经济学人229:道德心理学 时间让人诚实

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术

　　The psychology¹ of morality

　　道德心理学

　　Time to be honest

　　时间让人诚实

　　A simple experiment suggests a way to encourage truthfulness²

　　由简单实验总结出让人诚实的方法

　　IS SIN original?

　　难道人性本恶？

　　That is the question addressed by Shaul Shalvi, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam, in a paper just published in Psychological Science.

　　阿姆斯特丹大学心理学家Shaul Shalvi在《心理科学》期刊上刚发表的一篇论文谈到了这个问题。

　　Dr Shalvi and his colleagues, Ori Eldar and Yoella Bereby-Meyer of Ben-Gurion University in Israel, wanted to know if the impulse to cheat is something that grows or diminishes when the potential cheater has time for reflection on his actions.

　　Shalvi博士和他的来自以色列Ben-Gurion大学的同事们 Ori Eldar 和 Yoella Bereby-Meye希望知道当一个想要撒谎的人如果有时间对他的行为思考时，他们说谎的动机是增加还是降低。

　　Is cheating, in other words, instinctive³ or calculating?

　　换句话说，撒谎，是一种应激本能还是经过慢慢算计的？

　　Appropriately, the researchers’ apparatus⁴ for their experiment was that icon⁵ of sinful activity, the gambling⁶ die.

　　研究人员为他们的实验提供了一个很合适的实验工具，赌博用的骰子—本身就象征着罪恶的活动。

　　They wanted to find out whether people were more likely to lie about the result of a die roll when asked that result immediately, or when given time to think.

　　他们想看看人们到底是在什么情况下更容易撒谎，是在需要立即报告骰子点数的情况下还是有足够的时间的情况下。

　　To carry out their experiment, Dr Shalvi, Dr Eldar and Dr Bereby-Meyer gave each of 76 volunteers a six-sided die and a cup.

　　为了进行实验，Ben-Gurion、 Ori Eldar 和 Yoella Bereby-Meye博士为76个志愿参与实验的人每人一个六面的骰子和一个杯子。

　　Participants were told that a number of them, chosen at random⁸, would earn ten shekels for each pip of the numeral they rolled on the die.

　　他们告诉参与实验的人，他们随意摇出的骰子的点数，每一点可获得10谢克尔。

　　They were then instructed to shake their cups, check the outcome of the rolled die and remember this roll.

　　然后参与实验的人按照规定摇骰子，检查这一轮他们摇出的点数并且记住它。

　　Next, they were asked to roll the die two more times, to satisfy themselves that it was not loaded, and, that done, to enter the result of the first roll on a computer terminal.

　　他们按照要求再掷两次色子，好让他们自己相信没人对这色子动过手脚，这样检查完没问题之后，他们就把第一次掷出的数字输入到电脑终端中去。

　　Half of the participants were told to complete this procedure within 20 seconds while the others were given no time limit.

　　他要求一半的参与者在20s之内完成，而另一半则没有时间限制。

　　The researchers had no way of knowing what numbers participants actually rolled, of course.

　　当然研究人员无从知晓参与者摇出的真实数字。

　　But they knew, statistically⁹, that the average roll, if people reported honestly, should have been 3.5.

　　但是从统计学理论上来讲，如果人们诚实的话，那么摇出的点数的平均数字应该是3.5，

　　This gave them a baseline from which to calculate participants’ honesty.

　　这个原理为他们提供了判断参与实验的人是否诚实的基线。

　　Those forced to enter their results within 20 seconds, the researchers found, reported a mean roll of 4.6.

　　那些被要求20秒内输入他们结果的人所报告的结果的平均数是4.6，

　　Those who were not under any time pressure reported a mean roll of 3.9.

　　而没有时间限制的人所报告的平均点数是3.9。所以，

　　Both groups lied, then. But those who had had more time for reflection lied less.

　　两个组的人都撒谎了，但有时间考虑的那一半人撒谎的少一些。

　　A second experiment confirmed this result.

　　第二个实验也证实了这个结果。

　　A different bunch of volunteers were asked to roll the die just once.

　　另一群志愿者只允许摇一次筛子，与

　　Again, half were put under time pressure and, since there were no additional rolls to make, the restriction¹⁰ was changed from 20 seconds to eight.

　　上次相同的是一半人必须在8秒内输入结果，而另一半则没有做时间限制，

　　The others were allowed to consider the matter for as long as they wished.

　　他们想思考多长时间都行。

　　In this case the first half reported an average roll of 4.4.

　　在这次试验中，前一半人输入的平均数字是4.4。

　　Those given no time limit reported an average of 3.4.

　　有充足时间思考的另一半人输入结果的平均数字是3.4.换句话说，

　　The second lot, in other words, actually told the truth.

　　这一半的人大部分都说了实话。

　　The conclusion, therefore, at least in the matter of cheating at dice¹¹, is that sin is indeed original.

　　因此，至少在骰子点数这个问题上，实验的结论是人生来的确是罪恶的。

　　Without time for reflection, people will default to the mode labelled cheat.

　　如果没有思考时间，人们会被预设为贴有欺骗标签的模式。

　　Given such time, however, they will often do the right thing.

　　然而如果给予充足的时间思考，他们通常会选择做正确的事情。

　　If you want someone to be honest, then, do not press him too hard for an immediate⁷ decision.

　　所以，如果你希望一个诚实，千万别为了一个立即的决定而给他太大压力。

　　1.morality n.道德；道德准则

　　The decline in traditional morality.

　　传统道德观念的衰退。

　　2.experiment n.实验，试验；尝试

　　What does tuberculin experiment positive show?

　　结核菌素试验阳性说明什么？

　　3.impulse n.凭冲动行事；突如其来的念头

　　The impulse ring is a composite, magnetized ring.

　　脉冲环是一个合成磁化圈。

　　4.random a.任意的；随机的；胡乱的

　　Because what do we know about random distribution?

　　因为我们对随机洗牌清楚？

　　5.terminal n.终端；终点站；航空站

　　Remove lead for the negative terminal.

　　拆下负极端子的导线。

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 truthfulness   

n. 符合实际

参考例句：

• Among her many virtues are loyalty, courage, and truthfulness. 她有许多的美德，如忠诚、勇敢和诚实。
• I fired a hundred questions concerning the truthfulness of his statement. 我对他发言的真实性提出一连串质问。

3 instinctive   

adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的

参考例句：

• He tried to conceal his instinctive revulsion at the idea.他试图饰盖自己对这一想法本能的厌恶。
• Animals have an instinctive fear of fire.动物本能地怕火。

4 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

5 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

6 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

7 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

8 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

9 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

10 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

11 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。