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动物的性格比我们想象的更接近人类

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If you've ever been around animals, you know they can have different personalities.

如果你曾接触过动物,就会知道它们具有不同的个性。

Some dogs love meeting new people and making dog friends; some would rather just watch the world go by.

有些狗喜欢结交新的人类朋友和狗朋友;有些狗宁愿看着周围世人的流逝。

Some cats love cuddling; others don't want anything to do with you.

有些猫喜欢紧贴着你的身子,有些不想和你有任何关系。

And research has backed up the idea that other species have different personality traits, just like us.

研究支持了这种观点,即其他物种和我们一样,有着不同的性格特征。

But even though these personalities can be as diverse as the ones in your friend group or office,

但是,即使这些个性可以像你的朋友圈或办公室关系一样多样化,

there was one personality trait scientists used to believe was uniquely human conscientiousness.

但科学家们过去一直认为责任心是人类特有的人格特征。

It's that trait that makes you work hard and make responsible decisions,

正是这种特质让你努力工作,做出负责任的决定,

and scientists didn't traditionally see it in most non-human animals.

而科学家们一直在大多数非人类动物身上没有发现这种特质。

Recently, though, researchers have started to see that many other species do demonstrate conscientiousness—actually, a lot like us.

不过最近,研究人员开始发现,许多其他物种确实表现出了尽责的精神,这与我们非常相似。

And that goes to show that this trait we thought differentiated us from other animals might actually make us more similar to them than we thought.

这就表明,我们认为自己与其他动物不同的特质,实际上可能会让我们比想象中更接近它们。

Personality is a tricky thing to describe, but in humans, psychologists often describe it using the Big Five.

个性是很难描述的东西,但在人类身上,心理学家通常用五大特征来描述。

You might have heard of the Big Five if you've ever taken a personality test it includes five key traits that try to quantify aspects of someone's personality

如果你做过人格测试,可能听说过大五人格测试。它包括五个关键特征,

extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and conscientiousness.

来量化人的性格外向性、随和性、神经质、对经验的开放性和认真负责。

And you can describe someone by ranking how much they demonstrate each trait.

你可以通过它们在每种特质上的评分来描述一个人。

The traits themselves seem to be pretty universal.

这些特征本身似乎相当普遍。

You can see them in different people from all different times and places.

你可以在不同的时间和地点,在不同人身上看到它们。

And you can use a person's specific traits to predict how they might act in certain situations.

你可以利用一个人的特殊特征来预测他们在某些情况下的表现。

For example, someone who ranks low for extraversion, in other words, an introvert,

例如,外向性低的人(即内向者)

is more likely to skip out on a party than someone who's more extraverted.

比外向性高的人更容易从派对溜走。

The thing is, though, a person can pretty easily take a survey and tell you what personality type they are.

但问题是,一个人接受调查,并告诉你他们的性格是件很容易的事。

But you can't exactly ask a dog or bird to do that.

但你不能要求狗或鸟那样做。

The one thing you can do is watch these animals and keep track of how they behave.

你能做的事就是观察这些动物,并记录它们的行为。

Since personality is a good predictor of behavior, you can also work backwards

因为性格是行为很好的预测因子,你也可以倒过来做。

By seeing how an animal behaves, you can piece together its personality.

通过观察动物的行为,拼凑出它的个性。

That's how researchers figured out that other animals have personalities that look a lot like ours.

这就是为什么研究人员发现其他动物的性格和我们很相似。

Like, a dog that's always jumping up on visitors and making friends with the neighborhood pups

比如说,一只总是迎向来访者并和邻居家的小狗交朋友的狗,

is likely more extraverted than a dog that keeps to itself.

可能比一只独来独往的狗更外向。

And it's not just domestic species, even octopuses seem to have different personalities,

而且不仅是家养物种,连章鱼似乎也有不同的个性,这取决于它们的社交能力,

based on how sociable they act or how easily they let people approach them.

