發現:"祖先效應"有助於考試成功

Spending five minutes thinking about your ancestors before an exam or job interview can significantly boost your chances of success, according to researchers from University of Graz, together with colleagues from Berlin and Munich universities。

In intelligence tests on 80 students, researchers asked one group to spend five minutes thinking about their 15th century ancestors, their great-grandparents and asked another group to recall a recent trip to the shops。

Then the students were asked how confident they felt about upcoming exams. Those who remembered lost generations were more confident. Then they underwent a range of intelligence tests, and those more confident students gained 14 out of a maximum 16, compared with just ten out of 16 in the rival group。

The findings, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, suggest the so-called "ancestor effect" appears to work by acting as a reminder to the brain that seemingly impossible hurdles can be overcome。

The effect may be rooted in the fact that those who familiarize themselves with their family history appear to gain a stronger sense of identity and self-esteem, which somehow boosts intellectual performance, according to psychologists。

據英國《每日郵報》4日報道，奧地利格拉茨大學以及柏林和慕尼黑幾所大學的研究人員稱，考試或面試前花上幾分鐘想想自己的祖先可以極大提升你成功的機率。

在針對80名學生進行的智力測驗中，研究人員首先讓一組學生用5分鐘想想自己遠在15世紀的祖先、自己的曾祖父母，並讓另一組回憶最近的購物經歷。

隨後學生們被問及對於即將來臨的測試信心程度如何。那些剛回憶了先輩的學生更顯自信。而在隨後進行的總分爲16分的一系列智力測試中，更自信者得分14，而另一組得分僅爲10。

這些刊登在歐洲期刊《社會心理學》上的研究結果顯示，有種所謂的“祖先效應”提示大腦看似不可能的障礙可以逾越，從而發揮了作用。

心理學家們認爲，而該效應可能根源於這樣一個事實，即那些熟知家族史的人們似乎能獲得更爲強烈的認同感、自尊心，從而提升了測試表現。