WEBVTT - A Silver Lining 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:24.756 Pushkin. I want to bring you back to one of 0:00:24.796 --> 0:00:28.316 my favorite moments in sporting history, one that provides an 0:00:28.356 --> 0:00:31.236 important message about what you can do to be happier. 0:00:32.756 --> 0:00:39.036 It's August fifth, twenty twelve, the London Olympics. As the 0:00:39.116 --> 0:00:43.396 soundtrack to Chariots of Fire fills the stadium, Jimmys Mkaila Moroney, 0:00:43.476 --> 0:00:46.676 wearing her team USA tracks, is waiting to accept an 0:00:46.676 --> 0:00:52.276 Olympic medal. Finally her name is called, prompting a huge 0:00:52.396 --> 0:00:59.836 cheer from the crowd. She waves, steps onto the podium 0:00:59.956 --> 0:01:02.036 and takes a deep breath that she bows her head. 0:01:04.356 --> 0:01:07.476 An official slips the metal over the ponytail, which holds 0:01:07.516 --> 0:01:10.676 back her hair so fiercely that all her features seem 0:01:10.756 --> 0:01:16.236 drawn upwards, all except her mouth, that is. Michaela is 0:01:16.276 --> 0:01:18.996 doing her best to keep a straight face, but she's 0:01:19.036 --> 0:01:24.236 barely suppressing a frown. Michaela shakes the official's hand and 0:01:24.356 --> 0:01:28.556 mouths thank you over the crowd noise. Another official presents 0:01:28.556 --> 0:01:31.356 the metalists with a bunch of flowers. A flicker of 0:01:31.356 --> 0:01:34.916 a polite smile crosses Michaela's lips for just an instant, 0:01:35.276 --> 0:01:42.636 and then fades, and then it happens the face for 0:01:42.836 --> 0:01:45.876 just a second in front of thousands of spectators and 0:01:46.036 --> 0:01:50.196 millions of TV viewers around the world. Michaela's mouth grimaces, 0:01:50.756 --> 0:01:54.396 contorting sharply to the left. It's a look that somewhere 0:01:54.436 --> 0:02:01.636 between annoyance and downright contempt. So why was Michaela scowling 0:02:01.796 --> 0:02:05.716 in front of all her fans? It was because of 0:02:05.756 --> 0:02:10.676 the metal around Michaela's neck. She just one the Olympic silver. 0:02:13.156 --> 0:02:16.756 In subsequent interviews, Michaela was everything you'd expect from a 0:02:16.796 --> 0:02:20.676 top ranking Olympian. She accepted that her unexpected fall in 0:02:20.716 --> 0:02:23.796 the vault competition men she didn't deserve to take gold. 0:02:24.236 --> 0:02:26.876 She asserted that she was happy with her runners up medal. 0:02:27.436 --> 0:02:30.476 But on that podium in London, just for a second, 0:02:31.116 --> 0:02:36.316 Michaela's face told another story. But here's an even bigger puzzle. 0:02:36.716 --> 0:02:40.116 The Russian gymnast Maria Passeka was also on the podium 0:02:40.156 --> 0:02:43.436 that day, and she did even worse. She only took 0:02:43.476 --> 0:02:47.396 the bronze medal. But the weird thing is Maria looked 0:02:47.636 --> 0:02:51.716 much much happier than Michaela did. So how can that be? 0:02:52.996 --> 0:02:57.036 The answer? It turns out involves a very common cognitive bias, 0:02:57.716 --> 0:03:01.396 one that doesn't only plague champion athletes. It's a bias 0:03:01.596 --> 0:03:04.956 that plagues all of us, and it's one that's impeding 0:03:04.956 --> 0:03:12.996 our happiness more than we expect. Our minds are constantly 0:03:13.036 --> 0:03:15.196 telling us what to do to be happy. But what 0:03:15.276 --> 0:03:17.676 if our minds are wrong? What if our minds are 0:03:17.756 --> 0:03:20.556 lying to us, leading us away from what will really 0:03:20.596 --> 0:03:24.236 make us happy. The good news is that understanding the 0:03:24.276 --> 0:03:26.636 science of the mind and point us all back in 0:03:26.716 --> 0:03:30.556 the right direction. You're listening to the Happiness Lab the 0:03:30.676 --> 0:03:37.396 doctor Laurie Santavius. If you were asked to choose which 0:03:37.436 --> 0:03:41.156 metal you'd want, gold, silver, or bronze, I'm pretty sure 0:03:41.196 --> 0:03:44.556 I could predict your order of preference. Even in crude 0:03:44.556 --> 0:03:47.716 monetary terms. The gold plated metal is more prized than 0:03:47.756 --> 0:03:50.796 the silver, which in turn is more valuable than the 0:03:50.836 --> 