九乡新闻网阿呆鸡纹身:害羞是人类的进化策略吗？（双语）
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害羞是人类的进化策略吗？（双语）
(2011-07-09 15:16:08)无论是在西方还是东方，人们都认为外向的人才能适应社会。但其实人们长久以来对内向的偏见是片面的。从自然选择的角度来说，种群需要这样的人。否则就会变成只有阳没有阴的失谐世界，最终也会走向灭绝。实际上内向者在知识和艺术领域取得的成就要比外向者高得多，其道德品质也更容易养成。毕竟，人们在社交方面花费的时间越多，在学习方面其下的功夫就越少。这篇文章来节选自《纽约时报》，作者SusanCain，“内向者的力量”的博主，她也将出版一本这方面的书。
一个漂亮女人，头上带着一顶帽子，害羞地垂下了自己的眼睛。在较早前的时代，她的眼神也许会散发出一种神秘的吸引力。但是这是2003年给左洛复（Zoloft）做的一则广告，该药物是一种经美国食品及药物管理局（F.D.A.）批准的选择性血清素再吸收抑制剂（S.S.R.I.），用于社交焦虑症的治疗。广告字幕写道，“她仅仅是害羞吗？还是说患上了社交焦虑症？”暗示这名年轻的女子一点都没有吸引力。她生病了。
But is she?
她真的生病了吗？
Itis possible that the lovely young woman has a life-wrecking form ofsocial anxiety. There are people too afraid of disapproval toventure out for a job interview, a date or even a meal in public.Despite the risk of serious side effects — nausea, loss of sexdrive, seizures — drugs like Zoloft can be a godsend for thisgroup.
如此可爱的一位年轻女子患上了一种人生摧毁式的社交恐惧是有可能的。这样的人的确存在，他们不喜欢冒险出门参加面试、约会或甚至在公共场合吃饭。尽管左洛复这样的药物存在严重的副作用风险——如恶心、失去性欲以及癫痫等，但是对于这一人群来说它们仍像是天赐之物。
But the ad’s insinuation aside, it’s alsopossible the young woman is “just shy,” or introverted — traits oursociety disfavors. One way we manifest this bias is by encouragingperfectly healthy shy people to see themselves asill.
抛开这则广告的暗示不谈，也有可能这名年轻女子“仅仅是害羞而已”，或者说是内向——这是一种不为我们的社会所推崇的性格。证明这一偏见的方法之一，便是鼓励十分健康的害羞者视其自身为生病了。
This does us all a grave disservice, becauseshyness and introversion — or more precisely, the careful,sensitive temperament from which both often spring — are not justnormal. They are valuable. And they may be essential to thesurvival of our species.
这对我们大家都造成了严重伤害，因为害羞和内向——或者更精确一点，此二者通常均会产生的敏感小心的特质不仅仅是正常不过的东西。它们还是有价值的。对于我们人类的生存还有可能是必不可少的东西。
Theoretically, shyness and social anxietydisorder are easily distinguishable. But a blurry line divides thetwo. Imagine that the woman in the ad enjoys a steady paycheck, astrong marriage and a small circle of close friends — a good lifeby most measures — except that she avoids a needed promotionbecause she’s nervous about leading meetings. She often criticizesherself for feeling too shy to speak up.
理论上害羞和社交焦虑症是很容易区分的。但是此二者却有一条模糊的分界线。想象一下，广告中的女人享受着一份稳定的薪水、一个美满的婚姻，还有一小圈亲密的朋友——按照大多数标准来衡量都可谓是幸福人生，除了一点，她回避了必要的晋升，因为她对主持会议非常紧张。她经常因为自己太害羞而不敢发言而自责。
What do you think now? Is she ill, or doesshe simply need public-speaking training?
那么现在你怎么看？她病了吗，或者说她仅仅是需要进行公开演讲方面的培训
Before 1980, this would have seemed astrange question. Social anxiety disorder did not officially existuntil it appeared in that year’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual,the DSM-III, the psychiatrist’s bible of mental disorders, underthe name “social phobia.” It was not widely known until the 1990s,when pharmaceutical companies received F.D.A. approval to treatsocial anxiety with S.S.R.I.’s and poured tens of millions ofdollars into advertising its existence. The current version of theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual, the DSM-IV, acknowledges thatstage fright (and shyness in social situations) is common and notnecessarily a sign of illness. But it also says that diagnosis iswarranted when anxiety “interferes significantly” with workperformance or if the sufferer shows “marked distress” about it.According to this definition, the answer to our question is clear:the young woman in the ad is indeed sick.
