我們日常會做的十大怪事的科學解釋(上)

Humans do weird stuff. Sometimes, we don't even realize our behaviors are strange until we really stop to look at ourselves objectively. Then, it's only natural to wonder why we do that weird stuff. So in the spirit of analyzing ourselves, here are some of the odd things we do every day and the leading explanations for why we do them.

人類總是做一些奇怪的事情。有時候直到我們真的停下腳步，以客觀的眼光看待自己時，纔會發現我們的所作所爲非常奇葩。之後，我們自然很想知道爲什麼當初自己會做這些奇怪的事情。本着自我分析的精神，以下羅列了一些我們日常做的怪事，並解釋了我們做這些事情的原因。

Replacing The Toilet Paper Roll

10.不換廁所的捲紙

On the scale of difficult things to do, replacing the toilet paper roll lands way down near the bottom of the list. Still, for some reason, many of us have a difficult time completing this simple task with any level of consistency. Why is that? The reason for our TP sloppiness, according to a pair of psychologists from the University of New York, isn't really due to laziness but because replacing the roll isn't the slightest bit stimulating and offers virtually no intrinsic reward (except to the anal retentive).

如果以難易程度將事情排序，換廁紙這事兒一定可以滾到單子的最後一行了。然而，出於某種原因，雖然換廁紙是很簡單的一件事，但我們大多數人都不會在用完廁紙之後很自然的換上新的。這是爲什麼呢？根據紐約大學兩位心理學家的分析，我們對換廁紙馬馬虎虎並不是因爲懶惰，而是因爲換廁紙一點都不刺激，也幾乎無法給我們帶來任何"內在獎勵"。（除了培養出"肛門滯留人格"）

Similar chores like taking out the trash or doing the dishes are equally boring and unmotivating, but at least they give us the satisfaction of keeping things stink- and rodent-free. Properly loading the toilet paper might make things look a little better, but so what?The NYU psychologists, Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, say that for humans to be truly motivated to do anything, the task must meet three psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. The chore should be challenging enough to make us feel competent when we complete it. It should make us feel like we have some sort of control over what we're doing. And it should give us the sense that we're enhancing our relationships with loved ones. This theory is known as the self-determination theory. Replacing the TP falls far short of meeting those three criteria. The only one it might fulfill is relatedness—that is, if you live in a very "we're all in this together and we all pitch in with the chores" type of , getting a spouse or roommate to always properly replace the toilet paper or to do any other mundane task is probably a lost cause. Unless you can psychologically convince them that doing so takes a certain level of proficiency, that they're by no means a "slave" to forever doing the chore, and that it will make them more connected to others. Now that's a difficult task.

類似的家務例如清理垃圾和洗碗都同樣很無聊，讓人沒有動力去做。但是至少做這些家務可以給我們帶來清除臭味和老鼠的滿足感。適時更換廁紙也許會使事情看起來好一點點，但那又如何呢？紐約大學心理學家愛德華·戴瑟和理查德·瑞安表示，要有效地驅使人們去做某件事，那麼這件事就必須滿足三個心理需求：能力、自主性和關聯性。家務應具有足夠的挑戰性纔會使我們在完成它們時感受到自己的能力；它應使我們對自己的行爲感受到某種控制力；它應賦予我們一種自己與所愛事物之間的聯繫正在增強的感覺。這就是所謂的"自我決定論"。更換廁紙這一行爲遠遠無法滿足這三個標準。"關聯性"可能是唯一能夠達到的標準，但前提是你生活在一個"我們都是一家人，我們要幹一家活"的家庭氛圍下。因此，要想讓配偶或室友一直適時地更換廁紙或做其他無聊的家務註定是會失敗的。除非你可以使他們從心理上相信，做這種家務需要具備一定的專業技能，以及長期做這種家務可以拉近彼此之間的距離而絕不是"奴隸"的行爲。但至少現在這很難做到。

re To Bite Cute Things

9.想咬一口萌物

Any time there's a baby around, someone invariably tells the baby (in the obligatory cutesy voice) that they're "gonna eat them up" or "bite their toes" or eat some other body part. Similar conversations happen when puppies are around, and you may have even seen someone (or caught yourself) pretend-chomping on a puppy's paw. What's the deal with this? Why do we have the urge to jokingly munch on cute things?

