Germans have a word for it -- schadenfreude -- and when it comes to getting pleasure from someone else's misfortune, men seem to enjoy it more than women. Such is the conclusion reached by scientists at University College London in what they say is the first neuroscientific(1) evidence of schadenfreude.

Using brain-imaging techniques, they compared how men and women reacted when watching other people suffer pain.

If the sufferer was someone they liked, areas of the brain linked to empathy and pain were activated in both sexes. To those they disliked women had a similar response, but men showed a surge(2) in the reward areas of the brain.

"The women had a diminished(3) empathic response(4)," said Dr Stephan, a co-author of the report. "But it was still there, whereas in the men it was completely absent(5)."

The scientists said the research shows that empathic responses in men are shaped by the perceived fairness of others." Empathic responses to other people are not automatic, as has been assumed in the past, but depend on the emotional link to the person who is observed suffering," Stephan said.

In the two-part study, 32 men and women volunteers played a game in which they exchanged money with four other people who were actors playing a part. The actors were either fair(6) characters, who returned equal amounts of cash that have been given to them, or unfair people who gave little or no money back to the volunteers.

In the second part of the experiment, the volunteers were placed in magnetic(7) imaging brain scanners(8) as they watched the actors receiving a mild(9) electric shock, similar to a bee sting. The scientists measured reactions of the volunteers in areas of the brain associated with pain and empathy and reward while the actors experienced pain.

The responses shown in the brain images were backed up with questionnaires(10) filled in by the volunteers. Men admitted to having a much higher desire for revenge than women and derived(11) satisfaction from seeing the unfair person being punished.

"We will need to confirm these gender(12) differences in larger studies because it is possible the experimental design favoured(13) men as there was a physical rather than psychological or financial threat involved," said Dr Tania Singer, who led the study.

德語中有一個(gè)詞專用于形容幸災(zāi)樂禍：“schadenfreude”。倫敦尤尼弗斯特大學(xué)科學(xué)家從神經(jīng)學(xué)方面證實(shí)：男性比女性更容易幸災(zāi)樂禍。

科學(xué)家們利用腦電波成像技術(shù)比較男性和女性在看到別人受苦時(shí)的腦部反應(yīng)。

如果受難者是他們喜歡的人，男女腦中負(fù)責(zé)同情和痛苦區(qū)域的反應(yīng)同樣活躍。如果受難者是他們反感的人，女人的反應(yīng)沒有太大變化，但是男人腦中的獎(jiǎng)賞區(qū)域的反應(yīng)卻十分劇烈

報(bào)告合作作者斯戴芬博士說：“女性的移情反應(yīng)有所減弱，至少還有，但是男性的根本就消失了。”

科學(xué)家們說研究表明，男性是否會產(chǎn)生移情反應(yīng)取決于他人是否曾善待他。斯戴芬說，同情并非如我們曾經(jīng)認(rèn)為的那樣是自發(fā)的，而是取決于受難者與自己的情感關(guān)系。

這項(xiàng)研究分成兩個(gè)步驟，共有32個(gè)志愿者參加。首先每個(gè)志愿者與4個(gè)工作人員換錢。有的“正直”的工作人員交還了同樣數(shù)量的錢，但其他“不正直”的人要么只還一點(diǎn)要么干脆不還。

第二部分中，志愿者們戴著電磁腦部掃描設(shè)備觀看工作人員遭受輕度的電擊（像被蜜蜂蜇了一下）。同時(shí)，科學(xué)家們記錄下他們腦部有關(guān)同情、痛苦和回報(bào)區(qū)域的活動情況。科學(xué)家們同時(shí)記錄下他們腦部有關(guān)同情、痛感和回報(bào)的區(qū)域的活動情況。

志愿者們在調(diào)查問卷中的回答也進(jìn)一步證實(shí)了腦部掃描結(jié)果的準(zhǔn)確性。男性志愿者承認(rèn)他們有更強(qiáng)的報(bào)復(fù)心理，看到對他們不公正的人受苦能獲得滿足感。

坦尼亞辛格·博士說：“科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為仍需要進(jìn)行更大規(guī)模的研究來驗(yàn)證這一性別差異。因?yàn)榇舜卧囼?yàn)主要針對生理的威脅，而不是心理或財(cái)務(wù)危機(jī)，可能會導(dǎo)致男性反應(yīng)比女性劇烈。”