或者它们让人接近它们的容易程度。

But for a long time, researchers only saw four of the Big Five in non-human animals, conscientiousness was mostly missing.

但长期以来,研究人员只在非人类动物中看到大五人格测试中的四种个性。大多数情况下,缺失责任心。

And they could sort of understand why that might be the case.

他们可以理解为什么会这样。

Conscientiousness involves being diligent, orderly, and focused on achieving goals.

责任心包括勤奋、有序、专注于实现目标。

So psychologists had originally imagined that to be conscientious, you had to be thinking about the future.

心理学家最初认为,要有责任心,你必须考虑未来。

Like, you might study for a test so you can do well in school and get a good job later.

比如说,你可以为了考试而学习,这样你就能在学校取得好成绩,然后找到一份好工作。

But for the most part, animals aren't known for planning ahead.

但在大多数情况下,动物并不知道提前计划。

Except, recent studies have suggested that an animal doesn't need to be thinking about the future to be conscientious,

不过,最近的研究表明,动物不需要考虑未来就有责任感,

and that many species have been demonstrating this trait all along, we've just been looking at them the wrong way.

而且很多物种一直都展现出这一特性,我们只是用了错误的方法来看待它们。

In a review from , a group of researchers came up with a creative way to study conscientiousness in animals,

在一篇综述中,一组研究人员通过回顾已经完成的数百项研究,

paych1224.jpg

by reviewing hundreds of studies that had already been done.

提出一种研究动物自觉性的创造性方法。

Essentially, they looked for studies that showed the animals behaving in ways we'd describe as conscientious if they were human.

基本上,他们寻找的研究表明,如果动物是人类的话,它们的行为方式就是我们所说的尽责。

That way, they'd avoid having to guess what was in the animals' minds.

这样,他们就不必去猜测动物的想法了。

They'd look directly at how they acted and use that to infer their personalities.

而是直接观察动物的行为,并以此来推断它们的个性。

And they found hundreds of examples of these animals acting in ways that we'd generally consider conscientious.

他们发现了上百个这样的动物实例,它们的行为方式就是我们通常认为的有责任心。

Like, within one species of writing spiders, individuals showed a different amount of dedication to their webs.

就像在一个描述蜘蛛的研究中,个体对自己织出的网表现出不同程度的奉献精神。

Some were sloppier, while others wove consistent, orderly patterns.

有些蜘蛛织得更马虎,而另一些则织得连贯、有序。

In another case, some blackbirds and song thrushes kept their eggs neatly arranged in the nest, while others were less finicky.

在另一种情况下,一些黑鹂和鸣禽把卵整齐地排列在巢里,而其他的鸟则不那么挑剔。

And a study of bee colonies found that not just individual bees but the colony as a whole can have a personality.

一项对蜂群的研究发现,不仅是单个蜜蜂,就连整个蜂群都有个性。

For instance, some colonies were super diligent about making repairs to the hive and cleaning out dead bodies, and others, not so much.

例如,有些蜂群非常勤勉地修理蜂巢,并清理尸体,而另一些却不这么做。

This type of conscientiousness, which the researchers described as orderly, mostly showed up in insects and birds.

这种被研究人员称为有条理的责任心,主要表现在昆虫和鸟类身上。

But in mammals, the researchers often found a different aspect of conscientiousness,

但是在哺乳动物身上,研究人员经常发现责任感的另一个方面,

one that had more to do with competence and achieving goals.

即与能力和实现目标有关的方面。

Like, research has shown that cows get excited when they learn something new, and their heart rates go up a little, just like humans.

比如,研究表明奶牛在学习新东西时会很兴奋,它们的心率也会像人类一样上升一点。

And dogs vary in how good their posture is, the ones that sit with better posture seem to be better learners.

狗的姿势也各不相同,坐姿好的狗似乎更善于学习。

These behaviors might not represent actual planning; they might just be instinct.

这些行为可能并不代表实际的计划;可能只是本能。

But what's interesting is that the individuals or colonies that were more conscientious did end up being more successful.

