英语听力文摘 English Digest 633 无意识行为和心理学

 　　Unconscious Behavior And Psychology¹

　　Social psychologists have long been intrigued² by what they call automatic behavior–the ways people react to stimuli³ without consciously thinking about their actions.

图片1

　　All Hot And Bothered

　　In fact, it seems that most people can be unconsciously influenced to behave in certain ways. For example, in one experiment, participants were told to unscramble sentences using words such as “bother”, “disturb”, and “obnoxious.” When they completed the task, these participants were more likely to act rudely than participants who were given words such as “patient” and “appreciate.”

　　But wait, things get even more interesting. After being asked to unscramble sentences using words such as “old, ancient, Florida, and retired,” participants tended to walk more slowly when leaving the experiment, even though slowness was not mentioned.

　　Why?

　　Researchers speculate that words such as “Florida” and “retired” invoke⁴ stereotypes⁶ of the elderly, and these stereotypes also include slowness.

　　This experiment also confirms the power of what is commonly known as self-fulfilling prophecy, the idea that our expectations make us behave (consciously or unconsciously) in a way that makes those expectations come true.

　　When you meet someone who fits into a stereotype⁵, you automatically act toward him or her in a manner consistent with that stereotype. So if you think men in red baseball caps tend to be hostile, when you run into such a man you unconsciously begin to act defensively. That causes the man to react defensively, which then confirms the original stereotype. In short, it’s a vicious cycle, and one that’s not entirely⁷ under our control.

1 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

2 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

3 stimuli   

n.刺激（物）

参考例句：

• It is necessary to curtail or alter normally coexisting stimuli.必需消除或改变正常时并存的刺激。
• My sweat glands also respond to emotional stimuli.我的汗腺对情绪刺激也能产生反应。

4 invoke   

v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求

参考例句：

• Let us invoke the blessings of peace.让我们祈求和平之福。
• I hope I'll never have to invoke this clause and lodge a claim with you.我希望我永远不会使用这个条款向你们索赔。

5 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

6 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。