Chaptrer 7
Putting the Future on Sale:The Economics of Instant Gratification
出售未来： 及时享乐的经济学
PUTTINGTHE FUTURE ON SALE 出售未来
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE:HOW ARE YOU DISCOUNTING FUTURE REWARDS?
深入刨析： 你给未来的奖励打了几折
BLINDED BY REWARD 被奖励蒙蔽双眼
WILLPOWER EXPERIMENT: WAIT TEN MINUTES 意志力实验： 等待10分钟
THE TEN-MINUTE RULE HELPS A SMOKER CUT BACK “10分钟法则”帮助烟民减少吸烟
words and phrases
(1) deprive [dɪ'praɪv]
vt. 使丧失，剥夺
过去式 deprived,过去分词 deprived,现在分词 depriving
deprive sb of sth
原句：They deprived themselves of what they really wanted for the fleeting（飞逝的，转瞬的） satisfaction of a quick fix（权宜之计）.
仿写：The government can't deprive the rights of the child going to school, no matter where they were born.
(2) institute ['ɪnstɪtjuːt]
vt. 开始（调查）；制定；创立；提起（诉讼）
n. 学会，协会；学院
过去式 instituted，过去分词 instituted，现在分词 instituting
原句：For a cooler, wiser brain, institute a mandatory（强制的） ten-minute wait for any temptation.
仿句：I hope you can institute some new rules for the research institute.
(3) flip [flɪp]
vt. 掷；轻击
vi. 用指轻弹；蹦跳
adj. 无礼的；轻率的
n. 弹；筋斗
过去式 flipped，过去分词 flipped，现在分词 flipping
原句：Flip the rule to “Do ten minutes, then you can quit.”
仿句：We flipped a coin to see who would go first.
(4) tackle ['tæk(ə)l]
n. 滑车；装备；用具；扭倒
vt. 处理；抓住；固定；与…交涉
vi. 扭倒；拦截抢球
过去式 tackled，过去分词 tackled，现在分词 tackling
原句:When “never againr: seems too overwhelming(压倒性的) a willpower challenge to tackle, use the ten-minute delay rule to start strengthening (强化，加固)your self-control.
仿写：I'm sure our team can tackle the problem as soon as possible.
(5) evolve [ɪ'vɒlv]
vt. 发展，进化；进化；使逐步形成；推断出
vi. 发展，进展；进化；逐步形成
susceptible [sə'septɪb(ə)l]
adj. 易受影响的；易感动的；容许…的
n. 易得病的人
原句:One reason we re so susceptible to immediate gratification is that our brain’s reward system did not evolve to respond to future rewards.
仿句：She has evolved its own style of teaching with the constantly learning new things.
仿句：Most of women have a susceptible heart.
Sentence
（1）
But all too often, we use our fancy brains not to make the most strategic decisions, but to give ourselves permission to act more irrationally. TThat's because a big prefrontal cortex is good at more than self-control. It can also rationalize bad decisions and promise we ll be better tomorrow.But we humans have all sorts of mental tricks for convincing ourselves that the time to resist temptation is tomorrow-and so we of the gigantic prefrontal cortices find ourselves giving in again and again to immediate gratification.
但通常情况下，我们想象力丰富的大脑不会作出最有战略性的决定，而是让我们表现得像是失去了理性。这是因为，前额皮质最擅长的不是自控。它会为错误的决定寻找借口，向我们承诺明天会更好。人类总有各种各样的花招，让自己相信抵抗诱惑是明天的事情。因此，拥有巨大前额皮质的我们，会一再屈服于即刻的满足感。
Whether we look to economics, psychology, or neuroscience for an explanation, many of our problems with temptation and procrastination come back to one uniquely human problem: how we think about the future.
无论我们是从经济学、心理学还是从神经科学领域寻找解释，最终这些有关诱惑和拖延的问题都会归结到一个人类特有的问题上——我们如何看待未来。
—— 启 发 ① ——
读到这里，我惊诧于前额皮质的不可思议，所以刻意了解了一下，人的大脑有个重要的区域叫脑前额叶，主管包括记忆、判断、分析、思考、操作，经过教育之后的人，这里会出现很多高级的情感，比如喜悦、爱。脑前额叶受损伤的人没有能力发起和实现有目的、有计划的行为活动,，也就没有什么创造性可言。大量临床观察表明，大脑前额叶损伤的主要症状是：不能集中注意力进行观察和思考问题，更不能进行周密的逻辑推理，对突发事件束手无策，对事物总是健忘，行为反应迟缓，性格偏执、孤僻、情绪波动、喜怒无常.....小小大脑，大大神奇，大脑里面实在蕴藏着太多的奥妙，大脑地图需要我们去探索...很多时候，会发现这个世界上没有独立的学科，各个学科都是相辅相成的，而我们要做的，就是在大脑还不断活跃的当口广泛涉猎，扩展知识地图，构建学科体系。所以，回头想想，文理科分科这件事情是多么不符合常理，不过好的是很多省已经逐步取消文理分科了。其实阅读的收获不仅仅在于阅读本身，还在于我们通过作者的思维去延展我们自身的知识体系。
大脑，一个神奇的存在，我要和你做好朋友！
（2）
They deprived themselves of what they really wanted for the fleeting satisfaction of a quick fix.Economists call this delay discounting-the longer you have to wait for a reward, the less it is worth to you. Even small delays can dramatically lower the perceived value.
