揭秘十项人类恶习的背后原因

揭秘十项人类恶习的背后原因
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Compared with most animals, we humans engage in a host of behaviors that are destructive to our own kind and to ourselves. We lie, cheat and steal, carve ornamentations into our own bodies, stress out and kill ourselves, and of course kill others. Science has provided much insight into why an intelligent species seems so nasty, spiteful, self-destructive and hurtful.

10.Gossip

We humans are evolutionarily set up to judge and talk about others, no matter how hurtful it might be, researchers say.

Here\'s how Oxford primatologist Robin Dunbar sees it: Baboons groom each other to keep social ties strong. But we humans are more evolved, so we use gossip as social glue. Both are learned behaviors.

Gossip establishes group boundaries and boosts self-esteem, studies have found.

In many instances, the goal of gossip is not truth or accuracy. What matters is the bond that gossiping can forge, often at the expense of a third party.

When two people share a dislike of another person, it [gossip] brings them closer, says Jennifer Bosson, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida.

9.Gamble

Gambling, too, seems to be in our genes and hard-wired into our brains, which might explain why such a potentially ruinous behavior is so common.

Even monkeys gamble. A study that measured monkeys\' desire to gamble for juice rewards found that even as potential rewards diminished, the primates acted irrationally and gambled for the chance to get a wee bit more.

A study published in the journal Neuron last year found that almost winning activates win-related circuitry within the brain and enhances the motivation to gamble. Gamblers often interpret near-misses as special events, which encourage them to continue to gamble, said Luke Clark of the University of Cambridge. Our findings show that the brain responds to near-misses as if a win has been delivered, even though the result is technically a loss.

Other studies have also shown that losing causes gamblers to get carried away. When people plan in advance how much to gamble, they\'re coldly rational, a study last year found. But if they lose, rationality goes out the window, and they change the game plan and bet even more.

8.Stress Out

Stress can be deadly, raising the risk for heart problems and even cancer. Stress can lead to depression, which can lead to suicide -- yet another destructive behavior that\'s uniquely human (and glaringly not on this list).

But exactly why we stress is difficult to pin down. These truths will resonate with many, however: The modern workplace is a source of significant stress for many people, as are children.

More than 600 million people around the world put in 48-hour-plus workweeks, according to the International Labor Organization. And advances in technology -- smartphones and broadband Internet -- mean a blurring of the lines between work and free time. About half of Americans bring work home, according to a recent study.

The stress of being a parent while also working is borne out by a 2007 study that found older people feel less stress.

Many older workers are empty-nesters, says researcher Gwenith Fisher, an organizational psychologist at the University of Michigan\'s Institute for Social Research (ISR). They don\'t have the same work-personal conflicts that younger and middle-aged workers deal with, juggling responsibilities to children along with their jobs and their personal needs.

Health experts suggest exercise and adequate sleep are two of the best ways to battle stress.

7.Nip, Tuck, Plump and Tattoo our Bodies

By 2015, 17 percent of U.S. residents will be getting cosmetic procedures, the industry predicts. Some would call it self-edification, of course, or art, or a way to kill time or perhaps rebel against authority. But in general, and given that people have died from cosmetic surgery procedures, what makes so many people so intent on artificially remaking themselves?

First, it\'s worth noting that while options at the body shop have never been more varied, the practice is ancient, often tied to cults and religions or power and status, and in fact much of the modern nip, tuck, paint, poke and plump procedures are benign compared with some ancient practices. People have reshaped their heads, elongated their necks, stretched their ears and lips, painted their bodies or affixed permanent jewelry for thousands of years.

Perhaps the strongest motivations nowadays are to be beautiful, however one might define that, or simply to fit in with a particular group.

The lure of beauty can\'t be denied as a prime motivator to nip and tuck. Studies have shown that shoppers buy more from attractive salespeople; attractive people capture our attention more quickly than others; and skinny people have an easier time getting hired and promoted.

There\'s this idea that if you look better you\'ll be happier. You\'ll feel better about yourself, says psychologist Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families. And logically that makes so much sense, because we live in a society where people do care what you look like.

A sign of the times, as Baby Boomer age: While cosmetic surgery sales sagged during the recession, wrinkle-blasting laser treatments have skyrocketed.

6.Bully

Studies have found that half or more of grade-school children experience bullying. A European study in 2009 found that children who bully at school are likely to also bully their siblings at home. That led a researcher involved in the study to speculate that bullying behavior often starts at home.

