Unsurprisingly, your face does a lot to communicate how you're feeling.
毋庸置疑,面部表情能很好地傳達你的感受。
Whether you're happy about seeing your crush or shocked at the plot twist in a TV show,
不管你是喜于見到自己喜歡的人,還是驚于電視節目中曲折的情節,
it probably shows.
沒準,面部表情已經表露無遺。
Unless you're like, a star poker player.
除非你是撲克玩家。
What's more surprising is that, according to some research,
更令人驚訝的是,根據一些研究,
your facial expressions are also a two-way street.
面部表情也是雙向的。
The idea is known as the facial feedback hypothesis,
其被稱為“面部反饋假說”,
and it says that your expressions can change the emotions you experience.
它表示,表情可以改變情緒。
So if you're having a crummy day, supposedly turning that frown upside-down will make you feel better.
所以,如果你今天過得很糟糕,按理說你把皺眉翻過來,感覺會更好一點。
It sounds great, but whether or not it's true is up for some debate.
這聽起來很不錯,但真實與否還有待商榷。
Many researchers over the years have tried to find out,
多年來,許多研究人員一直試圖找出證據,
and the tale of their work is a great story of science in action.
得經過大量的科學實踐,才能找出證據。
The idea behind the facial feedback hypothesis is based on one of your senses,
面部反饋假說是基于你的其中一種感覺,
called proprioception.
該感覺叫作本體感覺,
It provides information on what your muscles and joints are doing and their positions relative to each other,
通過本土感覺,你知道你的肌肉和關節在做什么,及其相對位置的信息,
so you don't need to look to know where, say, your left foot is.
所以你不需要看就知道你的左腳在哪里。
According to the facial feedback hypothesis, your facial expressions are just another extension of this.
根據面部反饋假說,面部表情只是上面情況的另一種延伸。
They're also important information and can make your emotions stronger or weaker,
面部表情也很重要,可以增強或者弱化你的情緒,
or maybe even cause them.
或者甚至會產生情緒。
Research into this really started in the 1970s,
這方面的研究始于20世紀70年代,
and it has been a tricky road.
研究的道路上充滿坎坷。
Experiment participants were typically asked to make different facial expressions,
受試者通常被要求
often by contracting certain muscles, like turning up the corners of their mouths.
收縮某些肌肉,比如嘴角上揚,做出不同的面部表情。
Then researchers measured their emotions through their body's reactions to things like electric shocks—really!
然后研究人員通過他們的身體對事情的反應,比如觸電,來測量他們的情緒——真的!
—or by rating their mood.
或者給他們的情緒評級。
But the big problem is, we know what emotions go with smiling or frowning.
但最大的問題是,我們知道微笑或皺眉會伴隨著什么樣情緒。
So people might have just been saying they felt happy when they were obviously smiling because…
所以,當他們明顯在笑的時候,人們可能會說他們感到快樂,因為……
well, that's what you're supposed to do.
好吧,你應該會這樣說。
Maybe asking people to smile is what mattered, not the actual expression.
也許問題的癥結在于讓人們微笑,而不是實際表情。
Then, in 1988, a paper came out in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that figured out this problem,
1988年,《人格與社會心理學雜志》發表了一篇論文指出了該問題,
and its results have been included in many intro psych textbooks.
許多介紹心理學的教材都引入了該研究結果。
In a series of two experiments,
其中兩個實驗,
researchers had 175 university students hold a pen in their mouth while trying to do some simple writing and drawing tasks.
研究人員讓175名大學生嘗試做一些簡單的寫作和繪畫任務,嘴里銜著一支筆。
They were told scientists were interested in
他們被告知,科學家們有興趣
learning more about what these tasks might be like for people with physical impairments.
了解更多關于這些任務對身體有缺陷人士的影響。
But the researchers actually wanted to study the participants' emotions.
但研究人員實際上想研究參與者的情緒。
See, holding the pen between their teeth,
看,把筆夾在牙縫里,
it made their mouth form a smile.
讓他們的嘴做出微笑的樣子。

And between their lips, a sort of pout.
他們的嘴唇有一種撅嘴的感覺。
But the key was, participants didn't realize their faces were making these expressions,
但關鍵是,參與者沒有意識到自己的面部表情,
so they couldn't bias any results.
所以他們不會偏向于任何結果。
Later, when they were asked to rate some comics,
后來,當他們被要求對一些漫畫做出評價時,
subjects tended to report they were funnier if they'd made the smiling face.
受試者聲稱,他們做出笑臉的時候會覺得自己更有趣。
And since they didn't know they'd been smiling, it seemed like expression itself really affected things.
由于他們不知道自己一直在微笑,似乎表情本身真的影響了情緒。
Of course, in the years since, many scientists also questioned the accuracy of this study.
當然,之后的幾年里,許多科學家也質疑過該研究的準確性。
Because welcome to research.
