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揭秘十項人類惡習的背後原因
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Compared with most animals, we humans engage in a host of behaviors that are destructive to our own kind and to ourselves. We lie, cheat and steal, carve ornamentations into our own bodies, stress out and kill ourselves, and of course kill others. Science has provided much insight into why an intelligent species seems so nasty, spiteful, self-destructive and hurtful.
10.Gossip
We humans are evolutionarily set up to judge and talk about others, no matter how hurtful it might be, researchers say.
Here\'s how Oxford primatologist Robin Dunbar sees it: Baboons groom each other to keep social ties strong. But we humans are more evolved, so we use gossip as social glue. Both are learned behaviors.
Gossip establishes group boundaries and boosts self-esteem, studies have found.
In many instances, the goal of gossip is not truth or accuracy. What matters is the bond that gossiping can forge, often at the expense of a third party.
When two people share a dislike of another person, it [gossip] brings them closer, says Jennifer Bosson, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida.
9.Gamble
Gambling, too, seems to be in our genes and hard-wired into our brains, which might explain why such a potentially ruinous behavior is so common.
Even monkeys gamble. A study that measured monkeys\' desire to gamble for juice rewards found that even as potential rewards diminished, the primates acted irrationally and gambled for the chance to get a wee bit more.
A study published in the journal Neuron last year found that almost winning activates win-related circuitry within the brain and enhances the motivation to gamble. Gamblers often interpret near-misses as special events, which encourage them to continue to gamble, said Luke Clark of the University of Cambridge. Our findings show that the brain responds to near-misses as if a win has been delivered, even though the result is technically a loss.
Other studies have also shown that losing causes gamblers to get carried away. When people plan in advance how much to gamble, they\'re coldly rational, a study last year found. But if they lose, rationality goes out the window, and they change the game plan and bet even more.
8.Stress Out
Stress can be deadly, raising the risk for heart problems and even cancer. Stress can lead to depression, which can lead to suicide -- yet another destructive behavior that\'s uniquely human (and glaringly not on this list).
But exactly why we stress is difficult to pin down. These truths will resonate with many, however: The modern workplace is a source of significant stress for many people, as are children.
More than 600 million people around the world put in 48-hour-plus workweeks, according to the International Labor Organization. And advances in technology -- smartphones and broadband Internet -- mean a blurring of the lines between work and free time. About half of Americans bring work home, according to a recent study.
The stress of being a parent while also working is borne out by a 2007 study that found older people feel less stress.
Many older workers are empty-nesters, says researcher Gwenith Fisher, an organizational psychologist at the University of Michigan\'s Institute for Social Research (ISR). They don\'t have the same work-personal conflicts that younger and middle-aged workers deal with, juggling responsibilities to children along with their jobs and their personal needs.
Health experts suggest exercise and adequate sleep are two of the best ways to battle stress.
7.Nip, Tuck, Plump and Tattoo our Bodies
By 2015, 17 percent of U.S. residents will be getting cosmetic procedures, the industry predicts. Some would call it self-edification, of course, or art, or a way to kill time or perhaps rebel against authority. But in general, and given that people have died from cosmetic surgery procedures, what makes so many people so intent on artificially remaking themselves?
First, it\'s worth noting that while options at the body shop have never been more varied, the practice is ancient, often tied to cults and religions or power and status, and in fact much of the modern nip, tuck, paint, poke and plump procedures are benign compared with some ancient practices. People have reshaped their heads, elongated their necks, stretched their ears and lips, painted their bodies or affixed permanent jewelry for thousands of years.
Perhaps the strongest motivations nowadays are to be beautiful, however one might define that, or simply to fit in with a particular group.
The lure of beauty can\'t be denied as a prime motivator to nip and tuck. Studies have shown that shoppers buy more from attractive salespeople; attractive people capture our attention more quickly than others; and skinny people have an easier time getting hired and promoted.
There\'s this idea that if you look better you\'ll be happier. You\'ll feel better about yourself, says psychologist Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families. And logically that makes so much sense, because we live in a society where people do care what you look like.