0:03:53.836 copper alloy one. But what if I were to ask 0:03:53.836 --> 0:03:56.476 you to rank the metals in order of which you 0:03:56.556 --> 0:03:59.716 think would bring you the greatest joy? Would you stick 0:03:59.756 --> 0:04:03.356 with those choices? I bet you would, which is one 0:04:03.356 --> 0:04:05.836 of the reasons everyone got so obsessed with Michael and 0:04:05.876 --> 0:04:09.596 Moroney's scowl. How could you be so upset with a 0:04:09.636 --> 0:04:14.236 silver medal within days of the ceremony. Michaela's second place 0:04:14.276 --> 0:04:18.316 grimace became a popular meme. She was photoshopped into great 0:04:18.356 --> 0:04:21.836 moments in human history, the moon landing, the fall of 0:04:21.836 --> 0:04:25.236 the Berlin Wall, when Miley Cyrus cut her hair short. 0:04:25.956 --> 0:04:29.676 In every event, Michaela is there, looking on and scowling. 0:04:29.716 --> 0:04:35.156 Michaela is the mean reminded us is not impressed. Michaela 0:04:35.196 --> 0:04:38.236 took her mumification with good grace, even when she was 0:04:38.236 --> 0:04:40.836 asked to make the face in the Oval Office beside 0:04:40.876 --> 0:04:45.036 President Barack Obama. She also did the rounds on late 0:04:45.076 --> 0:04:48.676 night talk shows, fielding questions about the now infamous expression. 0:04:49.396 --> 0:04:52.356 Here she is discussing the face with David Letterman. I 0:04:53.036 --> 0:04:56.036 thought to myself, I know exactly what's going on here. 0:04:56.676 --> 0:05:00.476 They've caught her at an introspective moment. She's probably not 0:05:00.636 --> 0:05:04.316 pleased with her performance, would rather have done better, and 0:05:04.396 --> 0:05:07.556 instead of silver, would rather gotten the gold. And who 0:05:07.596 --> 0:05:11.156 can blabor? And they've caught her and just a contemplative moment, 0:05:11.316 --> 0:05:14.556 and now they're making it silly? Am I right about that? 0:05:14.996 --> 0:05:24.316 It is pretty funny? I see it again. Letterman is right. 0:05:24.876 --> 0:05:27.796 Michaela was the hot favorite to take cold. Her fall 0:05:27.916 --> 0:05:31.916 dashed those hopes and momentarily broke her heart. But it 0:05:31.956 --> 0:05:36.996 turns out Michaela's silver metal reaction is really common. Hello. 0:05:37.396 --> 0:05:41.476 My name is Michelle quan Olympic figure skater. It's tough 0:05:41.476 --> 0:05:44.636 to find Olympians willing to talk about the crushing instant 0:05:44.836 --> 0:05:47.796 when the highest award in their sports slipped through their fingers. 0:05:48.516 --> 0:05:52.356 Michelle Kwan, however, didn't hesitate for a single second when 0:05:52.356 --> 0:05:54.716 I asked her to relive the memories of the biggest 0:05:54.796 --> 0:05:58.556 upset in her glittering ice skating career, the nineteen ninety 0:05:58.556 --> 0:06:01.916 eight Winter Games. I kind of let the waterworks happen. 0:06:02.156 --> 0:06:05.516 I mean it was going to happen. And you know, 0:06:05.836 --> 0:06:09.036 as your kid, yes, you dream of going to Olympics, 0:06:09.236 --> 0:06:12.516 you dream of winning gold, and you don't think of 0:06:12.716 --> 0:06:16.316 winning silver or bronze, and so it's a disappointment when 0:06:16.356 --> 0:06:20.596 you have high hopes and you do everything to make 0:06:20.636 --> 0:06:25.116 it happen. Just like MICHAELA, Michelle was predicted, no expected 0:06:25.316 --> 0:06:28.596 to take the gold. I was one of the favorites 0:06:28.636 --> 0:06:32.036 for sure going into those Olympics. Michelle's performance was one 0:06:32.036 --> 0:06:35.036 of the most anticipated of the day. She came to 0:06:35.076 --> 0:06:38.796 the Nagano Olympics just having won the national championship, where 0:06:38.796 --> 0:06:41.996 she earned an unprecedented six point zero, which is a 0:06:42.036 --> 0:06:45.596 perfect score in figure skating at the time, and Michelle's 0:06:45.716 --> 0:06:50.916 ninety eight Olympic performance did not disappoint. Wearing a sparkly 0:06:50.956 --> 0:06:54.916 blue dress, she skated to a harp and string concerto. 0:06:56.876 --> 0:07:02.276 The entire performance was flawless. I did perform both a 0:07:02.356 --> 0:07:05.396 clean short program long program, meaning that I made no mistakes. 