It is not possible to tell from our study which behavior comes first, but it is likely that if children behave in a certain way at home, bullying a sibling for instance, if this behavior goes unchecked they may take this behavior into school, said Ersilia Menesini of the Universita\' degli Studi di Firenze, Italy.

But bullying is not just child\'s play. One study found that almost 30 percent of U.S. office workers experience bullying by bosses or coworkers, from withholding of information critical to getting the job done to insulting rumors and other purposeful humiliation. And once it starts, it tends to get worse.

Bullying, by definition, is escalatory. This is one of the reasons it\'s so difficult to prevent it, because it usually starts in really small ways, says Sarah Tracy, director of the Project for Wellness and Work-Life at Arizona State University.

Experts say to combat workplace bullies, respond rationally, specifically, and consistently.

Why do we do it? To gain status and power, psychologists say. And for some, it may be hard to resist the behavior. Researchers have seen bullying behavior in monkeys and speculate that the behavior may stretch way back in our evolutionary tree.

5.Lie

Nobody knows for sure why humans lie so much, but studies find that it\'s common, and that it\'s often tied to deep psychological factors.

It\'s tied in with self-esteem, says University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman. We find that as soon as people feel that their self-esteem is threatened, they immediately begin to lie at higher levels.

Feldman has conducted studies in which people lie frequently, with 60 percent lying at least once during a 10-minute conversation.

And lying is not easy. One study concluded that lying takes 30 percent longer than telling the truth.

Recent studies have found that people lie in workplace e-mail more than they did with old-fashioned writing.

It\'s a whole other matter whether people really mean to lie in many instances. Figuring that out requires coming up with a complicated definition of lying.

Certain conditions have to be in place for a statement to rise to the level of a lie, explains philosophy professor James E. Mahon of Washington and Lee University. First, a person must make a statement and must believe that the statement is false. Second, the person making the statement must intend for the audience to believe that the statement is true. Anything else falls outside the definition of lying that I have defended.

Animals are also known to be capable of deception, and even robots have learned to lie, in an experiment where they were rewarded or punished depending on performance in a competition with other robots.

4.Cheat

Few human traits are more fascinating. While most people would say honesty is a virtue, nearly one in five Americans think cheating on taxes is morally acceptable or is not a moral issue, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. About 10 percent are equally ambivalent about cheating on a spouse.

People who espouse high moral standards are among the worst cheats, studies have shown. The worst cheaters tend to be those with high morals who also, in some twisted way, consider cheating to be an ethically justifiable behavior in certain situations.

Cheating on spouses by celebrities and politicians thought to be moral leaders has become rampant. The behavior has a simple explanation, experts say: Guys are wired to want sex, a lot, and are more likely than gals to cheat. The behavior may be particularly likely for men with power.

People don\'t necessarily practice what they preach, says Lawrence Josephs, a clinical psychologist at Adelphi University in New York. It\'s not clear to what extent people\'s ethical values are actually running what they do or don\'t do.

3.Steal

Theft can be motivated by need. But for kleptomaniacs, stealing can be motivated by the sheer thrill of it. One study of 43,000 people found 11 percent admitted to having shoplifted at least once.

These are people who steal even though they can easily afford not to, says Jon E. Grant of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.

In a study in 2009, participants either took a placebo or the drug naltrexone -- known to curb addictive tendencies toward alcohol, drugs and gambling. Naltrexone blocks the effects of substances called endogenous opiates that the researchers suspect are released during stealing and which trigger the sense of pleasure in the brain.

The drug reduced the urges to steal and stealing behavior, Grant and colleagues wrote in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Theft may be in our genes. After all, even monkeys do it. Capuchin monkeys use predator alarm calls to warn fellow monkeys to scatter and avoid threats. But some will make fake calls, and then steal food left by those that scattered.

2.rave Violence

Violence is found throughout recorded human history, leading some researchers to conclude that we crave it, that it\'s in our genes and affects reward centers in our brains. However, going back millions of years, evidence suggests our ancient human ancestors were more peace-loving than people today, though there are signs of cannibalism among the earliest pre-history humans.

A study in 2008 concluded that humans seem to crave violence just like they do sex, food, or drugs. The study, reported in the journal Psychopharmacology, found that in mice, clusters of brain cells involved in other rewards are also behind their craving for violence. The researchers think the finding applies to human brains.

Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food, said study team member Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. We have found that the reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved.

Many researchers believe violence in humans is an evolved tendency that helped with survival.