A sign of the times, as Baby Boomer age: While cosmetic surgery sales sagged during the recession, wrinkle-blasting laser treatments have skyrocketed.
6.Bully
Studies have found that half or more of grade-school children experience bullying. A European study in 2009 found that children who bully at school are likely to also bully their siblings at home. That led a researcher involved in the study to speculate that bullying behavior often starts at home.
It is not possible to tell from our study which behavior comes first, but it is likely that if children behave in a certain way at home, bullying a sibling for instance, if this behavior goes unchecked they may take this behavior into school, said Ersilia Menesini of the Universita\' degli Studi di Firenze, Italy.
But bullying is not just child\'s play. One study found that almost 30 percent of U.S. office workers experience bullying by bosses or coworkers, from withholding of information critical to getting the job done to insulting rumors and other purposeful humiliation. And once it starts, it tends to get worse.
Bullying, by definition, is escalatory. This is one of the reasons it\'s so difficult to prevent it, because it usually starts in really small ways, says Sarah Tracy, director of the Project for Wellness and Work-Life at Arizona State University.
Experts say to combat workplace bullies, respond rationally, specifically, and consistently.
Why do we do it? To gain status and power, psychologists say. And for some, it may be hard to resist the behavior. Researchers have seen bullying behavior in monkeys and speculate that the behavior may stretch way back in our evolutionary tree.
5.Lie
Nobody knows for sure why humans lie so much, but studies find that it\'s common, and that it\'s often tied to deep psychological factors.
It\'s tied in with self-esteem, says University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman. We find that as soon as people feel that their self-esteem is threatened, they immediately begin to lie at higher levels.
Feldman has conducted studies in which people lie frequently, with 60 percent lying at least once during a 10-minute conversation.
And lying is not easy. One study concluded that lying takes 30 percent longer than telling the truth.
Recent studies have found that people lie in workplace e-mail more than they did with old-fashioned writing.
It\'s a whole other matter whether people really mean to lie in many instances. Figuring that out requires coming up with a complicated definition of lying.
Certain conditions have to be in place for a statement to rise to the level of a lie, explains philosophy professor James E. Mahon of Washington and Lee University. First, a person must make a statement and must believe that the statement is false. Second, the person making the statement must intend for the audience to believe that the statement is true. Anything else falls outside the definition of lying that I have defended.
Animals are also known to be capable of deception, and even robots have learned to lie, in an experiment where they were rewarded or punished depending on performance in a competition with other robots.
4.Cheat
Few human traits are more fascinating. While most people would say honesty is a virtue, nearly one in five Americans think cheating on taxes is morally acceptable or is not a moral issue, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. About 10 percent are equally ambivalent about cheating on a spouse.
People who espouse high moral standards are among the worst cheats, studies have shown. The worst cheaters tend to be those with high morals who also, in some twisted way, consider cheating to be an ethically justifiable behavior in certain situations.
Cheating on spouses by celebrities and politicians thought to be moral leaders has become rampant. The behavior has a simple explanation, experts say: Guys are wired to want sex, a lot, and are more likely than gals to cheat. The behavior may be particularly likely for men with power.
People don\'t necessarily practice what they preach, says Lawrence Josephs, a clinical psychologist at Adelphi University in New York. It\'s not clear to what extent people\'s ethical values are actually running what they do or don\'t do.
3.Steal
Theft can be motivated by need. But for kleptomaniacs, stealing can be motivated by the sheer thrill of it. One study of 43,000 people found 11 percent admitted to having shoplifted at least once.
These are people who steal even though they can easily afford not to, says Jon E. Grant of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.
In a study in 2009, participants either took a placebo or the drug naltrexone -- known to curb addictive tendencies toward alcohol, drugs and gambling. Naltrexone blocks the effects of substances called endogenous opiates that the researchers suspect are released during stealing and which trigger the sense of pleasure in the brain.
The drug reduced the urges to steal and stealing behavior, Grant and colleagues wrote in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
Theft may be in our genes. After all, even monkeys do it. Capuchin monkeys use predator alarm calls to warn fellow monkeys to scatter and avoid threats. But some will make fake calls, and then steal food left by those that scattered.
