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Dear A Moment of Science,
親愛的的《科學一刻》欄目組，
I hate going to the dentist. In fact, I openly fear it.
我很討厭看牙醫。真的，我對此感到很恐懼。
Yet I've never actually had a really bad orpainful experience with a dentist.
可是我實際上并沒有看牙醫的糟糕經歷。
So why do I fear it so much?
那我為什么會對此感到如此恐懼呢？
You're certainly not alone.
有此感受的不僅僅是你一個人。
Quaking in your boots at the mere thought of a dental check up-letalone having a cavity taken care of-is a time honored tradition.
一想到要檢查牙齒，腿腳就哆嗦，更別說補牙洞了。這種感受由來已久。
And it doesn't necessarily derive from a bad dental experience.
對牙醫的害怕不一定來自您糟糕的看病經歷。
New research shows that fear ofthe dentist is often passed down from parents to their children.
如今有研究表明，對牙醫的恐懼感常常可以通過父母傳遞給子女。
Fathers are especially involved.
父親們的因素很關鍵。
Previous studies found a link between parents'attitudes toward thedentist and kids' fear.
過去的研究表明，父母對牙醫的態度和子女對看牙醫的恐懼感有關聯。
But the new study reveals that kids pay even closer attention to how theirfathers react when the dentist is involved.
不過現在有研究發現子女們會密切關注父親看牙醫的反應。
Apparently, when fathers display fear and anxiety, kidsare most likely to pick up those cues and see dental visits as something to fear.
明顯的例子是，當父親表現出恐懼和焦慮的時候，子女很可能受到這些心理暗示，把看牙醫當作恐怖的事情對待。
Why fathers carry so much weight in influencing how their kids think about the dentist is not clear.
父親們為何會如此大程度地影響子女對牙醫的看法，原因尚不可知。
At least the study doesn't really offer an explanation.
至少這項研究沒有給出合理解釋。
But it does suggest that fathers can play animportant role in what psychologists called positive emotional contagion.
不過研究指出，父親在被心理學家稱為積極情緒傳導的過程中舉足輕重。
If fathers' fear of the dentist can contaminate their kids, the opposite might also be true.
如果父親們對牙醫的恐懼會傳染給他們的子女，那么反之亦然。
In otherwords, dads behaving positively and not displaying fear could orient their kids towards not fearingthe dentist.
換句話說，父親們正面的言行，不帶恐懼的表現可以引導他們的子女不再害怕牙醫。
So the researchers call for parents, and fathers in particular, to beinvolved in dentist fearprevention campaigns.
因此研究人員呼吁父母們，尤其是父親們，行動起來，幫助子女防治牙醫恐懼癥。