0:07:05.876 --> 0:07:08.756 Michelle looked joyous when she left the ice. She even 0:07:08.756 --> 0:07:11.516 smile led up at her dad, who was clapping furiously 0:07:11.556 --> 0:07:14.956 in the stands. I was overwhelmed because I felt like 0:07:15.276 --> 0:07:17.196 I did it. You know, I did it. I did 0:07:17.196 --> 0:07:20.276 everything that I had planned. I did every single jump. 0:07:20.716 --> 0:07:23.836 I did my job and what I set out to do, 0:07:23.996 --> 0:07:28.196 and unfortunately, you know, it wasn't the best that night. 0:07:28.636 --> 0:07:32.516 Michelle's teammate, fifteen year old Tara Lipinski, took to the 0:07:32.556 --> 0:07:36.236 ice a little later. The alts were against her. No 0:07:36.316 --> 0:07:39.836 one so young or inexperienced had ever won figure skating gold, 0:07:40.836 --> 0:07:45.756 but Tara's long performance was stellar. She hit two triple 0:07:45.796 --> 0:07:50.356 triple jump combos and the crowd went wild. It was 0:07:50.396 --> 0:07:54.236 obvious that an upset was about to occur, and it 0:07:54.396 --> 0:07:57.716 like really happened within minutes. I knew from the reaction 0:07:57.756 --> 0:08:00.956 of just the applause that it's going to be close, 0:08:01.516 --> 0:08:04.996 and so it was sort of nail biting. But when 0:08:05.036 --> 0:08:08.196 the scores came out, I already knew Tara had taken 0:08:08.236 --> 0:08:11.396 the gold, and just like that, Michelle was bumped to 0:08:11.436 --> 0:08:16.316 second place. Her gold medal dreams dashed. You didn't even 0:08:16.356 --> 0:08:20.636 really have a moment because then you're walking down the 0:08:20.636 --> 0:08:24.956 hallway and then there's the press conference. It was just whatever, 0:08:25.236 --> 0:08:27.516 you know, like I was ready to answer questions and 0:08:27.556 --> 0:08:31.996 I'm very candid and I'm very honest, and I think 0:08:31.996 --> 0:08:34.556 I might have cried a little bit. And it's a 0:08:34.556 --> 0:08:39.436 disappointment and it's very raw. I mean, it is, of 0:08:39.476 --> 0:08:41.956 course a bit of a disappointment for an athlete not 0:08:42.036 --> 0:08:44.716 to get the gold. But what both Michelle and michaela 0:08:44.796 --> 0:08:47.996 seemed to be missing is the fact that they just 0:08:48.076 --> 0:08:52.676 won silver medals at the Olympic Games. They've each just 0:08:52.796 --> 0:08:56.436 proven that they're amongst the very best athletes in the world. 0:08:57.396 --> 0:09:00.996 But Michelle and mckailla aren't the only ones to be disappointed. 0:09:01.636 --> 0:09:05.356 I mean, champion British rower Catherine granger like in getting 0:09:05.396 --> 0:09:09.716 second place in Beijing to suffering a bereavement, and Canadian 0:09:09.756 --> 0:09:12.756 hockey star Joscelyn the Rock was so upset with her 0:09:12.796 --> 0:09:16.596 silver medal that she refused to wear it. Neither her coach, 0:09:16.716 --> 0:09:19.916 nor her teammates, nor even the angry crowd chanting put 0:09:19.916 --> 0:09:24.876 your metal on could change her mind. So what's going on? Well, 0:09:24.916 --> 0:09:28.596 it turns out all of these incredible competitors are in 0:09:28.636 --> 0:09:33.596 the throws of a rather common psychological error. We simulate 0:09:33.676 --> 0:09:37.676 alternative realities, and we react to events not just in 0:09:37.796 --> 0:09:41.396 terms of what happened, but what those simulations tell us 0:09:41.516 --> 0:09:45.676 might have happened, easily, could have happened, almost happened. This 0:09:45.756 --> 0:09:49.196 is Tom Gillibitch. He's a sports fanatic, both on the 0:09:49.236 --> 0:09:52.636 court and off. I looked around and there weren't that 0:09:52.796 --> 0:09:57.396 many over sixty five basketball players. Tom was still shooting 0:09:57.396 --> 0:10:01.716 hoops well into his seventh decade. His knees, miraculously, we're 0:10:01.756 --> 0:10:04.716 still holding up. I go out and play for court basketball. 