2.rave Violence
Violence is found throughout recorded human history, leading some researchers to conclude that we crave it, that it\'s in our genes and affects reward centers in our brains. However, going back millions of years, evidence suggests our ancient human ancestors were more peace-loving than people today, though there are signs of cannibalism among the earliest pre-history humans.
A study in 2008 concluded that humans seem to crave violence just like they do sex, food, or drugs. The study, reported in the journal Psychopharmacology, found that in mice, clusters of brain cells involved in other rewards are also behind their craving for violence. The researchers think the finding applies to human brains.
Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food, said study team member Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. We have found that the reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved.
Many researchers believe violence in humans is an evolved tendency that helped with survival.
Aggressive behavior has evolved in species in which it increases an individual\'s survival or reproduction, and this depends on the specific environmental, social, reproductive, and historical circumstances of a species. Humans certainly rank among the most violent of species, says biologist David Carrier of the University of Utah.
1.Cling to Bad Habits
Perhaps everything else on this list would be far less problematic if we were not such creatures of habit. In fact, studies have found that even when the risks of a particular bad habit are well-known, people find it hard to quit.
It\'s not because they haven\'t gotten the information that these are big risks, says Cindy Jardine of the University of Alberta. We tend to sort of live for now and into the limited future -- not the long term.
Jardine, who has studied why people cling to bad habits, cites these reasons:
-- Innate human defiance
-- Need for social acceptance
-- Inability to truly understand the nature of risk
-- Individualistic view of the world and the ability to rationalize unhealthy habits
-- Genetic predisposition to addiction