在1980年以前，这个问题会被看作是一个奇怪的问题。官方一直都没有社交焦虑症这种说法，直到它出现在了那一年的《诊断与统计手册，第三版》（DSM-III）这部精神病专家治疗精神障碍的圣经上，当时给它取的名字叫做“社交恐惧症（socialphobia）”。直到上世纪九十年代这一称谓都还没有广为人知，然后制药公司获得了美国食品及药物管理局的许可，允许他们使用选择性血清素再吸收抑制剂（S.S.R.I.）来治疗社交焦虑症，药商投入了上千万美元来宣传这种药品的存在。而现在这个版本的《诊断与统计手册》（DSM-IV）则承认说怯场（以及在社会情境下的害羞）是正常的，没必要视其为疾病的信号。不过它上面也说，在焦虑对工作效率产生“显著影响”或如果患者对此显示出“明显的痛苦”的情况下，诊断也是可以的。按照这一定义，我们这个问题的答案非常清晰：广告中的女人的确有病。
The DSM inevitably reflects culturalattitudes; it used to identify homosexuality as a disease, too.Though the DSM did not set out to pathologize shyness, it risksdoing so, and has twice come close to identifying introversion as adisorder, too. (Shyness and introversion are not the same thing.Shy people fear negative judgment; introverts simply prefer quiet,minimally stimulating environments.)
《诊断与统计手册》不可避免地影响了文化态度；它习惯上也把同性恋当做一种疾病。尽管《诊断与统计手册》并不打算把害羞当做一种疾病来治疗或解释，但是它有这么做的风险，且也已经有两次接近于将内向鉴定为一种失调了。（害羞和内向不是一回事。害羞的人害怕否定判断；而内向只是更偏好于安静、刺激最少的环境。）
But shyness and introversion share anundervalued status in a world that prizes extroversion. Children’sclassroom desks are now often arranged in pods, because groupparticipation supposedly leads to better learning; in one school Ivisited, a sign announcing “Rules for Group Work” included, “Youcan’t ask a teacher for help unless everyone in your group has thesame question.” Many adults work for organizations that now assignwork in teams, in offices without walls, for supervisors who value“people skills” above all. As a society, we prefer action tocontemplation, risk-taking to heed-taking, certainty to doubt.Studies show that we rank fast and frequent talkers as morecompetent, likable and even smarter than slow ones. As thepsychologists William Hart and Dolores Albarracin point out,phrases like “get active,” “get moving,” “do something” and similarcalls to action surface repeatedly in recentbooks.
但是，在一个奖赏外向的世界里，害羞和内向的价值均处于被低估的状态。孩子们教室的课桌现在通常都是排成豆荚弧形的，因为团队参与的学习效果有可能会更好；在我参观过的一个学校里，名为《小组活动规则》的标牌里面其中就有这么一条，“除非你的小组人人都有相同的问题，否则不能请求老师的帮助。”许多成人为组织进行的工作现在也都按团队进行分配，办公室不用墙来区隔，管理者首先考虑的是“人员技能”。作为一个社会，我们宁愿行动也不肯沉思，宁可冒险也不肯留心，宁愿确定也不愿怀疑。研究表明，我们视花言巧语夸夸其谈者比吞吞吐吐慢声细气者更有能力、更讨人喜欢甚至更聪明。正如心理学家威廉·哈特（WilliamHart）以及德洛丽丝·阿巴拉钦（DoloresAlbarracin）所指出的那样，像“主动点”、“行动起来”、“做点什么”这类的话以及类似的呼吁在最近的书上一再冒头。
Yet shy and introverted people have beenpart of our species for a very long time, often in leadershippositions. We find them in the Bible (“Who am I, that I should gounto Pharaoh?" asked Moses, whom the Book of Numbers describes as“very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of theearth.”) We find them in recent history, in figures like CharlesDarwin, Marcel Proust and Albert Einstein, and, in contemporarytimes: think of Google’s Larry Page, or Harry Potter’s creator, J.K. Rowling.
然而，害羞和内向者长久以来就是我们人种的一部分，通常还都是处于领导的位置。圣经里面有他们的身影（“我是什么人，竟能去见法老？”摩西问道。此人在《民数计》中被描述为“非常谦恭，乃众人之上”。）近代历史有他们的足迹，如达尔文、马塞尔·普鲁斯特以及爱因斯坦这样的人物，而在当代：想想看，谷歌的拉里·佩奇或者是《哈利波特》的作者罗琳
Inthe science journalist Winifred Gallagher’s words: “The glory ofthe disposition that stops to consider stimuli rather than rushingto engage with them is its long association with intellectual andartistic achievement. Neither E=mc2 nor ‘Paradise Lost’ was dashedoff by a party animal.”