Aggressive behavior has evolved in species in which it increases an individual\'s survival or reproduction, and this depends on the specific environmental, social, reproductive, and historical circumstances of a species. Humans certainly rank among the most violent of species, says biologist David Carrier of the University of Utah.

1.Cling to Bad Habits

Perhaps everything else on this list would be far less problematic if we were not such creatures of habit. In fact, studies have found that even when the risks of a particular bad habit are well-known, people find it hard to quit.

It\'s not because they haven\'t gotten the information that these are big risks, says Cindy Jardine of the University of Alberta. We tend to sort of live for now and into the limited future -- not the long term.

Jardine, who has studied why people cling to bad habits, cites these reasons:

-- Innate human defiance

-- Need for social acceptance

-- Inability to truly understand the nature of risk

-- Individualistic view of the world and the ability to rationalize unhealthy habits

-- Genetic predisposition to addiction

People tend to justify bad habits, she says, by noting exceptions to known statistics, such as: It hasn\'t hurt me yet, or, My grandmother smoked all her life and lived to be 90.



与大多数动物相比，我们人类从事的大量行为对于我们种族和我们自身来说是有害的。我们撒谎、欺骗以及偷窃，在我们自己的身体上刻上些装饰品、高度紧张并且自杀，同时当然也杀害他人。科学在解释为什么一种理智的物种如此的恶毒、自我伤害并且危害他人时提供了更多的见解。

10. 传播流言

研究者说：从进化的角度上说，我们人类是为判断和议论别人而设计的，而无论这种行为如何的伤人。这里有牛津大学灵长目动物学家罗宾顿巴对待这个问题的看法：狒狒们打扮彼此以保持社会链接的巩固。但是我们人类进化的更加完善，于是我们利用流言作为”社会链接增强剂“，这两种行为都是后天习得的。研究发现：传播的流言建立起不同团体的界限，并且提高自尊。在很多实例中，流言的目的不是真相或准确性。真正重要的是以牺牲第三方的利益为代价，流言能够伪造一种团结的局面。”当两个人同时表达对另一个人的厌恶时，流言使他们彼此更加亲近，“杰尼弗博森说道，他是南佛罗里达大学的心理学教授。

9. 赌博

同样，赌博似乎也存在在我们的基因当中，并且在我们大脑中是以硬链接的形式存在的，这也许可以解释为什么这样一种潜在破坏性的活动会如此之寻常。甚至连猴子也赌博。一个测量猴子对于果汁奖励的赌博愿望的研究发现：尽管潜在奖励在减少，灵长类动物却表现得不理智，并且打赌认为奖励的几率会增加。去年刊登在神经元杂志上的一项研究表明：几乎所有的获胜都会激活大脑当中的与获胜有关的回路，并且会进一步增强赌博的动机。”赌徒们通常将险胜解释为特殊的事件，这鼓励他们继续赌博，“剑桥大学的鲁克克拉克说道。”我们的结论显示大脑对于险胜事件作出的回应就像对待完全胜利一样，即使结果是失败的。”其他的研究也显示失败会使赌徒失去自制力。去年的一份研究显示，当人们提起计划赌博费用时，他们是理智的。但是如果他们失败了，理智就不复存在了，于是他们改变了赌博计划并且赌得更多。

8. 高度紧张

压力可以是致命的，它提高患心脏病甚至是癌症的风险。压力能够导致沮丧，而沮丧能够导致自杀--这是另一种人类所特有的危害行为。但是到底为什么我们会紧张却很难确定。这些事实会与很多实例引起共鸣，但是：对于很多人来说，现代的工作场所是重大压力的源泉，这点在孩子身上也存在。据国际劳工组织称，全世界有超过6亿的人一周工作会加班48小时。科技中的进步--智能手机和宽频网络--意味着工作和自由时间之间界限的模糊。据最近的报道称，大约有一半的美国人将工作带回家。成为父母的压力同时支持了一项2007年的研究结论，即年纪大的人感觉的压力会更小。“很多年龄较大的工作者是空巢老人，”研究者菲舍说道，他是密歇根大学社会研究学院（ISR）的一名组织心理学家。“他们已经没有了青年人和中年人处理的工作与个人之间的冲突了，对于孩子的责任随着他们工作和个人需要而变得越加容易。”健康专家建议：锻炼和充足的睡眠是战胜压力最佳的途径。

