So psychological definitions don’t nail down happiness much. And from there, the differences among countries only widen. The same 2016 study cited above found, for example, that 49 percent of Americans referred explicitly to family relationships in their definition of happiness, while Southern Europeans and Latin Americans generally conceived of it in terms of oneself: Just 22 percent of Portuguese, 18 percent of Mexicans, and 10 percent of Argentines talked about their families in their happiness definitions.因此，心理定义并没有太多地确定幸福。 从那时起，国家之间的差异只会扩大。 例如，上面引用的 2016 年研究发现，49% 的美国人在他们对幸福的定义中明确提到了家庭关系，而南欧和拉丁美洲人通常从自己的角度来看待它：只有 22% 的葡萄牙人，18% 的墨西哥人和 10% 的阿根廷人在他们的幸福定义中谈到了他们的家庭。
Writing in the International Journal of Wellbeing in 2012, two Japanese scholars surfaced an important cultural difference in the definition of happiness between Western and Asian cultures. In the West, they found happiness to be defined as “a high arousal state such as excitement and a sense of personal achievement.” Meanwhile, in Asia, “happiness is defined in terms of experiencing a low arousal stchiate such as calmness.” 2012 年，两位日本学者在《国际幸福杂志》上撰文，揭示了西方和亚洲文化之间在幸福定义方面的重要文化差异。 在西方，他们发现幸福被定义为“一种高度唤醒状态，例如兴奋和个人成就感”。 与此同时，在亚洲，“幸福的定义是经历平静等低唤醒状态。
In large countries, even comparing people within the same borders can be difficult to accomplish accurately. Happiness is defined very differently in northern versus southern India, for example. And researchshows that the United States is home to significant regional differences in personality characteristics. For example, people in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions tend to display more attachment anxiety (“When will you call?”), while the western states breed more attachment avoidance (“See you when I see you”).在大国，即使比较同一边界内的人也很难准确完成。 例如，印度北部和南部对幸福的定义大不相同。 研究表明，美国在个性特征方面存在显着的地区差异。 例如，大西洋中部和东北地区的人们倾向于表现出更多的依恋焦虑（“你什么时候打电话？”），而西部各州则表现出更多的依恋回避（“当我看到你时再见”）。
Even the words we use to talk about happiness have different connotations in different tongues. In Germanic languages, happiness is rooted in words related to fortune or positive fate. In fact, happinesscomes from the Middle English hap, which means “luck.” Meanwhile, in Latin-based languages, the term comes from felicitas, which referred in ancient Rome not just to good luck, but also to growth, fertility, and prosperity.甚至我们用来谈论幸福的词在不同的语言中也有不同的内涵。 在日耳曼语言中，幸福植根于与财富或积极命运相关的词中。 事实上，幸福来自中古英语 hap，意思是“运气”。 同时，在基于拉丁语的语言中，该术语来自 felicitas，它在古罗马不仅指好运，还指成长、生育和繁荣。
n sum, cultures vary widely in their definitions of happiness. Therefore, it is impossible to say that one country is happier than another in some absolute sense, and a single index of “the happiest countries in the world” is not instructive. Happiness can be defined and measured in a lot of different ways. Maybe Finland is the happiest country by one definition; it is almost certainly not by another. Countries should be classifiedmore than compared.总而言之，不同文化对幸福的定义千差万别。 因此，不可能在绝对意义上说一个国家比另一个国家更幸福，“世界上最幸福的国家”的单一指数没有指导意义。 幸福可以用很多不同的方式来定义和衡量。 从某种定义上来说，芬兰也许是最幸福的国家； 几乎可以肯定不是另一个人。 国家的分类应该多于比较。
A handy way to get started on that task is to distinguish between two ways of focusing on happiness. The first is an “inner” or “outer” focus on happiness—that is, on introspection versus interaction with others. The second is a “relation” or “task” focus—people-oriented versus doing-oriented. This gives us four major models for well-being, based on survey research from around the world.开始这项任务的一个方便的方法是区分两种专注于幸福的方式。 第一个是对幸福的“内在”或“外在”关注——即内省与与他人的互动。 第二个是“关系”或“任务”焦点——以人为本与以做为导向。 根据来自世界各地的调查研究，这为我们提供了四种主要的幸福模型。
1. HAPPINESS COMES FROM GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE.1. 幸福来自与你爱的人的良好关系。
This is a combination of the “outer” and “relation” foci. In this model, friends and family are who deliver the most happiness. A good example of a country that fits this model based on how the population tends to define happiness is the United States.这是“外部”和“关系”焦点的组合。 在这个模型中，朋友和家人是最幸福的人。 根据人口如何定义幸福，符合这种模型的国家的一个很好的例子是美国。
2. HAPPINESS COMES FROM A HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS.幸福来自更高的意识
