Will winning the lottery make you happier?

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/would-winning-the-lottery-make-you-happier-raj-raghunathan#watch

Imagine winning a multi-million dollar lottery tomorrow. If you're like many of us,
you'd be ​ecstatic​, unable to believe your good luck.

But would that joy still be there a few years later?

Maybe not.

A famous study of 22 lottery winners showed that months after winning, their
average reported levels of happiness had increased no more than that of a ​control
group​ who hadn't won the lottery.

Some were actually unhappier than they had been before winning. And later studies
have confirmed that our emotional ​well-being​, how often and how intensely we feel
things like joy, sorrow, anxiety, or anger, don't seem to improve with wealth or status
beyond a certain point.

This has to do with a phenomenon known as ​hedonic adaptation​, or the ​hedonic

treadmill​. It describes our ​tendency​ to adapt to new situations to maintain a stable
emotional ​equilibrium​.

When it comes to feeling happy, most of us seem to have a base level that stays
more or less constant throughout our existence. Of course, the novelty of better food,
superior vacations, and more beautiful homes can at first make ​you feel like you're
walking on air​, but as you get used to those things, you revert to your default
emotional state. That might sound pretty gloomy, but hedonic adaptation makes us
less emotionally sensitive to any kind of change, including negative ones.

The study with the lottery winners also looked at people who had suffered an
accident that left them paralyzed. When asked several months after their accidents
how happy they were, they reported levels of happiness approaching their original
baseline.

So while the hedonic treadmill may inhibit our enjoyment of positive changes, it
seems to also enable our ​resilience​ in recovering from adversity. There are other
reasons that winning the lottery may not make us happier in the long run. It can be
difficult to manage large sums of money, and some lottery winners wind up spending
or losing it all quickly.
It can also be socially isolating. Some winners experience a ​deluge​ of unwelcome
requests for money, so they wind up cutting themselves off from others.

And wealth may actually make us meaner.

In one study, participants played a ​rigged ​game of monopoly where the

experimenters made some players rich quickly. The wealthy players started
patronizing​ the poorer players and ​hogging​ the snacks they were meant to share.

But just because a huge ​influx​ of cash isn't guaranteed to bring joy into your life
doesn't mean that money can never make us happier. Findings show that we adapt
to ​extrinsic​ and material things, like a new car or a bigger house, much faster than
we do to novel experiences, like visiting a new place or learning a new skill.

So by that reasoning, the more you spend money on experiences rather than things,
the happier you'd be. And there's another way to turn your money into happiness:
spend it on other people.

In one study, ​participants​ were given some money and were either asked to spend it
on themselves or on someone else.

Later that evening, researchers called up these participants and asked them how
happy they were. The happiness levels of those who had spent the money on others
were significantly greater than that of those who had spent it on themselves.

And that seems to be true around the world. Another study examined the generosity
of over 200,000 people from 136 countries. In over 90% of these countries, people
who donated tended to be happier than those who didn't. But this may all be easier
said than done.

Let's say a million dollars falls into your lap tomorrow. What do you do with it?
1. Based on a study of lottery winners, it was found that winning the lottery:

A. Has little or no effect on long term happiness

B. Can make you less happy than you were before winning it
C. Has little effect on the intensity of anger, stress, and sorrow in your life
D. A and b only
E. All of the above are good answers

2. Winning the lottery can sometimes not be a wonderful event. What can happen?

A. It may be difficult to manage large sums of money

B. A person may spend or lose it all too quickly
C. It may be socially isolating
D. It may make you not such a nice person
E. All of the above

3. The more you spend money on ___________ the happier you will be.

A. Expensive cars
B. Food
C. Experiences
D. Your home

4. You have received a large sum of money, the best way to ensure your happiness
is to:

A. Immediately spend it on something for yourself

B. Spend it buying something for someone else
C. Put it in the bank
D. All of the above

VOCAB

To walk on air (idiom)

Definition of 'to be ​walking on air/ ​floating on ​air​'
If you say that you are ​walking on air​ or floating on ​air​, you ​mean​ that you feel
extremely happy about something.
gloom·y
/ˈɡlo͞omē/
adjective
feeling distressed or pessimistic.
If a situation is ​gloomy​, it does not give you much hope of success or happiness.

“Officials say the outlook for next year is gloomy.”

re·sil·ience
/rəˈzilyəns/
noun
the ability to ​recover​ ​strength​, ​spirits​, good humor, etc. quickly; ​toughness

pa·tron·ize
/ˈpātrəˌnīz,ˈpatrəˌnīz/
verb

If someone ​patronizes​ you, they speak or behave toward you in a way that seems
friendly, but that shows that they think they are superior to you in some way.

del·uge
/ˈdelyo͞o(d)ZH/
noun
a severe flood.
A ​deluge​ ​of​ things is a large number of them which arrive or happen at the same
time.
“There was a deluge of requests for interviews and statements.”

rig
/riɡ/
verb
past tense: ​rigged​; past participle: ​rigged
If someone ​rigs​ an election, a job appointment, or a game, they dishonestly arrange
it to get the result they want or to give someone an unfair advantage.
“She accused her opponents of rigging the vote.”

in·flux
/ˈinˌfləks/
noun
an arrival or entry of large numbers of people or things.
"a massive influx of tourists"

ex·trin·sic
/ikˈstrinzik,ikˈstrinsik/
adjective
being, ​coming​, or acting from the outside;

par·tic·i·pant
/ˌpärˈtisəpənt/
noun
a person who takes part in something.
The ​participants​ in an activity are the people who take part in it.
40 of the course participants are offered employment with the company.