VOA常速英语2016--加强群体认同可预防踩踏事件

加强群体认同可预防踩踏事件

Large gatherings¹ are usually peaceful but sometimes turn unruly with deadly consequences. Last year’s stampede during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, for example, left more than 2,000 people dead. Psychologists say understanding how and why crowds sometimes behave as they do, and controlling them, involves recognizing people's capacity for self-regulation.

Saudi authorities say they have spent more than $300 million to improve the safety of pilgrims during the annual visit to the Muslim holy sites, a central tenet of Islam.

沙特当局称已耗资3亿多美元用于改善每年朝拜穆斯林圣地期间的安全，朝拜圣地是伊斯兰教的核心信条。

But stampedes still happen in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, so psychologists are trying to understand why and what can be done to prevent them.

但沙特等地仍会发生踩踏事件，所以心理学家努力研究其原因，并找到预防的办法。

Understanding stampedes

Observing groups of undergraduate students, psychologists at the University of Sussex noticed differences in behavior when subjects perceived themselves as individuals sharing only physical space with others, as opposed to sharing some sort of social identity.

Undergraduate students that share a group identity, walk to a library square on the Sussex campus, while researchers film the event to observe that behavior

苏塞克斯大学的心理学家们对一群大学生进行了观察，发现了受试者在将自己看做个体、与他人只是共享物理空间时，和与他人共有某种社会认同时的行为差异。

“We primed a bunch of undergraduate students to share a group identity and then gave them a task where they had to walk to a library square on the Sussex campus, and we filmed them as they walked under a bridge and then tracked that behavior” Anne Tempelton, PhD student explained. “and we compared that behavior to when they weren't primed at all.”

“我们挑选出一批大学生，让他们形成群体认同，然后给他们一个任务，就是走到苏塞克斯大学校园的图书馆广场，我们拍摄他们在一座桥下经过时的情景并追踪这一行为，然后将这一行为与他们没有组成群体时的行为作对比。”

Sharing common identity, stick together

Students who shared the common identity, such as wearing the same black baseball caps, stayed together, keeping a close formation. Students who did not belong to a group just rushed past each other.

那些有着共同认同的学生-比如穿着同样黑色棒球帽-会聚在一起并保持亲密，那些不属于同一个群体的学生会冲撞着向前走。

Using the videos, social psychologists at the University of Applied² Sciences in Munich created a computer simulation which showed that individuals sharing a common identity move slower and seem to be less susceptible³ to panic attacks. They may be easier to control because they feel safer when they belong to the same group.

慕尼黑应用科学大学的社会心理学家使用这些视频创建了一个电脑模拟情景，显示有着共同认同的个体会走得慢些，似乎不容易受到恐慌袭击的影响，他们可能会因为属于集体而更有安全感，所以更容易控制。

“We got an explanation for that, which is the more that people identify with the crowd, the more they expect social support,” said Dr. John Drury, University of Sussex.

“我们对此有了解释，那就是，人们越是认同群体，就越期待社会支持，”苏塞克斯大学的德鲁里博士说。

 

Psychologists say this and other studies point to the importance of having a person who communicates to others within a group, helping⁴ them to internalize instructions about which behavior is safe and which is unsafe.

心理学家说，这一研究和其它研究都表明了个体与群体中其他人进行沟通的重要性，以及帮助他们将哪些行为安全、哪些不安全的指导进行内化也是很重要的。

1 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

2 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

3 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。