People tend to justify bad habits, she says, by noting exceptions to known statistics, such as: It hasn\'t hurt me yet, or, My grandmother smoked all her life and lived to be 90.
與大多數動物相比，我們人類從事的大量行為對於我們種族和我們自身來說是有害的。我們撒謊、欺騙以及偷竊，在我們自己的身體上刻上些裝飾品、高度緊張並且自殺，同時當然也殺害他人。科學在解釋為什麽一種理智的物種如此的惡毒、自我傷害並且危害他人時提供了更多的見解。
10. 傳播流言
研究者說：從進化的角度上說，我們人類是為判斷和議論別人而設計的，而無論這種行為如何的傷人。這裏有牛津大學靈長目動物學家羅賓頓巴對待這個問題的看法：狒狒們打扮彼此以保持社會鏈接的鞏固。但是我們人類進化的更加完善，於是我們利用流言作為”社會鏈接增強劑“，這兩種行為都是後天習得的。研究發現：傳播的流言建立起不同團體的界限，並且提高自尊。在很多實例中，流言的目的不是真相或準確性。真正重要的是以犧牲第三方的利益為代價，流言能夠偽造一種團結的局麵。”當兩個人同時表達對另一個人的厭惡時，流言使他們彼此更加親近，“傑尼弗博森說道，他是南佛羅裏達大學的心理學教授。
9. 賭博
同樣，賭博似乎也存在在我們的基因當中，並且在我們大腦中是以硬鏈接的形式存在的，這也許可以解釋為什麽這樣一種潛在破壞性的活動會如此之尋常。甚至連猴子也賭博。一個測量猴子對於果汁獎勵的賭博願望的研究發現：盡管潛在獎勵在減少，靈長類動物卻表現得不理智，並且打賭認為獎勵的幾率會增加。去年刊登在神經元雜誌上的一項研究表明：幾乎所有的獲勝都會激活大腦當中的與獲勝有關的回路，並且會進一步增強賭博的動機。”賭徒們通常將險勝解釋為特殊的事件，這鼓勵他們繼續賭博，“劍橋大學的魯克克拉克說道。”我們的結論顯示大腦對於險勝事件作出的回應就像對待完全勝利一樣，即使結果是失敗的。”其他的研究也顯示失敗會使賭徒失去自製力。去年的一份研究顯示，當人們提起計劃賭博費用時，他們是理智的。但是如果他們失敗了，理智就不複存在了，於是他們改變了賭博計劃並且賭得更多。
8. 高度緊張
壓力可以是致命的，它提高患心髒病甚至是癌症的風險。壓力能夠導致沮喪，而沮喪能夠導致自殺--這是另一種人類所特有的危害行為。但是到底為什麽我們會緊張卻很難確定。這些事實會與很多實例引起共鳴，但是：對於很多人來說，現代的工作場所是重大壓力的源泉，這點在孩子身上也存在。據國際勞工組織稱，全世界有超過6億的人一周工作會加班48小時。科技中的進步--智能手機和寬頻網絡--意味著工作和自由時間之間界限的模糊。據最近的報道稱，大約有一半的美國人將工作帶回家。成為父母的壓力同時支持了一項2007年的研究結論，即年紀大的人感覺的壓力會更小。“很多年齡較大的工作者是空巢老人，”研究者菲舍說道，他是密歇根大學社會研究學院（ISR）的一名組織心理學家。“他們已經沒有了青年人和中年人處理的工作與個人之間的衝突了，對於孩子的責任隨著他們工作和個人需要而變得越加容易。”健康專家建議：鍛煉和充足的睡眠是戰勝壓力最佳的途徑。
7. 為美麗而動刀
據行業預測，到2015年，17%的美國居民將會接受外觀裝飾的程序（即各種美容手術）。一些人稱它為自我熏陶，或者藝術，或者是一種消磨時間或者反抗權威的方式。但是總體上，並且考慮到人們可能死於美容手術過程，到底是什麽使那麽多的人們如此熱衷於這種以人工的方式裝飾他們？首先，當美容公司的選擇並不豐富的時候，這項實踐是古老的，通常與教派和宗教或者權利和地位聯係在一起，並且事實上對比一些古老的實踐，很多現代美容手術當中的夾、縮和填充的程序都是無害的。人們再塑他們的手，拉長他們的脖子，拉伸他們的耳朵和嘴唇，幾千年來，不斷描繪著他們的身體或者是那隨身佩帶的永恒的珠寶。
也許在今天最強的動機就是要變得漂亮，但是一個人可以自己來定義美，或者是簡單的與一個特定的團體保持一致。美的吸引力不能因為想要整容的動機而被拒絕。研究表明，購物者從富有吸引力的銷售者手中購買更多的商品；有吸引力的人們比其他人更快占據著人們的視線；身材苗條的人在找工作和被提升時更加容易。“這裏有這樣一個理論：如果你看起來不錯那麽你將會更快樂。你將覺得自己的狀態更好一些，”心理學家戴安娜說道，她是婦女和家庭國家研究中心的主席。“並且從邏輯上也解釋得通，因為我們生活的社會中人們的確關注我們看上去的樣子。”像嬰兒潮出生的人一樣，這也是目前時代的標誌：在這個經濟衰退的時期美容手術的數量下降，但除皺激光療法卻異常火爆。
6. 欺負
研究發現一半或者一半以上的學齡期的孩子經曆過欺負行為。2009年的一項歐洲研究表明，在學校欺負別人的孩子同樣可能在家欺負他們的兄弟姐妹。這種現象促使研究者又進行了一項新的研究，即假設欺負行為通常開始於家庭。“在我們的研究中無法區分那一種行為更早出現，但是有可能是，如果孩子在家裏的行為是以某種方式，比如說欺負他的兄弟姐妹，如果這種行為未加抑製，那麽他們可能會將這種行為帶到學校當中去，”來自意大利一所大學的艾瑞斯麗娜這樣說。