用科学记者威妮弗雷德·加拉格尔（WinifredGallagher）的话来说：“停止下来思考刺激物，而非匆忙地参与其中，这种性格上的荣耀长久以来就与智力成果和艺术成就结下了不解之缘。E=mc2或《失乐园》均非由派对动物一蹴而就的。”
Weeven find “introverts” in the animal kingdom, where 15 percent to20 percent of many species are watchful, slow-to-warm-up types whostick to the sidelines (sometimes called “sitters”) while the other80 percent are “rovers” who sally forth without paying muchattention to their surroundings. Sitters and rovers favor differentsurvival strategies, which could be summed up as the sitter’s “Lookbefore you leap” versus the rover’s inclination to “Just do it!”Each strategy reaps different rewards.
我们甚至能够在动物王国找到“内向者”，许多物种中15%到20%者是充满警觉、发动缓慢型的，它们固守在端线不肯移动（有时候被称为“定坐者”），而其它80%则是“巡游者”，它们在不太注意周围环境的情况就开始动身。定坐者和巡游者喜欢的生存策略各不相同，可归纳为定坐者的“三思而后行”相对于巡游者的“想做就做！”每一种策略都收获了不同的回报。
Once you know about sitters and rovers, yousee them everywhere, especially among young children. Drop in onyour local Mommy and Me music class: there are the sitters,intently watching the action from their mothers’ laps, while therovers march around the room banging their drums and shaking theirmaracas.
一旦了解了定坐者和巡游者，你到处都可以看见他们，尤其是在儿童当中。随便到当地的妈妈和我音乐课上去看看：你可以看到定坐者，他们在专心致志地观察着自己妈妈的拍打动作，而巡游者则满屋子乱串，又是敲鼓又是摇沙球的。
Relaxed and exploratory, the rovers havefun, make friends and will take risks, both rewarding and dangerousones, as they grow. According to Daniel Nettle, a NewcastleUniversity evolutionary psychologist, extroverts are more likelythan introverts to be hospitalized as a result of an injury, haveaffairs (men) and change relationships (women). One study of busdrivers even found that accidents are more likely to occur whenextroverts are at the wheel.
悠然自在、东摸西探，巡游者开心玩耍，结交朋友，也会冒冒风险，随着其年龄增长，既有所得亦会遇到危险。根据纽卡斯尔大学进化心理学家丹尼尔·列托（DanielNettle）的说法，相对于内向者，外向者更有可能因伤住院、有外遇（男）或换情侣（女）。对公交车司机的一项研究甚至发现外向者开车更有可能发生事故。
Incontrast, sitter children are careful and astute, and tend to learnby observing instead of by acting. They notice scary things morethan other children do, but they also notice more things ingeneral. Studies dating all the way back to the 1960’s by thepsychologists Jerome Kagan and Ellen Siegelman found that cautious,solitary children playing matching games spent more timeconsidering all the alternatives than impulsive children did,actually using more eye movements to make decisions. Recent studiesby a group of scientists at Stony Brook University and at Chineseuniversities using functional M.R.I. technology echoed thisresearch, finding that adults with sitter-like temperaments lookedlonger at pairs of photos with subtle differences and showed moreactivity in brain regions that make associations between the photosand other stored information in the brain.
