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Failure is part of life. How people respond to(回应)it is very important both to their decisions and achievements.

We may have such expectations: “If I reach that goal, how happy would I feel?” In a recent study, we wanted to understand how such expectations may change when facing failure. Are people able to predict(预测)their own happiness?

The old saying “The grass is always greener on the other side,” suggests that people spend much time expecting things they can’t have. But is this a good model for how ordinary people face failure? According to the story The Fox and the Grapes, failure often leads us to drop our earliest plan. In the story, the fox jumps with all his strength, yet he fails to reach the grapes. Finally, he walks away, concluding that the grapes were sour.

So, which is it: greener grass or sour grapes? We did an experiment to research how people respond to failure.

About 1,200 participants(参加者)joined in the study. On the practice before a test, half of them were told that they had performed in the bottom 20 percent, while the other half, in the top 20 percent. They were then asked to predict how they would feel if they got a high score on the actual test.

The research results showed that those who received poor feedback(反馈)on the practice predicted that they would feel less happiness and less pride, compared to those who received strong feedback. However, when they received a top score on the actual test later, they were just as happy as the other half and much happier than they had predicted before. This suggests that the first failure made people devalue(降低……的价值)how good it would feel to succeed in the future.

The question though, is why failure makes us devalue our future happiness.

According to Professor Jon Elster, people don’t always know what they want, and often change their wishes to match the things they can reach. When the result doesn’t fit the one they expected, they protect themselves by devaluing the goal—rather than devaluing themselves. In other words, we tend to protect our positive(积极的)sense of self by refusing to accept the possible happiness of future achievements.

Separation(脱离)from personal goals can be useful, if it helps people give up the impossible goals and set better and more achievable ones. However, if the sour-grape effect comes too early and people become fearful of failure, they could miss the chance to try again and don’t realize that what once seemed impossible is now within reach.