無論什麼時候只要有一個小寶寶在身邊，就一定會有人以嗲嗲的命令式語氣告訴他/她："我要吃了你"或"我要把你的腳趾咬下來"，或者把身體某個其它的部位吃掉。類似的對話也會出現在身邊有小狗的情況下，可能你曾經還發現有人（或你自己）假裝想要咬掉小狗的爪子。這到底發生了什麼呢？爲什麼我們會有想要大嚼萌物的渴望呢？

Scientists have two main theories for this phenomenon. The first idea is that somehow our pleasure-sensing wires are getting crossed in the brain. When people (women in particular) catch a whiff of a newborn baby, we get a rush of dopamine similar to what happens when eating delicious food. It's thought that we relate cuteness to this dopamine-inducing scent, which also reminds us of food. This overlap in senses unconsciously gives us the desire to put cute things in our other explanation is that it's a form of play biting, which is common in many mammals and is a behavior from our animalistic sides. Many animals nip, pseudo-bite, and wrestle in a friendly, playful manner. It's not entirely clear whether this is done to hone fighting skills, boost motor skills, or simply for fun, but the behavior usually happens between trusted allies. It takes a lot of trust to put your hand in someone's mouth and let them bite down. So, if for nothing else, play biting is used to increase social bonds, and that could explain why we unconsciously do it when we feel the urge to get emotionally close to something cute.

科學家提出了兩個理論來解釋此現象。第一個觀點是：在某種程度上，我們大腦中感知愉悅的系統發生了混亂。在人們（尤其是女性）聞到新生嬰兒身上的氣息時，大腦就會分泌多巴胺這種物質，這與人們享用美食時也分泌多巴胺的情況類似。科學家認爲我們的大腦將"可愛"和讓我們想到美食的香味聯繫起來，誘發了多巴胺的分泌。這種在感覺上的無意識重複令我們產生將萌物放入嘴中的慾望。另外一個解釋是：這是"啃咬嬉戲"的一種形式，這種行爲在許多哺乳動物中很常見，體現了我們獸性的一面。許多動物相互啃咬摔跤都是以一種友好玩耍的方式進行的。我們還不完全清楚動物這樣做到底是爲了磨練打架和運動的技能或者還只是爲了好玩。但是這種行爲通常只發生在相互信任的朋友之間。試想，將你的手放入某人的嘴裏並讓他/她一口咬下去，這得要取得多大的信任啊。所以，如果不是出於其他目的，"啃咬嬉戲"可以增進人與人之間的關係，這也是當我們與可愛的事物親近時就會無意識地想要咬一口的原因。

propriate Laughing

8.不合時宜的大笑

Most of us are guilty of laughing inappropriately at one time or another, such as when we see someone fall down and get hurt or when we're relaying bad news. And although we know there's nothing funny about Grandma's death, we may still find ourselves trying to hold back fits of laughter at her funeral. Laughing in these types of situations isn't necessarily okay by social standards, but it's apparently fairly common, and there's a good reason for it.

我們大多數人都會對自己曾經不合時宜的大笑感到愧疚，就例如在我們看見別人跌倒受傷抑或是在傳達壞消息的時候。另外，雖然知道祖母的逝世並不是一件搞笑的事情，但我們可能仍舊會發現自己在葬禮上竭力忍住陣陣笑聲.。在這些場合中大笑並不符合社會的標準，但是這種現象顯然相當普遍，並且往往都有它的原因。

When we laugh in a solemn circumstance, it doesn't mean we're cold-hearted or disrespectful. In fact, it's likely a sign that we're under a great deal of emotional stress and our body is using laughter as a way to relieve some of the discomfort or tension. Similarly, chuckling when someone falls down or otherwise gets hurt is believed to be an evolutionary function letting the tribe know that, although the person might be embarrassed or slightly injured, he's not gravely wounded, and there's no need for hing, in general, is rarely a response to something being legitimately funny. Neuroscientist Sophie Scott explains it's used most often as a method of social bonding—to let people know that we like them, we agree with them, or we're in the same group. Knowing that, we shouldn't feel so horrified if our neighbor lets out a chuckle while explaining how he ran over our dog. It's possible he simply feels really uncomfortable and is instinctively trying to connect with us during an awkward situation.