0:10:04.756 --> 0:10:07.516 A few games, come back to my office and I 0:10:07.676 --> 0:10:10.796 was just beat good for nothing. I thought, I have 0:10:10.836 --> 0:10:13.356 a job. I can't do that. That job is as 0:10:13.396 --> 0:10:17.076 a professor of psychology at Cornell University. Tom is a 0:10:17.116 --> 0:10:20.436 world expert on the biases that affect our choices and 0:10:20.636 --> 0:10:24.836 our well being. Back in nineteen ninety two, Tom embarked 0:10:24.876 --> 0:10:27.076 on one of my favorite ever studies in the field 0:10:27.076 --> 0:10:30.556 of happiness research. It combined his love of sports with 0:10:30.596 --> 0:10:35.316 his access to high end consumer electronics. In those days, 0:10:35.596 --> 0:10:40.636 having a VHS recorder in your house was kind of 0:10:40.676 --> 0:10:43.396 new and exciting. If you had one, you were on 0:10:43.396 --> 0:10:46.716 the cutting edge of technology. Tom had been a seminar 0:10:46.956 --> 0:10:50.996 discussing why narrowly missing out on an imagined future torches 0:10:51.076 --> 0:10:53.796 us so much. He wanted to find a way to 0:10:53.796 --> 0:10:57.596 figure out what was going on. His sports brain suddenly 0:10:57.676 --> 0:11:00.836 kicked in. There a lot of data points out there 0:11:00.916 --> 0:11:04.156 of some disgruntled looking silver medallists, and one of the 0:11:04.156 --> 0:11:07.756 graduate students in the class, Vicki Medvick, said that sounds interesting. 0:11:07.796 --> 0:11:10.636 We should test that. To do so, Tom set his 0:11:10.716 --> 0:11:14.316 VCR to catch the Barcelona Olympics on NBC. So we 0:11:14.356 --> 0:11:18.836 recorded all of their coverage and then went through it. 0:11:19.476 --> 0:11:23.596 We pulled critical moments where swimmers are racing to the 0:11:23.676 --> 0:11:27.036 finish line and they touch one, two, three, and we 0:11:27.356 --> 0:11:30.756 just followed the camera. Sometimes most often of course, they're 0:11:30.756 --> 0:11:33.796 focusing on the gold medal winner. Sometimes they'll show the 0:11:33.796 --> 0:11:36.396 faces of the bronze and silver medal winner. We would 0:11:36.516 --> 0:11:39.476 edit those and show them to judges and have them 0:11:40.556 --> 0:11:44.316 score it on a agony to ecstasy scale, borrowing a 0:11:44.396 --> 0:11:48.476 phrase from an old sports program, The Wide World of Sports. 0:11:48.836 --> 0:11:52.076 Those judges Tom's students had to give each face they 0:11:52.076 --> 0:11:55.516 saw a score from one to ten. If the athlete 0:11:55.516 --> 0:11:58.116 looked like they were an emotional agony, they got a one. 0:11:58.796 --> 0:12:01.196 If the medalist appeared to be in the throes of ecstasy, 0:12:01.436 --> 0:12:04.916 it was a ten. The bronze medalists scored on average 0:12:05.196 --> 0:12:07.276 a seven point one out of ten on that scale. 0:12:08.156 --> 0:12:11.596 That's pretty high, especially given that they had just gotten 0:12:11.676 --> 0:12:16.276 third place. But silver medalists they scored not a seven, 0:12:16.516 --> 0:12:20.516 nor a six, not even a five. On average, they 0:12:20.556 --> 0:12:23.436 were at a four point eight. Of all the people 0:12:23.436 --> 0:12:27.916 on the podium, the silver medalists were clearly the most miserable, 0:12:28.796 --> 0:12:31.996 and on tom scale, a four point eight is closer 0:12:32.036 --> 0:12:36.196 to agony than to ecstasy. M Does this mean that 0:12:36.236 --> 0:12:39.236 the silver medalists, who's so close to the gold they 0:12:39.236 --> 0:12:43.636 could almost taste it, think of their quite significant achievement 0:12:43.756 --> 0:12:47.036 not as achievement, but as a failure to win the gold, 0:12:47.076 --> 0:12:49.116 the failure to be the person who can be on 0:12:49.156 --> 0:12:53.236 the wheaty box the following year, whereas the bronze medalist. 0:12:54.076 --> 0:12:56.556 They might also some of them, especially if they were 0:12:56.596 --> 0:12:59.476 expecting to win, might imagine, oh, if I'd done a 0:12:59.476 --> 0:13:01.476 little better, I could get the gold medal. But the 0:13:01.556 --> 0:13:04.756 gold medal is two slots away. One slot away in 0:13:04.796 --> 0:13:07.636 the opposite direction is not getting a medal at all, 0:13:07.756 --> 0:13:13.156 and so psychologically that's a more tempting alternative to reality, 0:13:13.596 --> 0:13:17.556 to construct, and therefore they have a sense of relief that, wow, 0:13:17.716 --> 0:13:21.276 at least I got a medal. Tom's finding wasn't just 0:13:21.316 --> 0:13:24.756 true at the Barcelona Olympics. The agony of silver medalist 0:13:24.876 --> 0:13:29.196 has been confirmed experimentally again and again. During the two 0:13:29.196 --> 0:13:33.236 thousand and four Athens Games, Professor David Matsumoto of San 0:13:33.236 --> 0:13:37.876 Francisco State teamed up with martial arts journalists Bob Willingham. 