Gossip is healthy because it helps calm you down and is important in maintaining social order, a new study claims.
一項(xiàng)新研究稱，散播流言有益健康，因?yàn)樯⒉チ餮阅茏屓似届o下來，對(duì)于維持社會(huì)秩序也很重要。
Idle chatter in the workplace or over a coffee is often viewed as a damaging habit which spreads
salacious rumours and harms people's reputations.
在工作場(chǎng)所閑聊或邊喝咖啡邊聊天常被視為有害的習(xí)慣，因?yàn)樗鼤?huì)傳播下流的謠言，損害人們的名譽(yù)。
But new research suggests
gossip could actually lower stress and help people overcome the
frustration of seeing someone doing something wrong and getting away with it.
然而新研究顯示，散播流言其實(shí)能減輕壓力，幫助人們克服看到有人做錯(cuò)事卻沒受懲罰的挫敗感。
Psychologists from the University of California, Berkeley, found that volunteers' heart rates rose when they observed someone misbehaving, but that this stopped when they were allowed to discuss what they had seen with others
.
來自加利福尼亞大學(xué)伯克利分校的心理學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)參加研究的志愿者看到某些人行為不端時(shí)心跳會(huì)加速，但當(dāng)他們可以和別人談?wù)撟约核吹降氖虑闀r(shí)心跳又會(huì)恢復(fù)正常。
The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, focused on "
prosocial" gossip which helps spread information about dishonest people rather than
voyeuristic chatter about celebrities' love lives, the researchers said.
該研究發(fā)表在《個(gè)性與社會(huì)心理學(xué)雜志》上。研究者稱，這一研究關(guān)注的是幫助散播有關(guān)不正直的人的信息的“親社會(huì)”流言，而非談?wù)撁烁星樯畹母Q淫狂式的流言。
In a trial designed to determine how strong our urge is to spread gossip, some participants even said they would spend money in order to send a note warning others about people they had seen cheating in a trust exercise.
為了明確了解我們散播流言的欲望有多強(qiáng)烈，研究人員開展了一個(gè)試驗(yàn)，試驗(yàn)中有些參與者甚至表示，會(huì)花錢寄信警告別人要提防那個(gè)自己發(fā)現(xiàn)在信任練習(xí)中作弊的人。
Prof Robb Willer, one of the researchers, said: "Spreading information about the person whom they had seen behave badly tended to make people feel better, quieting the frustration that drove their gossip."
其中一位研究人員羅伯 維勒教授說：“散播有關(guān)行為不端的人的信息會(huì)讓人們感覺好一些，撫平那種促使他們?nèi)ド⒉チ餮缘拇鞌「?。?/div>
The study also showed that passing on rumours could help us monitor people who behave badly and prevent each other from being
exploited by
malicious individuals, Prof Willer added.
維勒教授補(bǔ)充說，研究還顯示，散播流言能幫助人們監(jiān)督那些行為不端的人，并防止大家受到惡人的利用。
In an online trust game where players could lower their chances of winning by warning others about cheaters, the threat of being the subject of bad gossip encouraged people to play more fairly.
在一個(gè)網(wǎng)上信任游戲中，如果玩家向他人告發(fā)作弊者，作弊者獲勝的機(jī)會(huì)就會(huì)降低，害怕成為不利流言的主角的威脅鼓勵(lì)人們更公平地玩游戲。
Prof Willer said: "Gossip gets a bad rap, but we're finding evidence that it plays a critical role in the maintenance of social order."
維勒教授說：“盡管人們對(duì)流言怨聲很多，但我們找到了證據(jù)證明它在維持社會(huì)秩序方面也發(fā)揮著重要的作用?！?/div>
小編注：
Ⅰ. 文中的“rumour”翻譯為流言的原因：
1. rumour本身有這個(gè)意思；
2. 文章中出現(xiàn)了“gossip”，為了文章前后的映襯和統(tǒng)一；
3. 流言與謠言有本質(zhì)的區(qū)別：謠言有故意捏造、惡意攻擊、有蠱惑人心的性質(zhì)，而流言一般不是故意去傷害某人。某些流言具有消極的作用，甚至引起社會(huì)混亂，但它在動(dòng)機(jī)和目的上與謠言是有區(qū)別的。故意散布的“流言蜚語”則屬謠言的范疇。本文意在強(qiáng)調(diào)流言的積極作用，因此不能譯為充滿惡意的“謠言”。
Ⅱ. 《個(gè)性與社會(huì)心理學(xué)雜志》（來自維基百科）
《個(gè)性與社會(huì)心理學(xué)雜志》（英語：Journal of Personality and Social Psychology，JPSP），美國(guó)心理學(xué)會(huì)出版的一份心理學(xué)學(xué)術(shù)月刊，被認(rèn)為是社會(huì)心理學(xué)和人格心理學(xué)領(lǐng)域的頂級(jí)刊物，重點(diǎn)是實(shí)證研究報(bào)告，不過也發(fā)表專業(yè)化的理論、方法以及評(píng)論文章。
這份雜志分為三個(gè)獨(dú)立的部分：態(tài)度與社會(huì)認(rèn)知，人際關(guān)系與群體動(dòng)力學(xué)，和人格過程與個(gè)體差異，分別有不同的編輯。
典型的《個(gè)性與社會(huì)心理學(xué)雜志》論文包括長(zhǎng)篇的導(dǎo)論和文獻(xiàn)評(píng)論，然后是一些探索理論的不同方面或測(cè)試多個(gè)相互競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的假設(shè)的相關(guān)研究。一些研究人員認(rèn)為多次實(shí)驗(yàn)的要求是一個(gè)沉重的負(fù)擔(dān)，拖延出版了有價(jià)值作品的發(fā)表，但是這一要求有助于維護(hù)這樣的印象：發(fā)表在《個(gè)性與社會(huì)心理學(xué)雜志》上的論文已經(jīng)經(jīng)過了徹底的審查，不太可能出現(xiàn)I型錯(cuò)誤或未探測(cè)的混亂。