在莊嚴的場合下大笑，並不意味着我們鐵石心腸或者目無尊長。事實上，這有可能是表明我們面臨巨大的心理壓力的跡象, 所以我們的身體用大笑作爲途徑來緩解不安和焦慮。同理，當有別人跌倒或以其他方式受傷時，我們咯咯大笑的這種行爲被認爲是一種進化功能，該功能目的在於讓我們知道雖然摔倒的這個人可能會尷尬或者輕微地受傷，但他並不會受到重創，因此我們,也沒有必要感到驚恐。通常來說，大笑,極少是對合理有趣的事情作出的反應。精神學家索菲·斯科特解釋說，大笑很多時候都是作爲社會的聯繫的一種方法被人們使用，它讓人們知道我們愛他們、我們讚許他們以及我們站在同一戰線。這樣的話，如果當鄰居在向我們解釋他如何碾壓我們的狗的時候咯咯大笑，我們大可不必感到震驚。有可能他僅僅覺得十分不安，本能地試圖在這尷尬的情境下與我們維繫感情。

ination With Psychopaths

7.對精神病患者極度迷戀

A good size of the population has a fascination with the macabre and specifically psychopaths. Nightly entertainment is chock-full of crazy, psychotic killers, and for some reason, we can't get enough of them. What might our insatiable interest in the vilest of humans say about us as a people? There are three main theories floating around to explain this obsession.

很大一部分人對某種特別可怕的精神病患者極度迷戀。夜間娛樂總是充滿着瘋狂的氣息、變態殺手。作爲人類最粗鄙最貪婪的慾望，它會對我們說些什麼呢？以下有三大主要理論來解釋這個困惑。

The first idea is that watching or hearing about psychos allows us to temporarily step out of our conscientious, law-abiding shoes and vicariously step into the shoes of someone who only thinks about himself. He doesn't do any of the things we automatically do every day, like worrying about others' feelings or being fair. Imagining ourselves as that person (even unconsciously) temporarily liberates us from these obligations without actually causing any harm. In contrast, forensic psychologist J. Reid Meloy says that psychopaths are a type of predator, and hearing about them connects us with our primal existence of constantly being both the hunter and the hunted. Entertaining ourselves with the stories of human predators allows us to relate with our primal, animalistic selves without experiencing the real danger of the natural lly, psychiatrist and Harvard professor Ron Schouten says that our draw to psychopaths is similar to our attraction to horror movies or roller coasters. Sometimes we just like to be frightened, and tales of psycho killers can definitely fulfill that need. This is because being frightened sends a rush of neurotransmitters, including dopamine, which evokes feelings of pleasure. In an entertainment setting where there's no real danger, our fear doesn't last long. On top of the dopamine-induced pleasure, we usually leave the theater or turn off the TV feeling a sense of well-being or justice (depending on how the film or show ends). This type of satisfaction keeps us coming back for more.

第一個原因是，對於精神病患者的所見所聞使我們暫時地擺脫恪守良心，奉公守法的角色，而間接地闖入那些只顧及自己感受的角色。精神病患者的所作所爲與我們每天自然而然做的事情不盡相同，例如，是否關心別人的感受和公平地對待他人。假設我們成爲了那種人（甚至無意識的想像），這可以使我們暫時從克己守法的義務中解放自我，並且不對社會造成任何傷害。相反，犯罪心理學家丁裏德·洛埃聲稱精神患者是一種類型的捕食者，關於他們的傳說總是與原始的捕獵者和被捕者聯繫起來。用人類肉食動物的故事自娛自樂容易使我們聯想到那種沒有經歷過自然世界真正危險的原始獸性。最後，精神病學家兼哈佛教授羅恩·蘇雷頓表示，我們對精神病患者的迷戀正如被恐怖片和坐過山車吸引一般。有時候，我們就是喜歡被恐嚇的感覺，而精神病殺手的故事毫無疑問能滿足我們的需求。這是因爲恐嚇使得包括多巴胺在內的神經遞質快速傳輸，因而產生了一種愉悅感。在娛樂的環境下，因爲不存在真正的危險，所以我們的恐懼感也不會持續太久。在多巴胺誘導的樂趣中的高潮部分，我們通常會離開劇院或者關掉電視，這時候我們就會有一種幸福感或者正義感（依電影或者節目的結尾而定）。這種類型的滿足感使得我們回頭繼續迷戀精神病患者。