0:13:37.956 --> 0:13:41.316 They ran judo medalists from over thirty different countries through 0:13:41.316 --> 0:13:43.756 a state of the art technique called the Facial Action 0:13:43.796 --> 0:13:47.356 Coding system. They noted the exact movements of each of 0:13:47.396 --> 0:13:50.516 the muscles in the athletes faces and we're talking all 0:13:50.516 --> 0:13:55.116 the muscles here, from the corrugators superciliate to the zygomaticus major. 0:13:56.076 --> 0:13:59.356 The researchers confirmed what Tom's judges saw and revealed a 0:13:59.436 --> 0:14:02.956 pattern that was even more striking. The martial artists who 0:14:02.996 --> 0:14:05.796 won silver weren't just less happy than those in first 0:14:05.836 --> 0:14:08.956 and third place, they were in a completely different state 0:14:08.996 --> 0:14:14.676 of mind. Their facial expressions showed distinctly negative emotions, emotions 0:14:14.716 --> 0:14:20.236 like sadness, anger, and disgust, which is remarkable. I mean, 0:14:20.436 --> 0:14:24.076 they just got Olympic recognition for their sporting achievements, and 0:14:24.156 --> 0:14:28.516 their faces said they felt awful. These findings show that 0:14:28.556 --> 0:14:32.396 the imagined alternative that of a gold medal poisons the 0:14:32.596 --> 0:14:37.476 actually really awesome reality the silver medalist experience. They've just 0:14:37.596 --> 0:14:40.756 won an Olympic medal that should be a thrill, but 0:14:40.876 --> 0:14:44.476 they end up looking enviously at the one single solitary 0:14:44.516 --> 0:14:48.516 person on earth who beat them. But this experience isn't 0:14:48.556 --> 0:14:51.756 just a problem for Olympians. It's part of human nature. 0:14:52.516 --> 0:14:55.876 It's a bias that's deeply ingrained in all of us. 0:14:56.396 --> 0:15:01.116 People don't react to the stimuli they confront. They react 0:15:01.116 --> 0:15:04.476 to the meaning that they attached to the stimuli. Second 0:15:04.476 --> 0:15:07.836 place is great, except if you've assigned it the meaning 0:15:07.876 --> 0:15:11.436 of it not being the gold medal. But bronze medalists 0:15:11.476 --> 0:15:14.116 clearly attach a different meaning to getting third place on 0:15:14.116 --> 0:15:18.956 the leaderboard. They aren't gazing disappointedly at the champ They're 0:15:18.996 --> 0:15:22.156 looking down at all the people who didn't beat them. 0:15:22.796 --> 0:15:25.956 They're thinking about the possibility of not getting a medal 0:15:26.196 --> 0:15:29.916 at all. Bronze medalists are framing their experience in a 0:15:29.956 --> 0:15:33.196 way that is also pretty relatable, especially if you think 0:15:33.236 --> 0:15:36.756 back on your own life experiences. Many times people will 0:15:36.796 --> 0:15:39.556 say that, oh, the happiest moment of my life is 0:15:39.716 --> 0:15:41.436 you know, I was having a medical task because there 0:15:41.516 --> 0:15:44.396 was something to worry about and it turned out it 0:15:44.476 --> 0:15:47.916 was nothing, and I'll always remember that day. It just 0:15:48.116 --> 0:15:51.836 you're ere ecstatic that something bad didn't happen. There's always 0:15:51.836 --> 0:15:54.116 a worse reference point out there if you look carefully enough, 0:15:54.356 --> 0:15:57.156 yes problem as we do often look Yes. I mean, 0:15:57.236 --> 0:16:02.516 it's really a psychology of counting your blessings. Before we 0:16:02.556 --> 0:16:05.396 take a break, let's play a quick would you rather game? 0:16:06.316 --> 0:16:09.356 Would you rather take a a job were you earn 0:16:09.476 --> 0:16:12.916 fifty thousand dollars a year, or be a job where 0:16:12.956 --> 0:16:17.116 you earn one hundred thousand dollars a year. Time's up. 0:16:17.996 --> 0:16:20.556 My guess is that you went with option B. But 0:16:21.396 --> 0:16:24.396 I didn't tell you what everyone else at the Imaginary 0:16:24.396 --> 0:16:28.516 Company was earning. And that makes a bigger difference than 0:16:28.556 --> 0:16:32.036 you think. The Happiness Lab will be back in a moment. 