They say we tend to view the past through rose-tinted spectacles but it seems that is far from a universal rule. According to psychologists in America our views on our past and future happiness change as a function of where we are in our lives.

From a survey of over 3000 American adults conducted at two time points spaced nine years apart, Margie Lachman and colleagues found that younger and middle-aged people tended to underestimate their past happiness and to overestimate their future happiness - probably because to do so helps motivate them to strive for a better life.

By contrast, older people (aged over 65) were more accurate in recalling their prior and future life satisfaction - in this case, to do so probably reflected their need to accept their life as it had been lived, combined with their greater understanding of our capacity to adjust emotionally to whatever life throws our way. Indeed, in line with the predictions of the older participants, most people's life satisfaction, in this study and others, actually changes very little through the years (in Western democracies, at least).

Lachman's team also looked out how adaptive it was for people to have either rose-tinted or darkly clouded views of their past and future. The results showed that at whatever age, it is beneficial to have a more realistic view of the past and future. Those participants who more accurately perceived their past and future happiness tended to suffer less depression and enjoy better health.

"The young have an illusion of continued improvement, seeing the past as worse than it really was and the future as better than it turns out to be," the researchers said. "This illusion is consistent with their motivational orientation toward continued growth and gains."

有人說，我們傾向于對過去的事物持積極樂觀的態(tài)度，不過現(xiàn)在看來，這還遠(yuǎn)未成為一條普遍規(guī)律。根據(jù)美國心理學(xué)家們的發(fā)現(xiàn)，我們對過去和未來是否幸福的觀點(diǎn)的變化取決于我們在人生旅途中的位置。

對超過3000名美國成年人，在相隔九年的兩個(gè)時(shí)間點(diǎn)上進(jìn)行的一次調(diào)查中，瑪吉·拉克曼（Margie Lachman）和同事們發(fā)現(xiàn)年輕人和中年人傾向于過低評價(jià)他們過去的幸福，而對未來的幸福估計(jì)過高——很可能是因?yàn)檫@么做能讓他們擁有追求更好生活的動(dòng)力。

相比之下，老年人（超過65歲）在描述他們過去和未來生活的滿意程度時(shí)更加準(zhǔn)確——在這個(gè)案例中，這么做或許反映出他們需要承認(rèn)自己的生活已經(jīng)成為過去，以及他們對生活旅途中出現(xiàn)任何障礙時(shí)應(yīng)具有的情緒調(diào)節(jié)能力有了更深刻的理解。事實(shí)上，與這些老年人參與者的預(yù)見一致，大多數(shù)人的生活滿意程度，在這個(gè)和其他研究中，經(jīng)過多年也鮮有改變。（至少在西方民主國家是如此）

拉克曼的團(tuán)隊(duì)還查明了人們對過去和未來持有的樂觀或悲觀態(tài)度有多大的適用性。結(jié)果顯示，無論在什么年齡段，對過去和未來都持現(xiàn)實(shí)主義的態(tài)度是有利的。那些能更加準(zhǔn)確評價(jià)自己過去和未來幸福程度的人，其憂傷更少，身體更健康。

“年輕人幻想著生活能連續(xù)不斷地改善，將過去看的比其實(shí)際更糟糕，又把未來想的比其實(shí)際更美好，”研究者們說，“這個(gè)幻想與他們充滿動(dòng)力的目標(biāo)——持續(xù)的成長和收獲——是并行一致的。”