但是欺負行為不隻是小孩子的把戲。一項研究發現幾乎30%的美國辦公室工作者經曆過來自上司或者工友的欺負，其方式從壓製與工作息息相關的信息到侮辱性的謠言以及其他有目的的侮辱行為。並且一旦開始，欺負行為會越來越糟糕。“欺負，從定義上理解就是矛盾的升級。這是它如此難以抑製的原因之一，因為它通常以一種微小的方式開始，”莎拉克蕾西說道，她是亞利桑那州立大學的健康與工作項目的主任。專家說與工作場所的欺負行為作鬥爭，反應要理智、明確和一致。為什麽我們會有欺負行為？心理學家說，是為了獲得地位和權利。並且對於一些人來說，可能會很難抵製這種行為。研究者在猴子身上也觀察到了欺負行為，並推測這種行為可以回溯到我們的進化樹上。
5. 說謊
沒有人確切的知道為什麽人類撒謊如此頻繁，但是研究發現這種現象很平常，並且這種行為通常與深層的心理因素有關。
“它與自尊有關，”馬薩諸塞州大學的心理學教授羅伯特弗裏德曼說道。“我們發現隻有當人們感到他們的自尊受到威脅的時候，他們立刻會開始在更高的水平上編製謊言。”弗裏德曼正在指導一項研究，這其中人們頻繁的撒謊，其中60%的人在一段十分鍾的談話裏至少撒謊一次。撒謊不簡單。一個研究得出這樣的結論：謊話比陳述事實多30%的長度。最近的研究發現人們在工作場所用電郵撒謊比用舊式寫信的方式更多。
在很多情況下人對於謊言來說是否意義重大完全是另一個問題。要回答這個問題需要提出一種對於撒謊行為的更加複雜的定義。“當一項陳述上升到謊言的水平時，一定存在某些條件，”哲學教授詹姆士馬洪解釋道，他是華盛頓和李大學的教授。“首先，一個人必須發表了一項言論，並且必須認為這項言論是虛假的。第二，這個人作出的這項言論希望他的聽眾認為是真的。其他的就我對於撒謊的定義進行的辯護都是無關緊要的。”動物同樣也有實施騙術的能力，甚至連機器人都學會撒謊了，在一項實驗中它們因為在一項競賽當中和其他機器人的表現而被獎勵或是被懲罰。
4. 欺騙
很少有人類的特質像欺騙一樣令人迷惑。盡管很多人說誠實是一種美德，但是根據一項由皮有研究中心進行的調查表明：將近1/5的美國人認為在稅收上的欺騙是可以接受的或者認為這不是一個道德問題。同樣大約10%的人在對於配偶的欺騙行為上具有矛盾的態度。
研究發現，倡導高的道德標準的人們往往是最惡劣的騙子。最惡劣的騙子傾向於是那些具有高的道德水平，同樣又認為在某些情形之下欺騙是道德上正義的行為。名人和被認為是道德領袖的政治要員對於配偶的欺騙行為日漸猖狂。這種行為有種簡單的解釋，專家說：當男性想獲得性時，他們往往出現比女孩更多的欺騙行為。這種行為可能特別的又出現在擁有權利的人們手中。“人們沒有必要去實踐他們所宣揚的東西，”勞倫斯約瑟夫說，他是紐約雅迪菲大學的臨床心理學家。“在什麽程度上人們的道德價值確實指引他們做什麽和不做什麽，這個問題沒有明確的答案。”
3. 偷竊
偷竊可以由需要的動機引發。但是對於有偷竊癖的人來說，偷竊可以由偷竊過程中單純的興奮體驗引發。在一項涉及43000人的研究中發現:11%的人承認至少有一次在商店扒竊的經曆。“這些人即便是對於他們可以輕易支付的商品也進行扒竊，‘明尼蘇達大學醫學院的喬恩格蘭特說。
在一項2009年的研究中，參與者或者服用一種安慰劑或者是環丙甲羥二羥嗎啡酮（一種麻醉拮抗藥，為抑製酒精、毒品和賭博的上癮行為）。環丙甲羥二羥嗎啡酮阻斷了一種稱為內因性麻醉劑的物質的效果，研究中猜想這種物質在偷竊過程中被釋放，從而在大腦中引發了愉快的感覺。這種藥物減少了偷竊和偷竊行為的需求，格蘭特和他的同事在生物精神病雜誌上這樣寫到。偷竊可能存在於我們的基因之中。畢竟，連猴子也這樣做。卷尾猴利用捕食者的報警信號去警告其他的猴子以便使它們分散和避免威脅。但是有些猴子則會發出虛假的信號，然後從那些四下逃散的猴子手中偷取食物。
2. 渴望暴力
暴力在有記載的人類曆史裏隨處可見,這致使有些研究者得出結論：我們渴望它，即它存在於我們的基因當中並且影響著我們頭腦中的獎賞中心。但是回溯幾百萬年，有證據表明我們的人類祖先比今天的人們更加熱愛和平，盡管在史前曆史上存在著同類相食的記錄。
2008年進行的一項研究有結論道：人類似乎是渴望暴力，就像他們對性、食物和毒品的需求一樣。這項發表在精神病藥物學雜誌上的研究發現：在老鼠中，涉及其他獎賞的大腦神經元叢集也同時存在於對暴力的渴望這項活動中。
研究者認為這項發現可以應用在人類的大腦中。”侵犯行為幾乎發生在所有的脊椎動物中，並且這種行為在獲得和保持重要的資源如夥伴、領地和食物時很必要，“研究小組成員克雷格肯尼迪說，他是田納西州範德堡大學特殊教育和兒科專業的教授。”我們發現大腦中的獎賞通路參與到了對於一項侵犯行為的反應當中，同時多巴胺也參與其中。“很多研究者信息人類中的暴力是可以幫助人類生存的進化了的趨勢。”侵犯行為在種族當中進化，其中它增加了一個個體的存活或繁殖，並且這取決於該種族特殊的環境、社會、繁殖和曆史的環境，”猶他大學的生物學家大衛說道。
1. 堅守壞習慣
如果我們不是具有習慣的生物的話，也許這張清單上的其他項遠不會達到棘手的程度。事實上，研究發現即使是一項特別的壞習慣的危害是十分明確的，但人們發現要戒掉它們還是困難的。“並不是因為人們沒有收到他們擁有巨大危害的信息，”阿爾伯塔大學的森迪嘉定說。“我們傾向於一種目前的生活，延續的隻是短暫的未來--並不是長期的規劃。”嘉定在研究了為什麽人們堅守壞習慣之後引用了一下的原因：
