A
Americans today choose among more options in more options in more parts of life than has ever been possible before. To an extent, the opportunity to choose enhances our lives. It is only logical to think that if some choice is good, more is better; people who care about having infinite options will benefit from them, and those who do not can always just ignore the 273 versions of cereal they have never tried. Yet recent research strongly suggests that, psychologically, this assumption is wrong. Although some choice is undoubtedly better than none, more is not always better than less.
B
Recent research offers insight into why many people end up unhappy rather than pleased when their options expand. We began by making a distinction between "maximizers" (those who always aim to make the best possible choice) and "satisficers" (those who aim for "good enough," whether or not better selections might be out there).
C
In particular, we composed a set of statements- the Maximization Scale—to diagnose people's propensity to maximize. Then we had several thousand people rate themselves from 1 to 7 (from "completely disagree" to "completely agree) on such statements as "I never settle for second best." We also evaluated their sense, of satisfaction with their decisions. We did not define a sharp cutoff to separate maximizers from satisficers, but in general, we think of individuals whose average scores are higher than 4 (the scale's midpoint) as maximizers and those whose scores are lower than the midpoint as satisficers. People who score highest on the test—the greatest maximisers—engage in more product comparisons than the lowest scorers, both before and after they make purchasing decisions, and they take longer to decide what to buy. When satisficers find an item that meets their standards, they stop looking. But maximizers exert enormous effort reading labels, checking out consumer magazines and trying new products. They also spend more time comparing their purchasing decisions with those of others.
D
We found that the greatest maximizers are the least happy with the fruits of their efforts. When they compare themselves with others, they get little pleasure from finding out that they did better and substantial dissatisfaction from finding out that they did worse. They are more prone to experiencing regret after a purchase, and if their acquisition disappoints them, their sense of well-being takes longer to recover. They also tend to brood or ruminate more than satisficers do.
E
Does it follow that maximizers are less happy in general than satisficers? We tested this by having people fill out a variety of questionnaires known to be reliable indicators of well-being. As might be expected, individuals with high maximization scores experienced less satisfaction with life and were less happy, less optimistic and more depressed than people with low maximization scores. Indeed, those with extreme maximization ratings had depression scores that placed them in the borderline clinical range.
F
Several factors explain why more choice is not always better than less, especially for maximizers. High among these arc "opportunity costs." The quality of any given option cannot be assessed in isolation from its alternatives. One of the “costs” of making a selection is losing the opportunities that a different option would have afforded. Thus an opportunity cost of vacationing on the beach in Cape Cod might be missing the fabulous restaurants in the Napa Valley. EARLY DECISION-MAKING RESEARCH by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky showed that people respond much more strongly to losses than gains. If we assume that opportunity costs reduce the overall desirability of the most preferred choice, then the more alternatives there are, the deeper our sense of loss will be and the less satisfaction we will derive from our ultimate decision.
G
The problem of opportunity costs will be worse for a maximizer than for a satisficer. The latter's "good enough" philosophy can survive thoughts about opportunity costs. In addition, the "good enough" standard leads to much less searching and inspection of alternatives than the maximizer's "best" standard. With fewer choices under consideration, a person will have fewer opportunity costs to subtract.
H
Just as people fed sorrow about the opportunities they have forgone, they may also suffer regret about the option they settle on. My colleagues and I devised a scale to measure proneness to feeling regret, and we found that people with high sensitivity to regret are less happy, less satisfied with life, less optimistic and more depressed than those with low sensitivity. Not surprisingly, we also found that people with high regret sensitivity tend to be maximizers. Indeed, we think that worry over future regret is a major reason that individuals become maximizers. The only way to be sure you will not regret a decision is by making the best possible one. Unfortunately, the more options you have and the more opportunity costs you incur, the more likely you are to experience regret.
I
In a classic demonstration of the power of sunk costs, people were offered season subscriptions to a local theater company. Some were offered the tickets at frill price and others at a discount. Then the researchers simply kept track of how often the ticket purchasers actually attended the plays over the course of the season. Full-price payers were more likely to show up at performances than discount payers. The reason for this, the investigators argued, was that the full-price payers would experience more regret if they did not use the tickets because not using the more costly tickets would constitute a bigger loss. To increase sense of happiness, We can decide to restrict our options when the decision is not crucial. For example, make a rule to visit no more than two stores when shopping for clothing.
Questions 28-31
Use the information in the passage to match the category (listed A-D) with descriptions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-D in boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet.
A. Maximiser
B. Satisficer
C. Both
D. Neither of them
28. finish transaction when the items match their expectation
29. buy the most expensive things when shopping
30. consider repeatedly until they make final decision
31. participate in the questionnaire of the author
Questions 32-36
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage
32. With the society's advancement, more chances make our lives better and happier.
33. There is difference of findings by different gender classification.
34. The feeling of loss is greater than that of acquisition.
35. 'Good enough' plays a more significant role in pursuing "best' standards of maximizer.
36. There are certain correlations between the "regret" people and the maximizers.
Questions 37-40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.
Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet
37 What is the subject of this passage?
A. regret makes people less happy
B. choices and Well-being
C. an interesting phenomenon
D. advices on shopping
38 According to conclusion of questionnaires, which of the following statement is correct?
A. maximizers are less happy
B. state of being optimistic is important
C. uncertain results arc found.
D. maximizers tend to cross bottom line
39 The experimental on theater tickets suggested:
A. sales are different according to each season
B. people like to spend on the most expensive items
C. people feel depressed if they spend their vouchers
D. people will feel regret more when they fail to use a higher price purchase
40 What is author's suggestion on how to increase happiness:
A. focus the final decision
B. be sensitive and smart
C. reduce the choice or option
D. read label carefully
答案与解析
27 根据题目细节信息“Gordian knot “定位于原文段落A段最后一句“Ever since, the notion of a 'Gordian solution' has referred to the attractiveness of a simple answer to an otherwise intractable(棘手的，难处理的) problem.”原文说自此之后高迪姆之结就被用于“快刀斩乱麻”的语境之中。因此选项B的意思与原文内容相对应，因此正确答案为B。
28 根据题目细节信息“conflict model”“Janis and Mann”定位于原文“In particular, the ‘conflict model' of decision making proposed by psychologists Irving Janis and Leon Mann in their 1977 book, Dicision Making, argued that a complex decision making process is essential for guarding individuals and groups from the peril of 'group-think'(团体迷思). Decisions made without through canvassing(canvass v. 仔细讨论), surveying, weighing(weigh v. 权衡，称量), examing and reexaming relevant information and options(选择) would be suboptimal(optimal最佳的，sub-次一等的) and often disastrous(灾难性的).这里面提到了“冲突模式”然后在1977年还出了一本书，提出在缺少游说、调查、权衡、检查、复查相关信息和可用选项的一系列过程而做出的决定将不会是最优的选择甚至会是灾难性的后果。换句话说：就是说所有重要的因素都考虑。因此对应选项为B。
29 根据题目细节信息“Malcolm Gladwell”定位于原文(C 段第二句)
“In fact, a growing body of work suggests that in many situations simple 'snap' (突然的，迅速的)decisions will be routinely superior to more complex ones - an idea that gained widespread public appeal with Malcolm Gladwell's best-selling book Blink(2005).”这里面说“在突发的情况下，做简单的决策优于复杂的决策”。也就说在突发的情况下，做决策要快比较好。“snap”与选项C中的quickly相对应，因此，正确答案为C。
30 利用顺序原则定位于原文(D段第二句)
An article by Ap Dijksterhuis of the University of Amsterdam and his colleagues,…In short,complex decisions overrun our cognitive power.这里面说“AP和他的同事有一篇论文“正确决断”：最后得出的观点是并且总结了这个观点“简言之，做复杂的决定时(考虑的太多)会超出我们的一个认知判断。那么换句话说“想得太多超多了认知判断，产生的决策效果也一定是不理想的”因此，对应题目B选项“在做复杂的任务时深思熟虑可能会造成消极的(不好的)的影响。”因此 ，正确答案为B。
31利用题目细节信息“Dijkesterhuis’s car study ”定位于E段中间部分“…either four attributes(a simple task)or 12 attributes(a complex task).Among participants who considered four attributes,those who were allowed to engaged in undistracted deliberative thought did better at discriminating between the best and worst cars.”这段话分了两种任务，第一种是简单任务4个特性，第二种是复杂任务12个特性，题目问的是简单任务，那么我们只看第一种任务，原文中说的是“在参考四个特性的参加者中，在不被打扰且能专注思考的环境中的参加者在辨别优胜劣车上表现更好”对应题目选项D“在(条件)允许全神贯注的情况下，可以更好的做出更好的选择”因此，正确答案为D。
32-33题 利用题目细节信息“Using clothing and furniture as examples”定位于原文段落F段“shoppers who bought with little conscious deliberation felt less happy with their simple clothing purchase but happier with the complex furniture purchases.原文中说了 购买衣服和家具，并且将衣服比作简单的决定，家具作为复杂的决定，这可以理解为：购物者在买衣服时不假思索的去买衣服时(比深思熟虑后购买衣服的人)感受到更少的乐趣(也就是不太满意)，但同样情况(不假思索的购物者)去买家具时(复杂决定时)，(情况突变)会变得很满意比(深思熟虑购买家具的人)，换言之：在做简单决策时，深思熟虑会更能让人达到快乐的效果。但在做复杂决策时，想的太多反倒让人觉得很糟。接下来我们看一下32题，人们花费更多的时间在购买衣服上会很容易得到满足。因此正确答案为A。33题，在购买家具时，购买者如果不想的太多会做出怎样的购买决定，显而易见是更好的购买决定，因此，正确答案为D。
34-35题 题目说在不假思索时，对于做出什么决策时最好的。答案是复杂的决策。Complex 代表原文中的“furniture”购买家具时的决策。【这个结论只用于在购买衣服和家具这个事例中】。35题 题目问作者解释了D这个人表面———，但(其实)这是真的。定位于原文D段末句“The seemingly counterintuitive conclusion is that although conscious thought enhances simple decision,”原文中seemingly(表面)与题目“apparently”中相对应，因此，正确答案为counterintuitive。
36 利用题目细节信息“Dijksterhuis’s”“existing political”“management theories”定位于原文H段第一句“This radical inference contradicts standard political and managerial theory”原文中说的是“contradicts”相反，与题目意思相反，因此，正确答案为NO。
37 利用“deliberation without attention”定位于F段最后一句话“Deliberation without attention actually produced better results as the decisions became more complex”但原文中也并未提及题目中的“some politicial leaders seem to”,而原文H段最后一句说道”Indeed,one suspects many of our political leaders already embrance this wisdom”，没有提及到“Deliberation without attention actually produced better results as the decisions became more complex”，因此，这部分内容在原文中无法进行判断。因此，正确答案为NOT GIVEN。
38在原文中找不到相对应的内容，因此正确答案为NOT GIVEN。
39 利用题目细节信息“political errors” “own political beliefs”，定位于J段末句“the issue here is that when political decision makers make mistakes,it is their politics,or the relation between their politics and our own, rather than psychology which is at fault.”这句话说的意思是：当政治决策者犯错误时，这是他们的政治理念，或者是他们的政治理念与我们之间的关系，而不是心理学的问题。题目内容与原文相符，因此，正确答案为YES。
40 YES 【答案有更新】