7. 为美丽而动刀

据行业预测，到2015年，17%的美国居民将会接受外观装饰的程序（即各种美容手术）。一些人称它为自我熏陶，或者艺术，或者是一种消磨时间或者反抗权威的方式。但是总体上，并且考虑到人们可能死于美容手术过程，到底是什么使那么多的人们如此热衷于这种以人工的方式装饰他们？首先，当美容公司的选择并不丰富的时候，这项实践是古老的，通常与教派和宗教或者权利和地位联系在一起，并且事实上对比一些古老的实践，很多现代美容手术当中的夹、缩和填充的程序都是无害的。人们再塑他们的手，拉长他们的脖子，拉伸他们的耳朵和嘴唇，几千年来，不断描绘着他们的身体或者是那随身佩带的永恒的珠宝。

也许在今天最强的动机就是要变得漂亮，但是一个人可以自己来定义美，或者是简单的与一个特定的团体保持一致。美的吸引力不能因为想要整容的动机而被拒绝。研究表明，购物者从富有吸引力的销售者手中购买更多的商品；有吸引力的人们比其他人更快占据着人们的视线；身材苗条的人在找工作和被提升时更加容易。“这里有这样一个理论：如果你看起来不错那么你将会更快乐。你将觉得自己的状态更好一些，”心理学家戴安娜说道，她是妇女和家庭国家研究中心的主席。“并且从逻辑上也解释得通，因为我们生活的社会中人们的确关注我们看上去的样子。”像婴儿潮出生的人一样，这也是目前时代的标志：在这个经济衰退的时期美容手术的数量下降，但除皱激光疗法却异常火爆。

6. 欺负

研究发现一半或者一半以上的学龄期的孩子经历过欺负行为。2009年的一项欧洲研究表明，在学校欺负别人的孩子同样可能在家欺负他们的兄弟姐妹。这种现象促使研究者又进行了一项新的研究，即假设欺负行为通常开始于家庭。“在我们的研究中无法区分那一种行为更早出现，但是有可能是，如果孩子在家里的行为是以某种方式，比如说欺负他的兄弟姐妹，如果这种行为未加抑制，那么他们可能会将这种行为带到学校当中去，”来自意大利一所大学的艾瑞斯丽娜这样说。

但是欺负行为不只是小孩子的把戏。一项研究发现几乎30%的美国办公室工作者经历过来自上司或者工友的欺负，其方式从压制与工作息息相关的信息到侮辱性的谣言以及其他有目的的侮辱行为。并且一旦开始，欺负行为会越来越糟糕。“欺负，从定义上理解就是矛盾的升级。这是它如此难以抑制的原因之一，因为它通常以一种微小的方式开始，”莎拉克蕾西说道，她是亚利桑那州立大学的健康与工作项目的主任。专家说与工作场所的欺负行为作斗争，反应要理智、明确和一致。为什么我们会有欺负行为？心理学家说，是为了获得地位和权利。并且对于一些人来说，可能会很难抵制这种行为。研究者在猴子身上也观察到了欺负行为，并推测这种行为可以回溯到我们的进化树上。

5. 说谎

没有人确切的知道为什么人类撒谎如此频繁，但是研究发现这种现象很平常，并且这种行为通常与深层的心理因素有关。

“它与自尊有关，”马萨诸塞州大学的心理学教授罗伯特弗里德曼说道。“我们发现只有当人们感到他们的自尊受到威胁的时候，他们立刻会开始在更高的水平上编制谎言。”弗里德曼正在指导一项研究，这其中人们频繁的撒谎，其中60%的人在一段十分钟的谈话里至少撒谎一次。撒谎不简单。一个研究得出这样的结论：谎话比陈述事实多30%的长度。最近的研究发现人们在工作场所用电邮撒谎比用旧式写信的方式更多。

在很多情况下人对于谎言来说是否意义重大完全是另一个问题。要回答这个问题需要提出一种对于撒谎行为的更加复杂的定义。“当一项陈述上升到谎言的水平时，一定存在某些条件，”哲学教授詹姆士马洪解释道，他是华盛顿和李大学的教授。“首先，一个人必须发表了一项言论，并且必须认为这项言论是虚假的。第二，这个人作出的这项言论希望他的听众认为是真的。其他的就我对于撒谎的定义进行的辩护都是无关紧要的。”动物同样也有实施骗术的能力，甚至连机器人都学会撒谎了，在一项实验中它们因为在一项竞赛当中和其他机器人的表现而被奖励或是被惩罚。

