評論
打印
Science and technology
科學技術
Age and wisdom
年齡與智慧
Older and wiser?
姜是老的辣？
Americans get wiser with age. Japanese are wise from the start
美國人年齡越大越聰明。日本人從小就聰明
ONE stereotype of wisdom is a wizened Zen-master smiling benevolently at the antics of his pupils, while referring to them as little grasshoppers or some such affectation, safe in the knowledge that one day they, too, will have been set on the path that leads to wizened masterhood.
提到智慧的時候，人們腦海里總會出現這樣一個老套的畫面：一個削瘦的禪宗大師面容慈祥的對他的弟子微笑著，一邊叫他們小不點，心中十分確定他們遲早會走上這條通往智慧的禪宗之道。
But is it true that age brings wisdom?
但是智慧真的與年齡有關嗎？
A study two years ago in North America, by Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo, in Canada, suggested that it is.
兩年前，加拿大滑鐵盧大學Igor Grossmann博士的研究顯示情況的確如此。
In as much as it is possible to quantify wisdom, Dr Grossmann found that elderly Americans had more of it than youngsters.
由于智慧可以標準量化，他發現年長的美國人的確比年輕人要聰明。
He has, however, now extended his investigation to Asia—the land of the wizened Zen-master—and, in particular, to Japan.
但是，如今他將調查擴展至整個亞洲—這個擁有禪宗大師的神奇土地—特別是日本。
There, he found, in contrast to the West, that the grasshoppers are their masters' equals almost from the beginning.
在那里他發現，與西方相比，幾乎從一開始，這些弟子與大師在智力方面難分伯仲 。
Dr Grossmann's study, just published in Psychological Science, recruited 186 Japanese from various walks of life and compared them with 225 Americans.
Grossmann博士研究結果剛發表在《心理科學》。他招募了186個來自各行各業的日本人并且與225個美國人做對比研究。
Participants were asked to read a series of pretend newspaper articles.
他要求參與者閱讀一些假裝在報紙上發表的文章。
Half described conflict between groups, such as a debate between residents of an impoverished Pacific island over whether to allow foreign oil companies to operate there following the discovery of petroleum.
其中一半描述了一些團體斗爭，比如太平洋小島上當地居民關于是否允許外國石油公司開發剛發現的石油資源。
The other half took the form of advice columns that dealt with conflicts between individuals: siblings, friends and spouses.
另一半文章以專欄的方式提供兄弟姐妹、朋友、配偶之間的個人斗爭解決建議。
After reading each article, participants were asked What do you think will happen after that? and Why do you think it will happen this way? Their responses were recorded and transcribed.
在閱讀完文章之后，研究人員會問參與者兩個問題，分別是此事發生后，你認為事態將會如何發展？？和為什么你認為事態會這樣發展？然后研究人員會記錄他們的答案。
Dr Grossmann and his colleagues removed age-related information from the transcripts, and also any clues to participants' nationalities, and then passed the edited versions to a group of assessors.
Grossmann博士和同事們會在記錄中剔除與他們年齡和國籍相關的信息，然后將處理過的記錄版本交給經過培訓的一組評委，他們都對答案的有一致的評分標準。
These assessors were trained to rate transcribed responses consistently, and had been tested to show that their ratings were statistically comparable with one another.
這些評估成員經過訓練，能夠始終以相同標準對紙上答案進行評分；并且已通過測試表明其評出的分數在統計方面相互具有可比性。
The assessors scored participants' responses on a scale of one to three. This attempted to capture the degree to which they discussed what psychologists consider five crucial aspects of wise reasoning: willingness to seek opportunities to resolve conflict; willingness to search for compromise; recognition of the limits of personal knowledge; awareness that more than one perspective on a problem can exist; and appreciation of the fact that things may get worse before they get better.
評委將參與者的答案按1至3分進行評分。他們想通過這種方法把握心理學家認為的五個有關于智慧方面的重要程度，分別是：尋求解決爭端機會的意愿；尋求折中方法的意愿；對個人知識有限的認識度；對問題存在多個方面的意識程度；和對事情在往好的方向發展前的趨壞傾向的估計程度。
A score of one on any aspect indicated a participant gave no consideration to it.
1分代表參與者根本就沒有考慮過，
A score of two indicated some consideration.
2分代表參與者有了些思考但并不深入，
A score of three indicated a great deal of consideration.
3分代表參與者對這些問題有深入的思考。
Each participant's scores were then added up and mathematically transformed to create an overall value within a range of zero to 100 for both interpersonal and intergroup wisdom.
將參與者的每個問題的得分相加，再把總分從人際關系及團體關系兩方面分別轉換為百分制。
The upshot was that, as Dr Grossmann had found before, Americans do get wiser with age.
與Grossmann博士以前的結果一樣，美國人隨著年齡的增長智慧增加。
Their intergroup wisdom score averaged 45 at the age of 25 and 55 at 75.
25歲的美國人社會群體的判斷力平均數是45而75歲的美國人平均數是55。
Their interpersonal score similarly climbed from 46 to 50.
他們人際關系的判斷力平均數同樣隨年齡由46攀升至50。
Japanese scores, by contrast, hardly varied with age.
但是與美國人的結果相反，日本人的分數與年齡并無太大關系。
Both 25-year-olds and 75-year-olds had an average intergroup wisdom of 51.
25歲和75歲的人的社會群體的判斷力平均數都是51；
For interpersonal wisdom, it was 53 and 52.
對于人際關系判斷力反而是25歲的是53,75歲的人是52.
Taken at face value, these results suggest Japanese learn wisdom faster than Americans.
這些結果顯示日本人比美國人更早變聰明一些。
One up, then, to the wizened Zen-masters. But they also suggest a paradox.
年輕人以一分的優勢險勝那些削瘦的禪宗大師們。但是卻有一個悖論：
Generally, America is seen as an individualistic society, whereas Japan is quite collectivist.
通常說來美國被視為是一個充滿了個人主義的社會，然而日本則更推崇集體主義。
Yet Japanese have higher scores than Americans for the sort of interpersonal wisdom you might think would be useful in an individualistic society.
但是日本人在人際關系能力這一項上的得分卻比美國人要高，而人際關系判斷力是大多數人認為在個人主義社會中十分受用的能力。
Americans, by contrast—at least in the maturity of old age—have more intergroup wisdom than the purportedly collectivist Japanese.
相反，美國人—至少在年齡比較高的那一組中—在群體判斷力的得分上比據稱崇尚集體主義的日本人要高。
Perhaps, then, you need individual skills when society is collective, and social ones when it is individualistic.
也許，當社會推崇集體主義的時候你也需要人際關系技巧，在推崇個人主義的社會里你同樣需要社交技巧。
All of which goes to show that the real root of wisdom is this: do not assume, little grasshopper, that your prejudices are correct.
所有的這一切都表明，智慧的真正根源是：別事先假定你的成見是正確的，也別輕看了那些小不點。
