带给人幸福感的收入是有上限的，每年约为7.5万美元。在大多数地区，7.5万美元是一个家庭需要支付的基本生活必需品的费用，这其中包括食物、住房、医疗保健、教育和出行工具。超过7.5万，额外的收入并不会带来更多的幸福。从逻辑上讲，如果医疗和教育不那么昂贵，而且交通系统能够更加完善、便宜、安全，让人们感到幸福的金钱数量会下降。 研究不断表明，拥有社交互动的机会和成就感是获得幸福的两个关键因素。但是在许多国家，特别是富国，社会的结构就是为了最大限度地扩大商品生产，工作时间挤压了社交时间。 在美国，有太多的人长时间地工作，长距离地通勤，他们通过努力买到了大房子、好汽车和其他物质产品，但他们失去了与孩子的沟通，也不认识自己的邻居。现在的城市越来越依赖汽车，也因此变得更加危险。我们缺少了必要的锻炼，不得不在路上浪费时间，孩子们也没有可以玩耍的地方了。当然，中国也存在高压工作和长时间通勤。但是，很多中国人能够坚持以家庭为基础的传统。 国家的发展如同人的发展。国家需要把注意力集中在物质生产上，当GDP增长到一定的程度后，其他事情就变得更加重要了。