我們爲什麼熱衷於八卦

Did you hear what happened at yesterday's meeting? Can you believe it?

昨天開會發生的事你聽說了嗎？真不敢相信！

If you find those sort of quietly whispered questions about your co-workers irresistible, you're hardly alone. But why are we drawn to gossip?

如果一些關於你同事的小八卦令你無法抗拒，恭喜你，你並不是一個人。但是，我們爲什麼會被這些八卦所吸引呢？

A new study suggests it's because the rumors, innuendo, and hearsay are ultimately all about us — where we rate in the unofficial local hierarchy, and how we might improve our standing.

一項新的研究認爲這些謠言、暗示和傳聞基本上都與我們自身有關，例如我們在非辦公場合的地位以及我們該如何提升我們的身份。

"Gossip recipients tend to use positive and negative group information to improve, promote, and protect the self," writes a research team led by Elena Martinescu of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. "Individuals need evaluative information about others to evaluate themselves."

來自荷蘭格羅寧根大學（University of Groningen）的埃琳娜•馬丁納斯庫（Elena Martinescu）率領團隊研究這一問題。他們提到，聽到八卦的人會用這些正面的或負面的消息完善、提升和保護自己。每個人都需要通過他人的評價信息來評價自己。

Writing in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,the researchers describe two experiments testing the personal value gossip recipients derive. The first featured 178 university undergraduates who had all previously worked on at least one course assignment with a group of four or more students.

該研究報告發表於《個性與社會心理學通報》（Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin）上，研究人員描述了八卦接收者從中獲取對個人有利價值的兩個實驗。第一個實驗邀請了178名在校大學生，他們都曾同四名或四名以上的同學組成小組，一起完成過至少一項課程作業。

Participants "were asked to recall and write a short description of an incident in which a group members shared with them either positive or negative information about another group member's confidence," the researchers write. (Eighty-five received a positive report, 93 a negative one.)

研究人員寫道，這些被測試者被要求回憶並寫下一段簡短的描述，描述小組成員之間一起分享有關於另一組員信心的八卦，無論好壞。（結果表明，85人接收到的是正面消息，93人接收到負面消息。）

They then reported their level of agreement with a series of statements. Some of these measured the self-improvement value of the gossip ("The information received made me think I can learn a lot from X"); others measured its self-promotion value ("The information I received made me feel that I am doing well compared to X"). Still others measured whether the gossip raised personal concerns ("The information I received made me feel that I must protect my image in the group").

接下來，被測試者要對這些評論表達自己的贊同程度。一部分人將這些八卦消息看作是一種自我完善價值（他們認爲，這些消息是要告訴他們，某人身上有許多值得他們學習的地方）；另一部分人將這些八卦消息看作是一種自我提升價值（收到的消息使他們感覺自己做得比某人好）；而剩下的一部分人則認爲這些八卦讓他們感到擔憂（收到這些消息後，他們認爲在組內要保護好自己的形象）。

In the second experiment,122 undergraduates were assigned the role of "sales agent" at a major company. They received gossip from a colleague that a third person either did very well or very badly at a performance evaluation, and were then debriefed about the emotions that information evoked. They also responded to the aforementioned set of statements presented to participants in the first experiment.

第二組實驗要求122名大學生分別扮演一個大公司的銷售代理。首先他們將從一個同事那裏聽到另外一個同事表現好壞的評價，接着會被問及聽到這樣一消息時有何感受。同時，他們還要對上個實驗中被測試者所做的陳述作出迴應。

In each experiment, participants found both negative and positive gossip to be of personal value, albeit for different reasons. "Positive gossip has self-improvement value," they write. "Competence-related positive gossip about others contains lessons about how to improve one's own competence."

在每個實驗中，即使原因不同，被測試者們發現這些負面的和正面的八卦消息都與個人價值有關。研究人員寫道，正面的八卦消息能產生自我完善價值觀。與他人能力相關的正面八卦具有如何提升個人能力的作用。

On the flip side, "negative gossip has self-promotion value, because it provides individuals with social comparison information that justifies self-promoting judgments, which results in feelings of pride."

相反，由於負面八卦會給個人帶來一種社會性比較，且這種比較證明了自我提升會帶來一種自豪感，因此負面八卦被看作是一種自我提升價值觀。

"Contrary to lay perceptions," the researchers assert, "most negative gossip is not intended to hurt the target, but to please the gossiper and receiver."

研究人員稱，與世俗的認知相反，大多數負面八卦並不是想傷害那些被談論的人，僅僅是因爲這樣做會讓談論者和聽衆感到開心。

In addition, the results "showed that negative gossip elicited self-protection concerns," the researchers write. "Negative gossip makes people concerned that their reputations may be at risk, as they may personally become targets of negative gossip in the future, which generates fear."

除此之外，研究人員還寫道，研究結果表明，負面八卦還會產生一種自我保護意識。它會使人們擔心自己的名譽是否受損，因爲在將來，自己也可能成爲負面八卦的談論對象。這都會令人產生恐懼感。

Fear is hardly a pleasant sensation, of course, but it can be a motivating one. As Martinescu and her colleagues put it: "Gossip conveniently provides individuals with indirect social-comparison information about relevant others."

當然，恐懼不是一種舒服的感覺，但它可以成爲一種前進的動力。正如馬丁納斯庫和她的同事所提到的，八卦會適時地給人們帶來一種間接同某人作社會性比較的信息。

In other words, if you don't want to be viewed as a goof-off like Charley, you'd better get your act together.

換句話說，如果不想被別人看作像查理（Charley）那樣遊手好閒的人，你最好改正你的缺點。

It's worth noting that this study did not look at who-is-sleeping-with-who gossip, which presumably has a somewhat different function — although news that an illicit couple has gotten caught could certainly serve as a cautionary tale.

值得一提的是，雖然有不正當關係的兩個人被抓可以看做是一個引以爲戒的故事，但這項研究並未將“誰和誰有不正當關係”這樣的八卦消息放到研究內容中。如果列入調查範圍這也許會產生不同的結果。

But it does show that beyond providing "emotional catharsis and social control," confidentially treaded information about the competence, or lack thereof, of a co-worker can be "an essential resource for self-evaluation."

但是，這項研究表明，八卦消息除了能給人們帶來“情感宣泄和社會控制”，私下談論其他同事能力好壞的八卦都會成爲“一種自我評價的必要資源”。

Pass the word.

快把這篇文章“八卦”給別人吧。