外刊学习：扯淡心理学：为什么人们喜欢扯淡？

今日导读

生活中我们总能遇见很多喜欢夸夸其谈的人。对“扯淡”这门学问深有研究的哲学家哈里·法兰克福在《论扯淡》（On Bullshit）一书中曾犀利地指出：什么是扯淡？扯淡就是故意说一些听起来很厉害，然而和真相一点关系都没有的话。近日，英国某位学者再次深入地对“扯淡现象”做了研究，还一本正经地分析出了“最能扯淡的人群”。让我们一起读一读这篇有趣的新闻吧。

新闻原文

No word of a lie: scientists rate the world’s biggest peddlers of bull

 The Guardian

In new research, scientists claim to have identified the most common practitioners of the ignoble art—bullshit. Their study of 40, 000 teenagers reveals that boys; those from privileged backgrounds; and North Americans in particular, top the charts as the worst offenders.

“Everyone knows a bullshitter but there’s been very little work done on them, ” said John Jerrim, who led the latest study at UCL’s Institute of Education. With his UCL colleague, Nikki Shure, and Phil Parker, a psychologist at the Australian Catholic University, Jerrim analysed data gathered by the OECD to assess how well 15-year-olds around the globe have mastered key academic subjects.

For one of the questions, the teenagers must rate how familiar they are with 16 mathematical concepts ranging from polygons and vectors to quadratic functions and congruent figures. Hidden among the bona fide terms are three fakes: proper numbers, subjective scaling and declarative functions.

Jerrim took the students’ responses to the three fake concepts to draw up a “bullshit scale”, which he then used to compare different groups, such as boys and girls, high and low socioeconomic status, and the regions where people lived.

Those who ranked highest on the scale tended to see themselves as more self-confident, more persevering, and more popular at school, than those further down the scale.

“People are social animals and we desire feelings of connection, belonging, and inclusion, so we try to participate when it is critical to build and maintain these relationships, ” said John Petrocelli, a psychologist at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, who was not involved in the study. “Such situations sometimes require us to talk about things we really know nothing about, and what comes out is bullshit.”

“I truly believe it is critical to better understand bullshitting behaviour before we can more competently detect and dispose of bullshit, ” he added.

带着问题听讲解

标题中的“peddlers of bull”怎么理解？

function 在文中是什么意思？

试用英语描述评选扯淡冠军的实验过程。

新闻正文

No word of a lie: scientists rate the world’s biggest peddlers of bull

一点不假：科学家评出世界上最会扯淡的人

In new research, scientists claim to have identified the most common practitioners of the ignoble art—bullshit. Their study of 40,000 teenagers reveals that boys; those from privileged backgrounds; and North Americans in particular, top the charts as the worst offenders.

在一项新研究中，科学家们宣称已找到了最常运用“扯淡”这个卑劣技巧的人群。他们研究了 4 万名青少年，并得出以下结论：男生，特权背景出身的人，尤其是北美地区的人在扯淡这一“犯罪”领域高居榜首。

“Everyone knows a bullshitter but there’s been very little work done on them,” said John Jerrim, who led the latest study at UCL’s Institute of Education. With his UCL colleague, Nikki Shure, and Phil Parker, a psychologist at the Australian Catholic University, Jerrim analysed data gathered by the OECD to assess how well 15-year-olds around the globe have mastered key academic subjects.

在伦敦大学学院教育系主导该最新研究的约翰·杰瑞姆表示：“每个人都认识一个会扯淡的人，但是针对这一人群的研究却很少。”一起参与实验的还有杰瑞姆在伦敦大学学院的同事尼基·舒尔，以及澳大利亚天主教大学的心理学家菲尔·帕克。他们分析的数据来源于经合组织，该组织用这些数据评估全球范围内 15 岁青少年对重点学科的掌握程度。

For one of the questions, the teenagers must rate how familiar they are with 16 mathematical concepts ranging from polygonsand vectors to quadratic functionsand congruent figures. Hidden among the bona fide terms are three fakes: proper numbers, subjective scaling and declarative functions.

在其中一题，参与研究的青少年必须评估自己对 16 个数学概念的熟悉程度，这些概念的范围从多边形、向量，到二次函数、全等图形。在真正的术语中隐藏着三个伪造的词：“适数”、“主观缩放”和“陈述函数”。

Jerrim took the students’ responses to the three fake concepts to draw up a “bullshit scale”, which he then used to compare different groups, such as boys and girls, high and low socioeconomic status, and the regions where people lived.

杰瑞姆用这些学生对于这三个假概念的答题结果，拟算出了一个“扯淡量表”，接着用该量表去比较不同组别（比如性别、社会经济地位、生活地区）之间的结果。

Those who ranked highest on the scale tended to see themselves as more self-confident, more persevering, and more popular at school, than those further down the scale.

比起那些“扯淡等级”评分较低的学生，评分最高的学生们往往认为自己更自信、更坚持不懈，且在学校更受欢迎。

“People are social animals and we desire feelings of connection, belonging, and inclusion, so we try to participate when it is critical to build and maintain these relationships,” said John Petrocelli, a psychologist at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, who was not involved in the study. “Such situations sometimes require us to talk about things we really know nothing about, and what comes out is bullshit.”

