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Business Bartleby
商業(yè)版塊，巴托比專欄
Unlokcing Creativity
釋放創(chuàng)造力
Forget drug use and hammocks. Try tedium instead
忘掉毒品和吊床，試試無聊放空
Academics do not contend to write the most entertaining research paper of the year.
學者們不會爭相寫出年度最具娛樂性的研究論文。
But Yu Tse Heng, now at the University of Virginia, Christopher Barnes of the University of Washington and Kai Chi Yam of the National University of Singapore should take a bow nonetheless.
但目前在弗吉尼亞大學任職的余澤恒(音譯)、華盛頓大學的克里斯托弗·巴恩斯和新加坡國立大學的任啟智應該鞠躬接受掌聲。
In a study published in 2022, the trio tested the widespread notion that cannabis increases creativity.
在2022年發(fā)表的一項研究中，三人測試了大麻提高創(chuàng)造力這一廣為流傳的說法。
The researchers recruited a bunch of Americans who take the drug recreationally, and asked them to take some standardised tests of creativity (from thinking of novel uses for a brick to coming up with money-spinning ideas for a music band).
研究者招募了一群為娛樂目的服用大麻的美國人，并要求他們接受一些標準化的創(chuàng)造力測試(包括想出磚塊的新奇用途，以及為樂隊想出賺錢的點子)。
Some participants underwent the test immediately after taking cannabis; a control group only did so if 12 hours had elapsed since they last indulged.
一些參與者在服用大麻后立即接受了測試，對照組則在他們吸食大麻12小時后才進行測試。
Independent evaluators assessed the innovativeness of their ideas.
獨立評審員評估了他們想法的創(chuàng)新性。
The researchers found that cannabis increased users’ joviality, which is thought to encourage lateral thinking.
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，大麻增加了吸食者的快樂感，這被認為可以鼓勵橫向思維。
Drug use also led people to rate their own creativity, and that of other participants, more highly.
吸食大麻還讓人們對自己和其他參與者的創(chuàng)造力給予更高的評價。
The problem is that the independent assessors could discern no effect on the actual quality of people’s thoughts.
問題是，獨立評審員并未看出大麻對人們想法的實際好壞產(chǎn)生影響。
Cannabis users got high and duly found everything mind-blowing, regardless of whether it was or not.
吸食大麻的人變得興奮起來，自然發(fā)現(xiàn)一切都令人興奮，無論是不是確實如此。
“Leaders may want employees to be sober, especially while evaluating ideas” is one of the paper’s dry conclusions.
“領導者可能希望員工保持清醒，尤其是在評估想法時”，這是這篇論文的枯燥結(jié)論之一。
You might think that doesn’t need saying.
你可能認為這是不言而喻的。
But the search for ways to unleash creativity seems to scramble executives’ brains.
但尋找釋放創(chuàng)造力的方法似乎讓高管們絞盡腦汁。
There is rising interest in the use of psychedelics in the workplace, not simply as a health-care perk but also as a way of stimulating innovative thinking.
人們對在工作場所使用迷幻劑的興趣與日俱增，不僅把它看作一種醫(yī)療福利，也看作一種刺激創(chuàng)新思維的方式。
But before you submit your book pitch for “The Smartest Guys on the Mushroom”, take a minute.
但在你提交《蘑菇上最聰明的人》的圖書宣傳方案之前，先等一等。
A study published last year in Nature, a scientific journal, tested the effects of taking low doses of psilocybin and reached a similar conclusion to the cannabis paper:
去年發(fā)表在科學期刊《自然》上的一項研究測試了服用低劑量致幻劑的效果，并得出了與研究大麻的論文類似的結(jié)論：
participants may have gone on a trip but there wasn’t much evidence to suggest it ended in a creative destination.
參與者可能產(chǎn)生了幻覺而飄飄然，但沒有太多證據(jù)表明他們最后飄到了一個更有創(chuàng)意的地方。
Drug use is at the extreme end of a range of techniques whose purpose is to jolt people into a more innovative mindset.
在激勵人們進行創(chuàng)新性思維的各種辦法之中，吸食毒品是極端之舉。
There are specific exercises designed to encourage “divergent thinking”, such as sketching the person next to you or designing a unique sandwich (how about tripe and a dash of sour grapes?).
