The pursuit of happiness is one of the foundations of US life, but researchers say people who strive for happiness may end up worse off than when they began。

　　June Gruber of Yale University, Iris Mauss of the University of Denver and Maya Tamir of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem conducted a review of studies concerning the pursuit of happiness and found happiness has a dark side, too。

　　For example, one study tracked children from the 1920s to old age and found those rated as highly cheerful by their teachers died younger。

　　The review, published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, also found people feeling extreme amounts of happiness may not think as creatively as the less happy, and they also tend to take more risks。

　　The tools often suggested for increasing happiness - such as taking time to think about what happened that made a person happy or grateful, or setting up situations that are likely to make you happy - are good。

　　"But when you're doing it with the motivation or expectation that these things ought to make you happy, that can lead to disappointment and decreased happiness," Gruber says。

　　However, psychological scientists have discovered what appears to really increase happiness。

　　"The strongest predictor of happiness is not money, or external recognition through success or fame," Gruber says. "It's having meaningful social relationships."

　　快乐至上是美式生活的根基之一，但近日研究人员称追求快乐的人群可能面临“好开端，坏结局”的窘境。

　　耶鲁大学的琼格鲁伯、丹佛大学的爱丽丝莫斯和耶路撒冷希伯来大学的玛雅塔米尔日前就追求快乐的相关研究进行了评述，发现快乐其实也有负面作用。

　　举个例子，一项自上世纪20年代就开始的儿童跟踪调查指出，被老师评价为快乐的孩子成年后去世更早。

　　这篇刊载于《视角与心理科学》的评估报告还发现，自觉非常开心的人可能没有不开心者那么有创意，而且前者更乐于冒险。

　　而让人们快乐的方法还是值得提倡的——例如抽时间想想让一个人开心愉悦的事情是什么，或者建立一些情境让自己开心。

　　“但是当你有意为之让自己开心时，最终结果可能是失望和打了折的快乐，”格鲁伯说道。

　　尽管如此，心理学家们还是发现了真正开怀的东西。

　　“最强快乐指数不是钱或者成功、名誉带来的外界看法，”格鲁伯说，“而是有意义的人际关系。”