北卡罗来纳州维克森林大学的一位心理学家约翰·彼得罗切利（他未参与此项研究）表示：“人是社会性动物，我们渴望关联感、归属感和包容感，所以当建立和维系这些关系至关重要时，我们会试图参与谈话。而这种情况有时需要我们谈论自己其实一无所知的事情，而这就是扯淡。”

“I truly believe it is critical to better understand bullshitting behaviour before we can more competently detect and dispose ofbullshit,” he added.

他补充道：“我确信，在我们更能察觉和处理扯淡这一行为之前，更好地理解它是至关重要的。”

重点词汇

peddler
/ˈpedlər/
n. 小贩
e.g.
词性拓展：peddle（v. 兜售，叫卖）

bull
/bʊl/
n. 胡说，废话
e.g.
例句：Much of what he says is sheer bull.

practitioner
/prækˈtɪʃənər/
n. 专门人才
e.g.
搭配短语：dental practitioners

ignoble
/ɪɡˈnoʊbl/
adj. 卑劣的，不光彩的
e.g.
反义词：noble (adj.)

bullshit
/ˈbʊlʃɪt/
v. 胡说，瞎说
e.g.
词性拓展：bullshit (n.)
相关词汇：nonsense; bollocks

top the charts
跃升榜首
e.g.
相关词汇：chart（每周流行唱片排行榜）

offender
/əˈfendər/
n.（正式）犯罪分子

polygon
/ˈpɑːliɡɑːn/
n. 多边形

vector
/ˈvektər/
n. 矢量，向量

quadratic function
二次函数
e.g.
相关词汇：quadratic (adj. 二次的，平方的)
quadratic 搭配短语：quadratic equation

congruent figure
全等图形
e.g.
相关词汇：congruent（adj. 全等的；一致的，符合的）
congruent 搭配短语：congruent triangles
congruent 例句：The rules must be congruent with the requirements of the law.

bona fide
/ˌboʊnə ˈfaɪdi/
adj. 真实的
e.g.
英文释义：genuine, real
例句：Only the bona fide fans of The Avengers can use the logo.

scaling
/'skeɪlɪŋ/
n. 缩放

draw up
拟定
e.g.
英文释义：to make or write sth. that needs careful thought or planning
搭配短语：to draw up a contract

socioeconomic
/ˌsoʊsioʊ ˌiːkəˈnɑːmɪk/
adj. 社会经济的
e.g.
词根词缀：socio-（与社会有关的；社会和…）

persevering
/ˌpɜːrsəˈvɪrɪŋ/
adj. 坚持不懈的
e.g.
英文释义：showing determination to achieve a particular aim despite difficulties
搭配短语：a persevering person

inclusion
/ɪnˈkluːʒn/
n. 包括，包含；不排斥任何群体，包容
e.g.
词性拓展：include (v.)
例句：The school has a strong culture of inclusion of students with special needs.

competently
/ˈkɑːmpɪtəntli/
adv. 胜任地；有能力地

dispose of
解决
e.g.
英文释义：to deal with a problem, question or threat successfully
搭配短语：to dispose of waste
英文释义：to defeat sb.
搭配短语：to dispose of his opponent

补充词汇知识

identify
v. 确定，发现

privileged
adj. 享有特权的

offender
n. 罪犯

psychologist
n. 心理学家

gather
v. 收集，搜集

master
v. 精通，掌握

fake
n. 赝品，假货

declarative
adj. 陈述的

长难句解析

Their study of 40,000 teenagers reveals that boys; those from privileged backgrounds; and North Americans in particular, top the charts as the worst offenders.

他们研究了 4 万名青少年，并得出以下结论：男生，特权背景出身的人，尤其是北美地区的人在扯淡领域高居榜首。

句子的宾语从句部分很长，that 后面的 boys，those from privileged backgrounds，以及 North Americans in particular 在从句中并列作主语，后面的 top the charts 是一个固定用法，表示“名列某个唱片排行榜的首位”。注意 chart 在这个用法中表示“每周流行唱片排行榜”，文章中在此处化用这个说法，是带了点讽刺意味的，因为后面的 as the worst offenders 就把这些最会扯淡的人讽刺成了“最臭名昭著的罪犯”，整个从句传达出的讽刺含义就是：这些人可是作为名声最臭的犯罪分子高居榜首，只不过他们犯的罪只是扯淡罢了。

一句话总结新闻

本期《卫报》为我们介绍了一项关于“扯淡”的研究，研究表明：男生，特权背景出身的人，尤其是北美地区的人在扯淡领域高居榜首，心理学家认为，扯淡这一行为和人类的一些心理诉求是有所联系的。

拓展阅读

《论扯淡》（On Bullshit）

《论扯淡》的作者哈里·G·法兰克福，是普林斯顿大学教授、前哲学系主任，也是全球最具影响力的的哲学家之一。凭借这本 On Bullshit，他成为了亚马逊十大畅销作家之一。

在《论扯淡》一书中，法兰克福劈头就是一句结论：在我们的文化里，最突出的特征之一就是：有太多的人在“扯淡”。虽说扯淡无处不在，却没有一种学说，一个理论来剖析他，本书的主旨不在于提供一个理论模型来解析扯淡，而是探讨现今社会为什么会充斥着言不由衷的扯淡。作者以哲学的辨证方式，开宗明义地区别了“扯淡”与“说谎”。扯淡不是说谎，却是真理最大的敌人。