有專門鼓勵“發(fā)散性思維”的練習，比如描繪你旁邊的人，或者設計一個獨特的三明治(牛百葉加少許酸葡萄怎么樣？)。
There are team-building activities, from plate-spinning and karaoke to escape rooms and fire-walking (safety warning: if you have a brainwave during this exercise, never stop to write it down).
還有團建活動，從轉(zhuǎn)盤子、卡拉OK到密室逃生和赤腳走火炭(安全警告：如果你在走火炭時靈機一動，千萬不要停下來記錄你的靈感)。
And there is a near-universal obsession with turning bits of offices into playrooms: brightly coloured furniture, hammocks, blackboards, chairs that are far too low to the ground for adults.
還有幾乎所有人都癡迷于將辦公室的一小塊地方變成游戲室：色彩鮮艷的家具、吊床、黑板、對成年人來說過于低矮的椅子。
The idea is that using an unconventional space can help stimulate innovative thoughts.
他們的想法是，非常規(guī)空間可以幫助激發(fā)創(chuàng)新思維。
But much depends on the task at hand.
但這在很大程度上取決于手頭的任務是什么。
In an experiment conducted by Manuel Sosa of insead business school and Sunkee Lee of Carnegie Mellon University, participants were given a sheet of paper with 40 circles on it and asked to draw real-world objects that contained that shape.
在歐洲工商管理學院的曼努埃爾·索薩和卡內(nèi)基梅隆大學的?；だ钸M行的一項實驗中，參與者拿到一張有40個圓圈的紙，并要求他們畫出這個形狀的現(xiàn)實世界中的物體。
People who had been put in an unconventional workspace performed worse than those in a bog-standard office because they became fixated on the circular objects in their vicinity (they did better than cubicle-dwellers on tests that could not be influenced by their surroundings in this way).
那些被安排在非常規(guī)工作空間的人比在標準辦公室里的人表現(xiàn)得更差，因為他們只專注于附近的圓形物體(他們在一些測試中表現(xiàn)得比格子間里的人更好，這些測試不會像這樣受到周圍環(huán)境的影響)。
Group activities undoubtedly have their place: it’s called hell.
集體活動無疑有其一席之地：這個地方被稱為地獄。
But desperate efforts to induce creativity can be self-defeating, in the same way that telling yourself that you must get to sleep is bound to keep you awake.
但是，不顧一切地激發(fā)創(chuàng)造力的努力可能會弄巧成拙，就像告訴自己必須睡覺一定會讓你保持清醒一樣。
Plenty of evidence suggests that doing absolutely nothing is a better option.
大量證據(jù)表明，什么都不做是更好的選擇。
Allowing the mind to wander is a good way to unlock bright ideas.
讓大腦走神是解鎖好點子的好方法。
Aaron Sorkin, a celebrated screenplay writer, showered multiple times a day as a way of getting around writer’s block.
著名編劇亞倫·索爾金每天洗澡好幾次，以此來對付文思枯竭的情況。
Tedium itself can be a useful spur to inspiration.
單調(diào)乏味本身就是一種有用的靈感刺激。
In a study presented in 2013 researchers found that people who had copied telephone numbers out—or, even better, just read them—before taking a creative test outperformed those who had not.
在2013年公布的一項研究中，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，在參加創(chuàng)造性測試之前，抄寫過電話號碼的人——或者更絕的，只是朗讀電話號碼的人——比沒有做過這些事的人表現(xiàn)更好。
Boredom, reckoned Friedrich Nietzsche, is that disagreeable “windless calm” of the soul that precedes a happy voyage and cheerful breeze.
弗里德里希·尼采認為，無聊是快樂航行和愉悅微風到來之前，一種令人不快的靈魂上的“風平浪靜”。
There is nothing like boredom to make you write, agreed a young Agatha Christie.
沒有什么比無聊更能讓你動筆寫作了，年輕的阿加莎·克里斯蒂對此表示同意。
Maybe she could have achieved much more if she had a beanbag, some Lego and a zoot.
如果她有豆子袋、樂高積木和佐特套裝，也許她會取得更大的成就。
Or maybe creativity is just a bit less formulaic than that.
或者，創(chuàng)造力只是沒有那么程式化而已。