---人類先天的反抗
---對於社會接納的需要
---無法確切的知道危害的性質
---對於世界的個人主義的看法以及將不健康的習慣合理化的能力
---沉溺不良習慣的遺傳素質
她說，人們傾向於通過注意已知統計資料之外的特殊情況來將壞習慣合理化，例如“它還沒有傷害到我，”或者“我的祖母終生吸煙而活到了90歲。”
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Compared with most animals, we humans engage in a host of behaviors that are destructive to our own kind and to ourselves. We lie, cheat and steal, carve ornamentations into our own bodies, stress out and kill ourselves, and of course kill others. Science has provided much insight into why an intelligent species seems so nasty, spiteful, self-destructive and hurtful.
10.Gossip
We humans are evolutionarily set up to judge and talk about others, no matter how hurtful it might be, researchers say.
Here\'s how Oxford primatologist Robin Dunbar sees it: Baboons groom each other to keep social ties strong. But we humans are more evolved, so we use gossip as social glue. Both are learned behaviors.
Gossip establishes group boundaries and boosts self-esteem, studies have found.
In many instances, the goal of gossip is not truth or accuracy. What matters is the bond that gossiping can forge, often at the expense of a third party.
When two people share a dislike of another person, it [gossip] brings them closer, says Jennifer Bosson, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida.
9.Gamble
Gambling, too, seems to be in our genes and hard-wired into our brains, which might explain why such a potentially ruinous behavior is so common.
Even monkeys gamble. A study that measured monkeys\' desire to gamble for juice rewards found that even as potential rewards diminished, the primates acted irrationally and gambled for the chance to get a wee bit more.
A study published in the journal Neuron last year found that almost winning activates win-related circuitry within the brain and enhances the motivation to gamble. Gamblers often interpret near-misses as special events, which encourage them to continue to gamble, said Luke Clark of the University of Cambridge. Our findings show that the brain responds to near-misses as if a win has been delivered, even though the result is technically a loss.