因為他們做過該研究。
In a 2016 paper, 17 research groups from around the world came together to try to replicate it,
2016年的一篇論文中,來自世界各地的17個研究小組聚集在一起試圖復制該研究,
each running the study almost exactly like the original and testing close to 1900 participants.
每個人的研究結果與初始結果幾乎完全相同,接近1900名參與者接受了測試。
Except, they couldn't find the effect.
但是,他們沒有發現該效應的存在。
But that didn't necessarily mean the classic study was wrong.
但這并不意味著經典研究有錯。
As it turns out, the study and the replication might both be correct.
事實證明,經典研究和復制研究可能都是正確的。
See, a big part of science is that one research study seldom proves or disproves anything.
看,科學的一個重要部分就是一項研究很少去證明或否定任何事情。
Each just offers evidence that needs to be evaluated and critiqued.
每一個都只是在提供評估和批評所需的證據。
The heart of science is to test things over and over in new ways,
科學的核心是采用新的方法反復試驗,
revising our ideas as we learn more.
當我們學到的東西更多,我們的想法就得到了修正。
The goal of the replication study was to figure out whether having people hold pens in their mouths
復制研究的目的是弄清楚是否讓人們把筆含在嘴里
and rate comics was a good way to test the facial feedback hypothesis.
而評價漫畫是測試面部反饋假說的好方法。
Because they failed to find the same results,
因為他們未能找到和最初研究相同的結果,
it seemed the original study's results might have happened just by chance or some other factor.
最初研究的結果似乎可能只是因為偶然或者其他的一些原因。
Except, they missed a pretty big detail, which one of the original researchers and others pointed out later.
不過,他們漏掉了一個相當大的細節,最初研究的人員和其他人后來指出了這一點。
In the original 1980s experiment, people weren't watched while they did the tasks.
20世紀80年代最初的實驗中,人們在做任務時沒有被監視。
But in the replication,
但在復制研究的過程中,
they were recorded by a video camera so researchers could check if they held the pens correctly.
他們采用了攝像機,以便研究人員檢查這些人是否拿對了筆。
It makes sense to want to check that, but psychology research has also shown that
想要檢查這一點是有道理的,但心理學研究也表明,
we tend to react differently when we're watched, including in how much we pay attention to what's going on inside our minds.
在被監視的時候,我們的反應會有所不同,包括我們對內心想法的注意程度
And that likely interrupted the effect.
而這很可能會中斷該效應。
Other researchers specifically tested this in 2018 and found that,
2018年,其他研究人員專門對此進行了測試,發現,
with their nearly 200-person sample, this simple difference made a big impact.
在近200人受試者中,這個簡單的差異產生了巨大的影響。
When participants had a camera recording them,
當用攝像機記錄這200人的時候,
the facial feedback effect didn't happen.
面部反饋效應沒有發生。
But when there was no camera, it did.
但是沒有相機的時候,面部反饋效應卻存在著。
This means the original and the replication might both be right.
這意味著最初的研究和后來進行的研究可能都是正確的。
And it goes to show that we shouldn't always be quick to judge when a new study comes out.
這表明,我們不應該總是對新的研究結果快速做出判斷。
But what does this mean for you?
但這對你而言意味著什么呢?
Do your facial expressions actually do anything?
面部表情真的會產生作用嗎?
Well, probably.
好吧,也許。
Today, lots of research has been done using various techniques,
如今,很多研究都采用不同的技術,
and a lot of it does support the facial feedback hypothesis.
很多人支持面部反饋假說。
This idea is even being used to create some new treatments.
人們甚至用它來開發一些新的治療方法。
Like, one 2017 study found that unknowingly smiling seemed to stop food cravings in 61 young women,
比如,2017年的一項研究發現,在61名年輕女性中,不自覺的微笑似乎能阻止她們對食物的渴望。
especially those prone to emotional eating.
這在那些容易情緒化進食的人身上尤其明顯。
And a few studies over the last decade have found that
過去十年的研究發現
injecting botox into frown lines might actually decrease depression symptoms.
在皺紋里注射肉毒桿菌實際上可以減輕抑郁癥狀。
But before you call your doctor, as always, more research is needed.
但在你打電話給你的醫生之前,一如既往,還需要更多的研究。
For now, the most we can say is that the evidence is promising—and that's okay.
就目前而言,我們最多只能說證據是有說服力的——這是可以接受的。
Psychology is inherently full of unanswered questions,
心理學本身就充滿了未解之謎,
and sometimes the answers aren't as straightforward as you want them to be.
有時候答案并不像你想的那么簡單。
But hey, people are pretty complex, too.
但是,人類本身也是一個復雜的體系。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感謝收看心理科學秀節目。
We love exploring what makes our minds work and how all those things shape who we are and what we do.
我們喜歡探索人類大腦的工作原理,以及所有這些對我們是誰,我們做什么如何產生影響。
If you'd like to keep learning with us,
如果你想和我們一起學習
you can watch another one of our episodes or go to youtube.com/scishowpsych and subscribe.
你可以觀看我們的另一集節目,或者訂閱youtube.com/scishowpsych。