4. 欺骗

很少有人类的特质像欺骗一样令人迷惑。尽管很多人说诚实是一种美德，但是根据一项由皮有研究中心进行的调查表明：将近1/5的美国人认为在税收上的欺骗是可以接受的或者认为这不是一个道德问题。同样大约10%的人在对于配偶的欺骗行为上具有矛盾的态度。

研究发现，倡导高的道德标准的人们往往是最恶劣的骗子。最恶劣的骗子倾向于是那些具有高的道德水平，同样又认为在某些情形之下欺骗是道德上正义的行为。名人和被认为是道德领袖的政治要员对于配偶的欺骗行为日渐猖狂。这种行为有种简单的解释，专家说：当男性想获得性时，他们往往出现比女孩更多的欺骗行为。这种行为可能特别的又出现在拥有权利的人们手中。“人们没有必要去实践他们所宣扬的东西，”劳伦斯约瑟夫说，他是纽约雅迪菲大学的临床心理学家。“在什么程度上人们的道德价值确实指引他们做什么和不做什么，这个问题没有明确的答案。”

3. 偷窃

偷窃可以由需要的动机引发。但是对于有偷窃癖的人来说，偷窃可以由偷窃过程中单纯的兴奋体验引发。在一项涉及43000人的研究中发现:11%的人承认至少有一次在商店扒窃的经历。“这些人即便是对于他们可以轻易支付的商品也进行扒窃，‘明尼苏达大学医学院的乔恩格兰特说。

在一项2009年的研究中，参与者或者服用一种安慰剂或者是环丙甲羟二羟吗啡酮（一种麻醉拮抗药，为抑制酒精、毒品和赌博的上瘾行为）。环丙甲羟二羟吗啡酮阻断了一种称为内因性麻醉剂的物质的效果，研究中猜想这种物质在偷窃过程中被释放，从而在大脑中引发了愉快的感觉。这种药物减少了偷窃和偷窃行为的需求，格兰特和他的同事在生物精神病杂志上这样写到。偷窃可能存在于我们的基因之中。毕竟，连猴子也这样做。卷尾猴利用捕食者的报警信号去警告其他的猴子以便使它们分散和避免威胁。但是有些猴子则会发出虚假的信号，然后从那些四下逃散的猴子手中偷取食物。

2. 渴望暴力

暴力在有记载的人类历史里随处可见,这致使有些研究者得出结论：我们渴望它，即它存在于我们的基因当中并且影响着我们头脑中的奖赏中心。但是回溯几百万年，有证据表明我们的人类祖先比今天的人们更加热爱和平，尽管在史前历史上存在着同类相食的记录。

2008年进行的一项研究有结论道：人类似乎是渴望暴力，就像他们对性、食物和毒品的需求一样。这项发表在精神病药物学杂志上的研究发现：在老鼠中，涉及其他奖赏的大脑神经元丛集也同时存在于对暴力的渴望这项活动中。

研究者认为这项发现可以应用在人类的大脑中。”侵犯行为几乎发生在所有的脊椎动物中，并且这种行为在获得和保持重要的资源如伙伴、领地和食物时很必要，“研究小组成员克雷格肯尼迪说，他是田纳西州范德堡大学特殊教育和儿科专业的教授。”我们发现大脑中的奖赏通路参与到了对于一项侵犯行为的反应当中，同时多巴胺也参与其中。“很多研究者信息人类中的暴力是可以帮助人类生存的进化了的趋势。”侵犯行为在种族当中进化，其中它增加了一个个体的存活或繁殖，并且这取决于该种族特殊的环境、社会、繁殖和历史的环境，”犹他大学的生物学家大卫说道。

1. 坚守坏习惯

如果我们不是具有习惯的生物的话，也许这张清单上的其他项远不会达到棘手的程度。事实上，研究发现即使是一项特别的坏习惯的危害是十分明确的，但人们发现要戒掉它们还是困难的。“并不是因为人们没有收到他们拥有巨大危害的信息，”阿尔伯塔大学的森迪嘉定说。“我们倾向于一种目前的生活，延续的只是短暂的未来--并不是长期的规划。”嘉定在研究了为什么人们坚守坏习惯之后引用了一下的原因：

---人类先天的反抗
---对于社会接纳的需要
---无法确切的知道危害的性质
---对于世界的个人主义的看法以及将不健康的习惯合理化的能力
---沉溺不良习惯的遗传素质

她说，人们倾向于通过注意已知统计资料之外的特殊情况来将坏习惯合理化，例如“它还没有伤害到我，”或者“我的祖母终生吸烟而活到了90岁。”