0:16:45.236 --> 0:16:47.836 It's nineteen eighty one in England is in the group 0:16:47.916 --> 0:16:51.596 of a terrible economic crisis. Jerry Dammers and his ska 0:16:51.636 --> 0:16:54.916 band The Specials are touring the country, playing concerts in 0:16:54.996 --> 0:16:58.676 city after city, and everywhere they go they see the 0:16:58.716 --> 0:17:05.036 same thing. Auto plants closing, shipyards shutting down, factory gates 0:17:05.316 --> 0:17:08.476 being locked for good. Nearly three million Brits are out 0:17:08.476 --> 0:17:12.396 of work and six thousand more are joining those ranks 0:17:12.436 --> 0:17:16.756 every single day. Dammer's hit song powerfully evokes the feeling 0:17:16.796 --> 0:17:28.516 of hard times. Ghost town must be miserable, but as 0:17:28.516 --> 0:17:31.756 it turns out, you may be happier living in a 0:17:31.756 --> 0:17:35.596 ghost town than a boomtown if you're unemployed. And to 0:17:35.636 --> 0:17:38.716 explain why I need to talk about the power of 0:17:38.796 --> 0:17:42.796 reference points, you see, our mind is constantly telling us 0:17:42.836 --> 0:17:47.356 that being absolutely better is what matters. Gold is better 0:17:47.396 --> 0:17:50.076 than silver, which is better than bronze. Getting an A 0:17:50.156 --> 0:17:52.396 plus on your report card is better than an A, 0:17:52.916 --> 0:17:56.436 which is better than an Earning one hundred thousand dollars 0:17:56.716 --> 0:17:59.516 is better than seventy five thousand, which is better than 0:17:59.556 --> 0:18:03.676 fifty thousand. But it turns out that being absolutely better 0:18:04.116 --> 0:18:08.436 doesn't always feel better. It depends on your reference point, 0:18:09.116 --> 0:18:13.636 that other alternative reality you're paying attention to, which takes 0:18:13.716 --> 0:18:17.396 us back to ghost towns. Back in two thousand and three, 0:18:17.476 --> 0:18:20.516 Andrew Clark, a professor at the Paris School for Economics, 0:18:20.996 --> 0:18:23.756 studied well being in the UK across different kinds of 0:18:23.796 --> 0:18:26.476 labor markets, whether you're in a ghost town like the 0:18:26.516 --> 0:18:29.596 one in the Special Song or a bloomtown in which 0:18:29.676 --> 0:18:32.836 only a small number of people are seeking work. What 0:18:32.876 --> 0:18:36.636 did he find well As you might expect, Clark found 0:18:36.676 --> 0:18:41.156 that not having a job kind of sucks. Overall, unemployed 0:18:41.156 --> 0:18:45.116 folks were less happy than those with jobs, but how 0:18:45.156 --> 0:18:48.996 big that effect was dependent on where you lived. Being 0:18:49.076 --> 0:18:51.476 unemployed in a town where lots of folks are unemployed 0:18:51.836 --> 0:18:54.636 doesn't feel as bad as being unemployed in a town 0:18:54.676 --> 0:18:57.836 where lots of folks are working. Clark's stata showed that 0:18:57.876 --> 0:19:00.996 we're using the other people around us as a reference point. 0:19:01.636 --> 0:19:06.516 Misery really does love company. If you've heard the last episode, 0:19:06.716 --> 0:19:09.596 you may recall that lottery owners, millionaires, and other people 0:19:09.636 --> 0:19:12.356 earning lots and lots of money usually aren't all that 0:19:12.436 --> 0:19:15.316 much happier than the rest of us. The science of 0:19:15.356 --> 0:19:19.516 reference points shows why it's true that millionaires have objectively 0:19:19.516 --> 0:19:21.876 more money than lots of people on the planet, but 0:19:21.956 --> 0:19:24.116 they also hang out with people who make even more 0:19:24.156 --> 0:19:26.996 money than they do, which means they don't end up 0:19:27.036 --> 0:19:30.276 feeling all that wealthy. The minds of the super rich 0:19:30.796 --> 0:19:34.756 naturally compare themselves against the super super rich, and everyone 0:19:34.996 --> 0:19:37.996 ends up feeling bad. You can always find a better 0:19:38.036 --> 0:19:41.276 middle out there when it comes to salary, and that 0:19:41.356 --> 0:19:45.356 kind of envy can