Questões de Inglês

PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY

Want Happiness? Don’t Buy More Stuff — Go on Vacation When it comes to spending money on things or experiences, the research is clear: doing brings more happiness than owning. 

By Gary Belsky & Tom Gilovich | July 21, 2011

  Given that it’s vacation season for many folks, we thought it a good time to devote this Mind Over Money post to a brief discussion of what personal finance is ultimately all about. Some people, of course, really enjoy counting their money, deriving great satisfaction simply from watching their bottom line grow, often quite removed from any thought of what they might do with their riches. But for most of us, money is just a token for what we can do with it — pay the mortgage or rent, send kids to college, buy a TV or travel to Italy. And for nearly all of us, money is finite; there isn’t enough to do all we want, so we must be selective. That raises a crucial question: if we want to maximize the happiness or satisfaction we get from our money, how should we spend it? 

  There’s been a lot of recent research on this subject, much of it conducted at Tom’s home institution, Cornell University. And the answer is clear. If you’re conflicted about whether to spend money on a material good (say, a computer) or personal experience (say, a vacation), the research says you’ll get much more satisfaction — and for longer — if you choose the experience. Most of us, it turns out, get more bang from the experiential buck. Indeed, when people are asked to recall their most significant material and experiential purchases over the previous five years, they report that the experience brought more joy, was a source of more enduring satisfaction and was more clearly “money well spent¨. 

  This might seem counter-intuitive. After all, when faced with a trade-off between doing and buying, many people opt for the material good because “it will still be there” long after the experience would have been enjoyed. In one sense that’s correct: The material good lasts while the experience is fleeting. But psychologically it’s the reverse. We quickly adapt to the material good, but the experience endures in the memories we cherish, the stories we tell and the very sense of who we are. 

(http://moneyland.time.com Acesso em 25/08/2011. Adaptado.)

PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY

Want Happiness? Don’t Buy More Stuff — Go on Vacation When it comes to spending money on things or experiences, the research is clear: doing brings more happiness than owning. 

By Gary Belsky & Tom Gilovich | July 21, 2011

  Given that it’s vacation season for many folks, we thought it a good time to devote this Mind Over Money post to a brief discussion of what personal finance is ultimately all about. Some people, of course, really enjoy counting their money, deriving great satisfaction simply from watching their bottom line grow, often quite removed from any thought of what they might do with their riches. But for most of us, money is just a token for what we can do with it — pay the mortgage or rent, send kids to college, buy a TV or travel to Italy. And for nearly all of us, money is finite; there isn’t enough to do all we want, so we must be selective. That raises a crucial question: if we want to maximize the happiness or satisfaction we get from our money, how should we spend it? 

  There’s been a lot of recent research on this subject, much of it conducted at Tom’s home institution, Cornell University. And the answer is clear. If you’re conflicted about whether to spend money on a material good (say, a computer) or personal experience (say, a vacation), the research says you’ll get much more satisfaction — and for longer — if you choose the experience. Most of us, it turns out, get more bang from the experiential buck. Indeed, when people are asked to recall their most significant material and experiential purchases over the previous five years, they report that the experience brought more joy, was a source of more enduring satisfaction and was more clearly “money well spent¨. 

  This might seem counter-intuitive. After all, when faced with a trade-off between doing and buying, many people opt for the material good because “it will still be there” long after the experience would have been enjoyed. In one sense that’s correct: The material good lasts while the experience is fleeting. But psychologically it’s the reverse. We quickly adapt to the material good, but the experience endures in the memories we cherish, the stories we tell and the very sense of who we are. 

(http://moneyland.time.com Acesso em 25/08/2011. Adaptado.)

Fight the Violence!

Oct 14, 2011 6:53 PM EDT

What if gang violence in America could be reduced just by talking? Professor and activist David Kennedy talks with Ben Crair about his new book, Don’t Shoot, criticism of his plan, and the economics of gangs. 

  In 1995, David M. Kennedy went to Boston on behalf of* Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to study violent crime. Like many American cities at that time, Boston was suffering a wave of homicides. After linking up with a special Boston Police Department task force, Kennedy and his team recognized that most of the killing was the work of a small handful of identifiable gang members. Rather than locking them all up, they tried something new: They met with the gang members and community leaders, offered them assistance in getting off the streets, and warned them that, if any single gang member committed another murder*, they would crack down* on the entire group. Crime dropped almost overnight, and Kennedy’s “Operation Ceasefire,” as it has come to be known, has been implemented in more than 70 cities, addressing issues from gun violence to drug markets to juvenile robberies. Now, Kennedy recounts his experiences in a new book, Don’t Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America. 

(Newsweek, 14.10.2011. Adaptado)

*on behalf of:em nome de

*murder: assassinato

*crack down: usar de repressão com punição severa

Fight the Violence!

Oct 14, 2011 6:53 PM EDT

What if gang violence in America could be reduced just by talking? Professor and activist David Kennedy talks with Ben Crair about his new book, Don’t Shoot, criticism of his plan, and the economics of gangs. 

  In 1995, David M. Kennedy went to Boston on behalf of* Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to study violent crime. Like many American cities at that time, Boston was suffering a wave of homicides. After linking up with a special Boston Police Department task force, Kennedy and his team recognized that most of the killing was the work of a small handful of identifiable gang members. Rather than locking them all up, they tried something new: They met with the gang members and community leaders, offered them assistance in getting off the streets, and warned them that, if any single gang member committed another murder*, they would crack down* on the entire group. Crime dropped almost overnight, and Kennedy’s “Operation Ceasefire,” as it has come to be known, has been implemented in more than 70 cities, addressing issues from gun violence to drug markets to juvenile robberies. Now, Kennedy recounts his experiences in a new book, Don’t Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America. 

(Newsweek, 14.10.2011. Adaptado)

*on behalf of:em nome de

*murder: assassinato

*crack down: usar de repressão com punição severa

Fight the Violence!

Oct 14, 2011 6:53 PM EDT

What if gang violence in America could be reduced just by talking? Professor and activist David Kennedy talks with Ben Crair about his new book, Don’t Shoot, criticism of his plan, and the economics of gangs. 

  In 1995, David M. Kennedy went to Boston on behalf of* Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government to study violent crime. Like many American cities at that time, Boston was suffering a wave of homicides. After linking up with a special Boston Police Department task force, Kennedy and his team recognized that most of the killing was the work of a small handful of identifiable gang members. Rather than locking them all up, they tried something new: They met with the gang members and community leaders, offered them assistance in getting off the streets, and warned them that, if any single gang member committed another murder*, they would crack down* on the entire group. Crime dropped almost overnight, and Kennedy’s “Operation Ceasefire,” as it has come to be known, has been implemented in more than 70 cities, addressing issues from gun violence to drug markets to juvenile robberies. Now, Kennedy recounts his experiences in a new book, Don’t Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America. 

(Newsweek, 14.10.2011. Adaptado)

*on behalf of:em nome de

*murder: assassinato

*crack down: usar de repressão com punição severa