Question:
- Are you good at predicting what will make you happy?
- Are you surprised by Dan Gilbert’s findings? Do you believe him?
- What is synthetic happiness?
- Can you think of any examples of your synthesizing happiness?
- What does the example with Monet prints prove?
- What does the example with photos prove?
- What is happiness for you?
Vocabulary:
to triple — to become, or to make something, three times as much or as many
frontal lobe — лобная доля головного мозга
overhaul (of the human skull) = an examination of a machine or system, including doing repairs on it or making changes to it (переработка, изменение)
to contemplate = to think about whether you should do something, or how you should do something
paraplegic = suffering from paraplegia (= loss of control or feeling in the legs and lower body)
to reveal = to make something known to somebody
bias = strong feeling in favour of or against one group of people, or one side in an argument, often not based on fair judgement
to floor = to surprise or confuse somebody so that they are not sure what to say or do
This almost floors me.
to synthesize — синтезировать
adversity = a difficult or unpleasant situation
cognitive (process) = connected with mental processes of understanding
disgrace = the loss of other people’s respect and approval because of the bad way somebody has behaved
to resign in disgrace
shady = seeming to be dishonest or illegal
a shady deal
to accrue = to accumulate
to accrue wealth, power, prestige
to roll one’s eyes = to move your eyes upwards as a way of showing that you are annoyed or bored
to smirk = to smile in a silly or unpleasant way that shows that you are pleased with yourself
hedonistic = based on the belief that pleasure is the most important thing in life
to swap = to give something to somebody and receive something in exchange
returnable = that can or must be given back after a period of time
to deliberate = to think very carefully about something, usually before making a decision
conducive (to something) = making it easy, possible or likely for something to happen
turgid = boring, complicated and difficult to understand
turgid prose
prudence = a sensible and careful attitude when you make judgements and decisions; behaviour that avoids unnecessary risks
bounded — ограниченный
to bound = to form the edge or limit of an area