与此相反，定坐者小孩小心翼翼、精明狡黠，他们更倾向于通过观察而非行动来学习。相对于其他小孩，他们更容易注意到令人惊慌的东西，但是他们通常也会注意到更多的东西。上世纪六十年代心理学家杰罗姆·卡根（JeromeKagan）和艾伦·西格尔曼（EllenSiegelman）进行的研究发现，在玩配对游戏时，孤独谨慎的小孩考虑所有的可选方案所花费的时间要比冲动的小孩要多，实际上他们进行了更多的眼球运动来做出决策。最近由石溪大学（Stony BrookUniversity）以及中国一些大学的一组科学家进行的研究利用了功能性核磁共振成像技术来呼应这项调查，发现了定坐者气质的成人观看存在细微差别的一对图片的时间更久，进行图片及其他大脑存储信息之关联分析的大脑区域表现出更多的活动。
Once they reach school age,many sitter children use such traits to great effect. Introverts,who tend to digest information thoroughly, stay on task, and workaccurately, earn disproportionate numbers of National MeritScholarship finalist positions and Phi Beta Kappa keys, accordingto the Center for Applications of Psychological Type, a researcharm for the
一旦他们到了上学的年龄，许多定坐者小孩把这种特质发挥到很好的效果。内向者趋向于彻底地消化信息，不断地努力，准确地工作，按照M迈耶―布里格斯类型指标（Myers-Briggs personalitytypeindicator）的研究机构美国心理类型应用中心（Center for Applications ofPsychological Type）的说法，其所获得全国绩优奖学金（National MeritScholarship）以及美国优秀大学生全国荣誉学会（Phi BetaKappa）的数目多得不成比例——即便其智商并不比外向者高。另一项由心理学家埃里克·罗尔夫哈斯（EricRolfhus）及菲利普·艾克曼（PhilipAckerman）进行的研究则测试了141名大学生20门不同学科的知识，从天文学到统计学不一而足，调查发现，有19门学科内向者的知识要比外向者丰富——研究人员得出结论，由此可推定，人们在社交方面花费的时间越多，在学习方面其下的功夫就越少。
THE psychologist Gregory Feist found thatmany of the most creative people in a range of fields areintroverts who are comfortable working in solitary conditions inwhich they can focus attention inward. Steve Wozniak, the engineerwho founded Apple with Steve Jobs, is a prime example: Mr. Wozniakdescribes his creative process as an exercise in solitude. “Mostinventors and engineers I’ve met are like me,” he writes in “iWoz,”his autobiography. “They’re shy and they live in their heads.They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very best of them areartists. And artists work best alone ... Not on a committee. Not ona team.”
心理学家格雷戈里·菲丝特发现，各个领域最富创造力的人当中许多人都是内向者，他们在独居的环境下能够舒服地工作，这样他们可以把注意力集中在内在的东西。与乔布斯一同创建了苹果公司的斯蒂夫·沃兹尼亚克（SteveWozniak）就是一个极佳的例子：沃兹尼亚克先生称自己的创造过程为一场孤独的练习。“我所见过的发明家和工程师大都跟我一样，”他在自己的自传《iWoz》中写道，“他们很害羞，靠头脑生活。几乎跟艺术家一样。实际上，其中的最出色者就是艺术家。而艺术家工作最出色的地方……不是在委员会，也不是在团队里面，而是个人独居的时候。”
Sitters’ temperaments also confer moresubtle advantages. Anxiety, it seems, can serve an important socialpurpose; for example, it plays a key role in the development ofsome children’s consciences. When caregivers rebuke them for actingup, they become anxious, and since anxiety is unpleasant, they tendto develop pro-social behaviors. Shy children are often easier tosocialize and more conscientious, according to the developmentalpsychologist Grazyna Kochanska. By 6 they’re less likely than theirpeers to cheat or break rules, even when they think they can’t becaught, according to one study. By 7 they’re more likely to bedescribed by their parents as having high levels of moral traitssuch as empathy.
定坐者的性格也会赋予其更多微妙的优势。焦虑看起来似乎能够充当一种重要的社会责任感；比方说，它在某些儿童道德的养成方面扮演着关键角色。当他们的看护人斥责其调皮的时候，他们会变得焦虑，而由于焦虑是令人不愉快的，他们就会倾向于养成亲社会行为。害羞的儿童通常更容易社会化，也更容易尽责，这是发展心理学家格罗苏那·科钦斯加（GrazynaKochanska）的说法。根据一项研究，到了6岁的时候，相对于其同龄人，他们更难欺骗，也更不会破坏规则，即便在他们认为自己不会被抓的情况下亦是如此。7岁时，他们更有可能被自己父母认为具备了高层次的道德品质，如同理心。
When I shared this information with themother of a “sitter” daughter, her reaction was mixed. “That is allvery nice,” she said, “but how will it help her in the tough realworld?” But sensitivity, if it is not excessive and is properlynurtured, can be a catalyst for empathy and even leadership.Eleanor Roosevelt, for example, was a courageous leader who wasvery likely a sitter. Painfully shy and serious as a child, shegrew up to be a woman who could not look away from other people’ssuffering — and who urged her husband, the constitutionally buoyantF.D.R., to do the same; the man who had nothing to fear but fearitself relied, paradoxically, on a woman deeply acquainted withit.