bring out our mean streak. Do 0:19:45.396 --> 0:19:48.596 you remember that would you rather question? From earlier? It 0:19:48.636 --> 0:19:52.036 was about picking from two different salaries, one higher and 0:19:52.156 --> 0:19:55.716 one lower. We'd pretty much all take the bigger paycheck, 0:19:56.156 --> 0:19:59.116 but Tom Gilowitch explained a twist that can trigger our 0:19:59.156 --> 0:20:03.036 obsession with reference points. There's a nice old economic study 0:20:03.156 --> 0:20:06.076 where respondents were asked which world would you rather live in? 0:20:06.156 --> 0:20:10.276 One where you make fifty tho dollars a year and 0:20:10.436 --> 0:20:13.596 other people make twenty five, so you're the richest person 0:20:13.716 --> 0:20:16.036 on your block. Or would you rather live in a 0:20:16.076 --> 0:20:18.476 world where you make a hundred thousand but everybody else 0:20:18.516 --> 0:20:21.156 makes two hundred thousand, so you're making twice as much. 0:20:21.196 --> 0:20:24.556 You have twice as much purchasing power, but other people 0:20:24.596 --> 0:20:27.996 have still more than you, And that turns out to 0:20:27.996 --> 0:20:31.996 be a hard problem. The respondents are roughly split. Half 0:20:31.996 --> 0:20:34.996 of them want just give me more money, I don't 0:20:34.996 --> 0:20:37.316 care that other people are making more than I am, 0:20:37.796 --> 0:20:41.796 and other people want to be the top dog. These 0:20:41.836 --> 0:20:44.676 results are crazy. Almost half of us would be willing 0:20:44.676 --> 0:20:47.116 to give up a huge part of our salary just 0:20:47.276 --> 0:20:50.156 to be doing better than other people. But we don't 0:20:50.156 --> 0:20:53.596 just do this with money. Sarah Sulnick and David Hemenway, 0:20:53.756 --> 0:20:56.516 who ran the original study, asked a whole list of 0:20:56.556 --> 0:20:59.916 similar questions about other kinds of achievements. Do you want 0:20:59.956 --> 0:21:02.556 to be very pretty in a sea of fashion models 0:21:03.156 --> 0:21:06.996 or kind of plane, but prettier than other people? Do 0:21:07.036 --> 0:21:10.236 you want to be super smart or smarter than your peers. 0:21:11.276 --> 0:21:14.476 Turns out many people would rather be dumber and uglier 0:21:14.796 --> 0:21:19.156 as long as they're superior to those immediately around them. 0:21:19.276 --> 0:21:22.436 Our desire to compare ourselves with others does make us 0:21:22.476 --> 0:21:25.236 do some downright dumb stuff in the real world, and 0:21:25.356 --> 0:21:28.476 our tendency to envy other people can also leave us 0:21:28.476 --> 0:21:34.356 open to manipulation. In a typical lottery like Powerball in 0:21:34.356 --> 0:21:37.396 the US, you buy a ticket, your number comes up, 0:21:37.756 --> 0:21:41.156 you enterprize. But in the Netherlands, your feet in the 0:21:41.236 --> 0:21:47.516 lottery is directly tied to that of your neighbors. Hallows. 0:21:50.996 --> 0:21:54.916 This is the Dutch postcode lottery. It's a charity lottery, 0:21:55.356 --> 0:21:58.716 meaning that all proceeds go to a good cause. But 0:21:58.876 --> 0:22:02.836 this lottery works differently than playing powerball. The winning number 0:22:03.116 --> 0:22:06.716 isn't when you pick yourself. It's linked to your zip code. 0:22:07.356 --> 0:22:11.716 Every Sunday night, one Dutch postcode is picked out. If 0:22:11.756 --> 0:22:14.076 you live in that area and bought a ticket, you 0:22:14.156 --> 0:22:18.196 automatically win the weekly street prize of twenty five thousand euros. 0:22:18.716 --> 0:22:22.036 That's a massive chunk of the average Dutch salary. But 0:22:22.116 --> 0:22:24.756 if you didn't buy a ticket, well, you get nothing, 0:22:25.076 --> 0:22:27.596 which is kind of a bummer, even more of a 0:22:27.596 --> 0:22:31.636 bummer than losing a regular lottery in powerball. If you 0:22:31.676 --> 0:22:34.196 didn't buy a ticket, you don't feel a huge sense 0:22:34.196 --> 0:22:37.236 of loss. When some random number is announced. But if 0:22:37.276 --> 0:22:40.076 you didn't buy a Dutch Street prize ticket and your 0:22:40.196 --> 0:22:43.516 zip code comes up, that feeling of loss cuts deeply. 