ending To Know Stuff

6.裝作萬事通

Most of us have probably been in the situation where someone casually asks, "Hey, have you heard of such and such?" And almost unthinkingly, we respond, "Yeah," even though if we took time to genuinely think about it, we'd realize we don't actually know what they're talking about. Similarly, some folks habitually feign knowledge when they're well aware they know nothing about the topic at hand. Whether we purposefully pretend to know stuff or if we just sort of do it accidentally, scientists say there's an explanation for this behavior.

生活中我們總有被別人提問"你知道某某嗎"的情況，通常我們都會不假思索地給予肯定的回答。然而，當我們靜下心來仔細思考時，就會發現其實有些問題我們並不懂。同樣地，有些人明知道自己不瞭解某方面的知識，卻裝作很懂的樣子。科學家表示，無論是有意還是無意的，裝作萬事通這樣的行爲都是有科學解釋的。

Cornell professor David Dunning has researched this psychological quirk and explains that most people fake it out of convenience or to reaffirm their identity. He says that many of us don't have a very clear understanding of what we do or don't know and might unconsciously fake knowledge. This is because in the instant when someone asks us if we know about something, our brains start to infer, assume, and invent explanations for things. In that moment, we may say that we know something (even if we don't) partly because we don't want to bog the conversation down with questions and partly because our brains think we should know something about the topic. In short, the feeling of knowing is more of a sensation than it is actually sifting through our brains' stores of information and coming up with a her, perhaps more obvious, reason people pretend to know stuff is because they like feeling like a know-it-all. But why? Neurologist Robert A. Burton explains that our society glorifies knowledge, and to have an awareness of something is a notch on the social belt—especially if you came from know-it-all parents. Being a know-it-all can become kind of an addiction. In fact, the same area of the brain lights up and the same reward pathways shoot dopamine whether we're rewarded with a right answer or if we're taking drugs or gambling. Thus, pretending to be the person who knows everything can be a hard habit to break.

康奈爾大學的心理學教授大衛·鄧寧研究了這種心理怪癖並給出如下解釋：大部分人不懂裝懂是爲了方便起見或者是爲了掩飾自己的無知。他表示大多數人都不清楚自己所掌握的知識的範圍，這樣就可能無意中編造一些知識。這是因爲在別人提出問題的時候，我們的大腦就會開始做推斷、假設、思考以及如何解釋之類的事情。這時候我們就可能會說自己對此有些許瞭解（即使實際上我們並不瞭解），這是因爲我們希望對話繼續下去，也有部分原因是我們自以爲自己對這個話題是有所瞭解的。總的說來，與其說對某事是真的瞭解，倒不如說這只是一種自以爲了解的錯覺。還有一個更常見的原因是很多人都喜歡自己被當做萬事通的感覺。這又是爲什麼呢？神經學家羅伯特·伯頓指出，社會需要知識型人才，如果有人在某方面有所研究，尤其這個人還是個萬事通的話，那麼他在社會上絕對是會被推崇備至的。其實回答別人的問題後得到讚揚的效果與吸毒、賭博一樣，都會促進大腦分泌多巴胺，使我們感到愉悅。所以裝成無所不知的人是會令人上癮的。因此，想要改掉裝作萬事通的習慣還有很長的路要走。

審校：喵喵 編輯：listen 來源：前十網