为了迅速得到瞬间的快感，他们忘记了自己真正想要的东西。等待奖励的时间越长，奖励对你来说价值越低,经济学家称之为“延迟折扣”。很小的延迟就能大幅降低你感知到的价值。
We only prefer the short-term, immediate reward when it is right there staring us in the face, and the want becomes overwhelming. This leads to bounded willpower.One reason we re so susceptible to immediate gratification is that our brain’s reward system did not evolve to respond to future rewards.Food was the reward system’s original target, which is why humans are still exceptionally responsive to the smell or sight of anything yummy.
但当我们和诱惑正面交锋的时候，我们只愿意选择短期的、即时的奖励，这种欲望是无可抵挡的。这就带来了“有限意志力”。我们会这么容易选择即刻的满足感，原因之一在于，我们大脑的奖励系统还没有进化到能对未来的奖励作出回应。食物是奖励系统最原始的目标，这就是为什么人类仍然会在闻到或看到美食时变得特别敏感。
When our modern selves contemplate immediate versus future rewards, the brain processes these two options very differently. The immediate reward triggers the older, more primitive reward system and its dopamine-induced desire. Future rewards don’t interest this reward system so much.As soon as there is any distance between you and the temptation, the power of balance shifts back to the brain’s system of self-control.Anything you can do to create that distance will make it easier to say no.
作为现代人，我们在权衡“即时奖励”和“未来奖励”时，大脑处理选项的方式相当不一样。“即时奖励”会激活更古老、更原始的奖励系统，刺激相应的多巴胺产生欲望。“未来奖励”则不太能激活这个奖励系统。一旦你和诱惑之间有了距离，大脑的自控系统就会重新掌控局面。只要你能创造一点距离，就会让拒绝变得容易起来。
——启 发 ② ——
“有限意志力”的场景在生活中随处出现。在这个一切都是“快餐化”的速度制胜时代，“等不及”“马上要”是我们的常态，我自己也会发现，网上买东西，恨不得越快越好，最好是今天下单今天到，所以在京东上买东西，经常找京东自营的，因为好像最快到达。后来看到自己这个心理状态后，我就问自己：“你为什么那么着急？这件物品有那么紧急需要吗？”，我看这就是一种时代病。观察到这种现象后就慢慢做改进了，也就是创造距离，不再那么着急，想立即购买的东西，也会先问问：这真的是必须得吗？要不先收藏起来....结果很多物品收藏着收藏着也就忘记了，自然也不重要咯。
无论大脑多么喜欢即时奖励，学会为自己的“紧急”需求创造距离，然后再辨别需求的真假。
（3）
Ten minutes might not seem like much time to wait for something you want, but neuroscientists have discovered that it makes a big difference in how the brain processes a reward. When immediate gratification comes with a mandatory ten-minute delay, the brain treats it like a future reward.For a cooler, wiser brain, institute a mandatory ten-minute wait for any temptation. If, in ten minutes, you still want it, you can have it
对你想要的东西来说，10分钟或许看起来不太长。但神经科学家发现，10分钟能在很大程度上改变大脑处理奖励的方式。如果获得即时的满足感之前必须等待10分钟，大脑就会把它看成是未来的奖励。想获得一个冷静明智的头脑，我们就需要在所有诱惑面前安排10分钟的等待时间。
If your willpower challenge requires “I will” power, you can still use the ten-minute rule to help you overcome the temptation to procrastinate. Flip the rule to “Do ten minutes, then you can quit.” When your ten minutes are up, give yourself permission to stop-although you may find that once you get started, you’ll want to keep going.
When “never againr: seems too overwhelming a wHlpoiver challenge to tackle, use the ten-minute delay rule to start strengthening your self-control.
如果你的意志力挑战需要“我要做”的力量，你仍旧可以使用这个“10分钟法则”，以此来克服诱惑和拖延。你可以把法则改成“坚持做10分钟，然后就可以放弃”。当10分钟结束后，你就可以允许自己停下来。不过你会发现，只要一开始，你就会想继续做下去。
当你觉得自己无法做到“不会有下一次”的时候，不妨用“10分钟延迟法则”来增强你的自控力。
——启 发 ③ ——
这个“10分钟延迟法则”真的很棒！面对诱惑，等10分钟；面对拖延，先开始10分钟...
以前这些其实自己也会在生活中去观察和尝试，慢慢发现我们很多自己在思考和尝试的事情有着很重要的科学原理和依据。这就意味着，这些行为和思想状态不仅仅是某一个人有，而是普遍性的...常常以为自己奇怪的一些行为、动态就自己才有，想不通的时候还会批评自己：“你怎么会这样呢？”陷入莫须有的情绪中。当我们了解了行为科学依据后，我们会更加开阔的看待自己和他人，那么自我偏见就会越来越少。
想拖延的事情，立即开始，真的是一个特别好的办法。你想象中需要千军万马的困难，只要你着手开始做了，往往会很快沉浸进去，这种状态，叫心流，flow！
Summary
The title that "Putting the Future on Sale:The Economics of Instant Gratification" is so great ! From a personal point of view, we don't want to put the future on sale for the immediate gratification.But when we look at this phenomenon from the perspective of business and economy，we found that the market needs the immediate gratification to evolve.A large number of successful marketing cases are related to the weakness of human nature. We should not only learn science, also try to know the market for a cooler, wiser brain.
They are also interesting about science and market !