0:22:44.356 --> 0:22:47.276 It's not some random number that won, it was your 0:22:47.396 --> 0:22:50.676 postcode and you passed up money that should have been 0:22:50.716 --> 0:22:54.836 yours when you didn't play. That alternative reality where you 0:22:54.876 --> 0:22:57.996 could have won a lot of money becomes very salient. 0:22:58.436 --> 0:23:01.196 But the real kicker happens when you look out your window, 0:23:01.716 --> 0:23:04.556 because on average, a quarter of your neighbors bought a 0:23:04.556 --> 0:23:08.516 ticket and they're celebrating right now because some celebrity just 0:23:08.556 --> 0:23:17.036 brought them a huge, oversized check. Just like silver medalists 0:23:17.036 --> 0:23:20.196 can't help but look to gold, the neighbors of Dutch 0:23:20.236 --> 0:23:24.356 lottery winners can't help but frame themselves as losers, with 0:23:24.436 --> 0:23:27.676 all of the unhappy emotions that this sort of envy brings, 0:23:28.076 --> 0:23:31.756 even though their situation hasn't changed at all. I mean, 0:23:31.876 --> 0:23:35.676 think about it, they didn't really lose anything. They're just 0:23:35.756 --> 0:23:39.516 as rich as they were yesterday, but now they feel awful. 0:23:40.956 --> 0:23:44.436 But it gets worse. In two thousand and five, Peter Coon, 0:23:44.516 --> 0:23:47.836 an economist at UC Santa Barbara, teamed up with colleagues 0:23:47.836 --> 0:23:51.236 to test what one Dutch household winning the prize does 0:23:51.316 --> 0:23:54.876 to material consumption in the rest of the community. How 0:23:54.916 --> 0:23:57.836 it's seeing your neighbors renovate their house, go on vacation, 0:23:58.076 --> 0:24:00.316 or park a shiny new ride in the driveway make 0:24:00.356 --> 0:24:04.756 you feel probably like a loser, and maybe like you 0:24:04.876 --> 0:24:08.876 deserve something new too, even though you didn't win any money. 0:24:09.276 --> 0:24:11.956 Coon studied the long term impact of having a lottery 0:24:11.956 --> 0:24:15.316 winner and neighbor. A typical non ticket buyer has a 0:24:15.356 --> 0:24:17.796 fourteen percent chance of buying a new car within a 0:24:17.796 --> 0:24:20.716 given year. But if someone two doors down from you 0:24:20.756 --> 0:24:24.476 actually wins the lottery, that bumps up your probability of 0:24:24.476 --> 0:24:27.716 buying a new car to eighteen percent. And if that 0:24:27.716 --> 0:24:30.636 winner lives right next door to you, you're urged to 0:24:30.636 --> 0:24:33.676 buy a new car jumps from fourteen percent to twenty 0:24:33.676 --> 0:24:36.996 one percent. Having a next door neighbor get rich suddenly 0:24:37.396 --> 0:24:41.276 pushes you to make purchases you wouldn't normally make. The 0:24:41.396 --> 0:24:44.116 idea of a postcode lottery is now spreading around the world, 0:24:44.436 --> 0:24:47.356 which is great because these lotteries do raise a lot 0:24:47.396 --> 0:24:50.556 of money for good causes. The Dutch one alone has 0:24:50.636 --> 0:24:55.156 generated billions of dollars for charity since its inception. But 0:24:55.276 --> 0:24:58.596 watching the promotional videos for these games made me realize 0:24:58.596 --> 0:25:02.876 the psychological pull of this particular kind of lottery. It's 0:25:02.956 --> 0:25:06.756 fomal one O one. It's tapping into our automatic urge 0:25:06.916 --> 0:25:10.956 to use other people as reference points, often at our 0:25:10.956 --> 0:25:16.116 own disadvantage. I'm as guilty as anyone of making myself 0:25:16.156 --> 0:25:20.196 sad by constantly picking unflattering reference points, both in my 0:25:20.276 --> 0:25:23.516 professional and in my personal life. It's a trait I 0:25:23.556 --> 0:25:26.996 worry about and one I confess to Tom because if 0:25:26.996 --> 0:25:29.836 I think about, you know, who's a psychologist is doing 0:25:29.836 --> 0:25:31.836 really well, it's publishing a lot or you know, who's 0:25:31.876 --> 0:25:34.676 one of my friends who's like really beautiful, Like, my 0:25:34.796 --> 0:25:37.476 mind doesn't go to, like, oh, let's pick a medium productive, 0:25:37.636 --> 0:25:40.356 you know, psychologist, or I'll pick a like medium beautiful person. 0:25:40.476 --> 0:25:43.836 Like we pick the comparison that it sub sets is 0:25:43.876 --> 0:25:46.196