但有趣的是,更认真的个体或群体最终会更成功。

Tidier webs caught more prey, neatly arranged nests were less prone to brood parasites, and well-kept hives had lower risk of disease.

井然有序的网能捕捉到更多的猎物,排列整齐的巢穴不太容易滋生寄生,保存良好的蜂巢也降低了患病的风险。

Dogs with good posture were even better at picking up new tricks!

姿势好的狗更擅长学新把戏!

So, even though it wasn't a result of planning, in a way, it was related to some beneficial future outcome, a lot like human conscientiousness is.

尽管这不是计划的结果,但在某种程度上,它与一些有益的未来结果有关,很像人类的责任心。

This research strongly suggests that the Big Five applies to other species just as it does to us.

这项研究有力地表明,大五人格测试适用于其他物种,就像它适用于我们一样。

In fact, that could even tell us something about where this trait in humans comes from.

事实上,这甚至可以告诉我们人类的这种特征从何而来。

Conscientiousness may have evolved in different animals for different purposes,

不同的动物出于不同的目的进化出尽责性,

but species closely related to us seem to benefit from this trait for a few reasons.

但与我们有密切关系的物种似乎出于几个原因而从这一特性中受益。

For one, we all tend to have complex social structures

首先,我们都倾向于拥有复杂的社会结构,

that depend on us being able to share and cooperate, so being orderly and following rules can be an advantage.

这些结构依赖于分享和合作,因此保持有序、遵守规则可能是一种优势。

Researchers have also proposed that conscientiousness is helpful for choosing good long-term mates, which species like ours tend to do.

研究人员还提出,责任心有助于选择好的长期伴侣,像我们这样的物种往往会这样做。

This suggests that conscientiousness, like other personality traits, is rooted in our evolution.

这表明,责任心和其他人格特征一样,植根于我们的进化。

In humans, researchers have even found some brain regions involved in conscientiousness.

在人类身上,研究人员甚至发现了一些与责任感有关的大脑区域。

For instance, the prefrontal cortex often becomes active when we exercise impulse control, or plan for the future.

例如,当我们控制冲动或计划未来时,前额叶皮层往往变得活跃。

There's evidence of similar activity in dogs' brains when they inhibit impulses, too.

有证据表明,狗的大脑在抑制冲动时也有类似的活动。

Overall, research seems to point to the fact that the personalities of non-human animals are complex, a lot like ours.

总的来说,研究似乎指出一个事实:非人类动物的性格像人类一样很复杂。

And the trait we sort of thought made us human likely makes us even more like other animals than we knew.

我们认为使我们称之为人的这种特质,很可能使我们更像其他动物。

Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!

感谢收看本期《心理科学秀》!

And a special thanks to our patrons on Patreon, who keep SciShow going.

还要特别感谢我们在Patreon上的赞助人,是他们让我们的节目持续下去。

If you're interested in joining the amazing community of supporters who make videos like this possible,

如果你有兴趣加入这个令人惊叹的支持者社区,

you can find out more at patreon.com/SciShow.

可以登陆patreon.com/SciShow查看更多信息。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
outcome ['autkʌm]

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n. 结果,后果

 
openness ['əupənnis]

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n. 公开;宽阔;率真

 
community [kə'mju:niti]

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n. 社区,社会,团体,共同体,公众,[生]群落

联想记忆
track [træk]

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n. 小路,跑道,踪迹,轨道,乐曲
v. 跟踪

 
diverse [dai'və:s]

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adj. 不同的,多种多样的

联想记忆
benefit ['benifit]

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n. 利益,津贴,保险金,义卖,义演
vt.

联想记忆
orderly ['ɔ:dəli]

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adj. 有秩序的,整齐的,一丝不苟的,和平的

 
understand [.ʌndə'stænd]

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vt. 理解,懂,听说,获悉,将 ... 理解为,认为<

 
tend [tend]

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v. 趋向,易于,照料,护理

 
trait [treit]

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n. 特点,特征,特性,一笔,少量

 

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