Other studies have also shown that losing causes gamblers to get carried away. When people plan in advance how much to gamble, they\'re coldly rational, a study last year found. But if they lose, rationality goes out the window, and they change the game plan and bet even more.
8.Stress Out
Stress can be deadly, raising the risk for heart problems and even cancer. Stress can lead to depression, which can lead to suicide -- yet another destructive behavior that\'s uniquely human (and glaringly not on this list).
But exactly why we stress is difficult to pin down. These truths will resonate with many, however: The modern workplace is a source of significant stress for many people, as are children.
More than 600 million people around the world put in 48-hour-plus workweeks, according to the International Labor Organization. And advances in technology -- smartphones and broadband Internet -- mean a blurring of the lines between work and free time. About half of Americans bring work home, according to a recent study.
The stress of being a parent while also working is borne out by a 2007 study that found older people feel less stress.
Many older workers are empty-nesters, says researcher Gwenith Fisher, an organizational psychologist at the University of Michigan\'s Institute for Social Research (ISR). They don\'t have the same work-personal conflicts that younger and middle-aged workers deal with, juggling responsibilities to children along with their jobs and their personal needs.
Health experts suggest exercise and adequate sleep are two of the best ways to battle stress.
7.Nip, Tuck, Plump and Tattoo our Bodies
By 2015, 17 percent of U.S. residents will be getting cosmetic procedures, the industry predicts. Some would call it self-edification, of course, or art, or a way to kill time or perhaps rebel against authority. But in general, and given that people have died from cosmetic surgery procedures, what makes so many people so intent on artificially remaking themselves?
First, it\'s worth noting that while options at the body shop have never been more varied, the practice is ancient, often tied to cults and religions or power and status, and in fact much of the modern nip, tuck, paint, poke and plump procedures are benign compared with some ancient practices. People have reshaped their heads, elongated their necks, stretched their ears and lips, painted their bodies or affixed permanent jewelry for thousands of years.
Perhaps the strongest motivations nowadays are to be beautiful, however one might define that, or simply to fit in with a particular group.
The lure of beauty can\'t be denied as a prime motivator to nip and tuck. Studies have shown that shoppers buy more from attractive salespeople; attractive people capture our attention more quickly than others; and skinny people have an easier time getting hired and promoted.
There\'s this idea that if you look better you\'ll be happier. You\'ll feel better about yourself, says psychologist Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families. And logically that makes so much sense, because we live in a society where people do care what you look like.
A sign of the times, as Baby Boomer age: While cosmetic surgery sales sagged during the recession, wrinkle-blasting laser treatments have skyrocketed.
6.Bully
Studies have found that half or more of grade-school children experience bullying. A European study in 2009 found that children who bully at school are likely to also bully their siblings at home. That led a researcher involved in the study to speculate that bullying behavior often starts at home.
It is not possible to tell from our study which behavior comes first, but it is likely that if children behave in a certain way at home, bullying a sibling for instance, if this behavior goes unchecked they may take this behavior into school, said Ersilia Menesini of the Universita\' degli Studi di Firenze, Italy.
But bullying is not just child\'s play. One study found that almost 30 percent of U.S. office workers experience bullying by bosses or coworkers, from withholding of information critical to getting the job done to insulting rumors and other purposeful humiliation. And once it starts, it tends to get worse.
Bullying, by definition, is escalatory. This is one of the reasons it\'s so difficult to prevent it, because it usually starts in really small ways, says Sarah Tracy, director of the Project for Wellness and Work-Life at Arizona State University.
Experts say to combat workplace bullies, respond rationally, specifically, and consistently.
Why do we do it? To gain status and power, psychologists say. And for some, it may be hard to resist the behavior. Researchers have seen bullying behavior in monkeys and speculate that the behavior may stretch way back in our evolutionary tree.
5.Lie
Nobody knows for sure why humans lie so much, but studies find that it\'s common, and that it\'s often tied to deep psychological factors.
It\'s tied in with self-esteem, says University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman. We find that as soon as people feel that their self-esteem is threatened, they immediately begin to lie at higher levels.