当我把这一信息分享给一位“定坐者”女儿的妈妈时，她的反应有些五味杂陈。“这一切都非常好，”她说：“但是，在这个残酷的世界里这对她又有什么帮助呢？”但是，敏感，只要不是过度敏感且得到正确的培养，就能成为同理心甚至是领导力的催化剂。比方说，罗斯福总统夫人（EleanorRoosevelt）就是一位有胆识的领袖，而她很有可能是一位定坐者。儿时生性腼腆异常严肃的她，长大后却成为了一名不会无视他人蒙难的妇女——她敦促自己的丈夫，天性活跃的小罗斯福也做同样的事情；此人除了恐惧本身什么都不怕，却自相矛盾地要依靠深悉这一点的女人。
Another advantage sitters bring toleadership is a willingness to listen to and implement otherpeople’s ideas. A groundbreaking study led by the Whartonmanagement professor Adam Grant, to be published this month in TheAcademy of Management Journal, found that introverts outperformextroverts when leading teams of proactive workers — the kinds ofemployees who take initiative and are disposed to dream up betterways of doing things. Professor Grant notes that business self-helpguides often suggest that introverted leaders practice theircommunication skills and smile more. But, he told me, it may beextrovert leaders who need to change, to listen more and sayless.
定坐者带给领导力的另一个优势则是乐于倾听并实施他人的想法。沃顿商学院管理学教授亚当·格兰特（AdamGrant）领导了一项开创性研究，研究将在本月出版的《管理学会杂志（The Academy of ManagementJournal）》上发表，该研究发现，在领导积极员工（也即积极主动并愿意创造做事情的更好方式的员工）团队的时候，内向者要胜过外向者。格兰特教授注意到商业自助指南往往建议内向型的领导者练习其沟通技巧，要他们展现更多的微笑。然而，他告诉我说，也许要做出改变的反倒是外向型领导者，他们要多听少说。
What would the world would look like if allour sitters chose to medicate themselves? The day may come when wehave pills that “cure” shyness and turn introverts into socialbutterflies — without the side effects and other drawbacks oftoday’s medications. (A recent study suggests that today’sS.S.R.I.’s not only relieve social anxiety but also induceextroverted behavior.) The day may come — and might be here already— when people are as comfortable changing their psyches as thecolor of their hair. If we continue to confuse shyness withsickness, we may find ourselves in a world of all rovers and nositters, of all yang and no yin.
如果我们的定坐者都选择对自己进行药物治疗的话，世界会是什么样子呢？这一天也许就会到来，没有了副作用和今天药物的其他缺点之后，一旦我们吃了那种药丸，害羞被“治愈好”了，内向者变成了交际花。（最近的一项研究认为今天的选择性血清素再吸收抑制剂不仅能减轻社交焦虑症，还会引发外向型行为。）这一天也许会到来，可能现在就已经是了——改变心灵就像变换头发颜色一样稀松平常。如果我们继续把害羞跟疾病混为一谈，我们也许就会发现自己处在一个全部都是巡游者没有定坐者的世界，只有阳没有阴。
Asa sitter who enjoys an engaged, productive life, and a professionalspeaking career, but still experiences the occasional knock-kneedmoment, I can understand why caring physicians prescribe availablemedicine and encourage effective non-pharmaceutical treatments suchas cognitive-behavioral therapy.
作为一名过着忙碌而丰富生活的定坐者，作为一名仍偶尔有哆嗦时刻的职业演讲者，我能够理解为何富有同情心的内科医生会开出贴心的药方并鼓励进行有效的非药物性治疗，比如认知行为疗法。
But even non-medical treatments emphasizewhat is wrong with the people who use them. They don’t focus onwhat is right. Perhaps we need to rethink our approach to socialanxiety: to address the pain, but to respect the temperament thatunderlies it. The act of treating shyness as an illness obscuresthe value of that temperament. Ridding people of social unease neednot involve pathologizing their fundamental nature, but ratherurging them to use its gifts.
但是即便是非药物疗法强调的还是用此法治疗的人错在什么地方。他们没有把重点放在对在什么地方。也许我们需要重新思考一下我们对社交焦虑症的看法：处理好他们的痛苦，但尊重他们的性格，那是其依赖的基础。把害羞当做疾病来治疗的行为遮盖了这种气质的价值。让人们摆脱社会不安感不需要把他们的基本天性当做疾病治疗，相反，应该说服他们利用好天赐的礼物。
It’s time for the young woman in the Zoloftad to rediscover her allure.
是时候让左洛复广告中的那位年轻女子重新发现自己的魅力了。
外研社官方博客： http://blog.sina.com.cn/fltrp19