In spite of extensive research that links the absence of pain with happiness, it remains puzzling why possessing beliefs equating the absence of pain with happiness (negative hedonic beliefs) undermine experienced happiness and what underlying mechanisms can explain this paradox. We conducted five studies to address these questions. The participants who had more negative hedonic beliefs exhibited decreased well-being, including subjective well-being and psychological well-being, alongside heightened depression and physical symptoms (Study 1a), an effect that persisted after controlling for behavioral inhibition/activation systems (Study 1b). Hypersensitivity to negative experiences, which reflects a reduced inclination to engage in negative experiences, even when positives exist, mediated the links between negative hedonic beliefs and poor well-being both cross-sectionally (Study 2) and longitudinally (Study 3). Moreover, the propensity to avoid negative experiences was observed in behavioral intention, primarily due to heightened anticipated negative affect when an event was manipulated to include negative aspects (Study 4). Together, the effort to eliminate negative experiences, as adhered to by individuals with negative hedonic beliefs, tends to prevent them from recognizing the potential benefits of unpleasant experiences, inadvertently depriving themselves of opportunities for the enhancement of their well-being.

尽管有大量研究将没有痛苦与幸福联系起来，但为什么拥有将没有痛苦等同于幸福的信念（消极享乐信念）会破坏所经历的幸福，以及什么潜在机制可以解释这一悖论，仍然令人费解。我们进行了五项研究来解决这些问题。拥有更多消极享乐信念的参与者表现出幸福感下降，包括主观幸福感和心理幸福感，同时抑郁和身体症状加剧（研究 1a），这种影响在控制行为抑制/激活系统后仍然持续存在（研究 1a）。 1b).对消极经历的过度敏感反映了即使存在积极的经历，参与消极经历的倾向也会降低，这在横向（研究 2）和纵向（研究 3）上介导了消极享乐信念与不良幸福感之间的联系。此外，在行为意向中观察到了避免负面经历的倾向，这主要是由于当事件被操纵以包含负面方面时，预期的负面影响会增加（研究4）。总之，具有消极享乐信念的人所坚持的消除消极经历的努力往往会阻止他们认识到不愉快经历的潜在好处，从而无意中剥夺了自己增强幸福感的机会。