Feldman has conducted studies in which people lie frequently, with 60 percent lying at least once during a 10-minute conversation.
And lying is not easy. One study concluded that lying takes 30 percent longer than telling the truth.
Recent studies have found that people lie in workplace e-mail more than they did with old-fashioned writing.
It\'s a whole other matter whether people really mean to lie in many instances. Figuring that out requires coming up with a complicated definition of lying.
Certain conditions have to be in place for a statement to rise to the level of a lie, explains philosophy professor James E. Mahon of Washington and Lee University. First, a person must make a statement and must believe that the statement is false. Second, the person making the statement must intend for the audience to believe that the statement is true. Anything else falls outside the definition of lying that I have defended.
Animals are also known to be capable of deception, and even robots have learned to lie, in an experiment where they were rewarded or punished depending on performance in a competition with other robots.
4.Cheat
Few human traits are more fascinating. While most people would say honesty is a virtue, nearly one in five Americans think cheating on taxes is morally acceptable or is not a moral issue, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. About 10 percent are equally ambivalent about cheating on a spouse.
People who espouse high moral standards are among the worst cheats, studies have shown. The worst cheaters tend to be those with high morals who also, in some twisted way, consider cheating to be an ethically justifiable behavior in certain situations.
Cheating on spouses by celebrities and politicians thought to be moral leaders has become rampant. The behavior has a simple explanation, experts say: Guys are wired to want sex, a lot, and are more likely than gals to cheat. The behavior may be particularly likely for men with power.
People don\'t necessarily practice what they preach, says Lawrence Josephs, a clinical psychologist at Adelphi University in New York. It\'s not clear to what extent people\'s ethical values are actually running what they do or don\'t do.
3.Steal
Theft can be motivated by need. But for kleptomaniacs, stealing can be motivated by the sheer thrill of it. One study of 43,000 people found 11 percent admitted to having shoplifted at least once.
These are people who steal even though they can easily afford not to, says Jon E. Grant of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.
In a study in 2009, participants either took a placebo or the drug naltrexone -- known to curb addictive tendencies toward alcohol, drugs and gambling. Naltrexone blocks the effects of substances called endogenous opiates that the researchers suspect are released during stealing and which trigger the sense of pleasure in the brain.
The drug reduced the urges to steal and stealing behavior, Grant and colleagues wrote in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
Theft may be in our genes. After all, even monkeys do it. Capuchin monkeys use predator alarm calls to warn fellow monkeys to scatter and avoid threats. But some will make fake calls, and then steal food left by those that scattered.
2.rave Violence
Violence is found throughout recorded human history, leading some researchers to conclude that we crave it, that it\'s in our genes and affects reward centers in our brains. However, going back millions of years, evidence suggests our ancient human ancestors were more peace-loving than people today, though there are signs of cannibalism among the earliest pre-history humans.
A study in 2008 concluded that humans seem to crave violence just like they do sex, food, or drugs. The study, reported in the journal Psychopharmacology, found that in mice, clusters of brain cells involved in other rewards are also behind their craving for violence. The researchers think the finding applies to human brains.
Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food, said study team member Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. We have found that the reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved.
Many researchers believe violence in humans is an evolved tendency that helped with survival.
Aggressive behavior has evolved in species in which it increases an individual\'s survival or reproduction, and this depends on the specific environmental, social, reproductive, and historical circumstances of a species. Humans certainly rank among the most violent of species, says biologist David Carrier of the University of Utah.
1.Cling to Bad Habits
Perhaps everything else on this list would be far less problematic if we were not such creatures of habit. In fact, studies have found that even when the risks of a particular bad habit are well-known, people find it hard to quit.
It\'s not because they haven\'t gotten the information that these are big risks, says Cindy Jardine of the University of Alberta. We tend to sort of live for now and into the limited future -- not the long term.
Jardine, who has studied why people cling to bad habits, cites these reasons:
-- Innate human defiance
-- Need for social acceptance
-- Inability to truly understand the nature of risk
-- Individualistic view of the world and the ability to rationalize unhealthy habits
-- Genetic predisposition to addiction
People tend to justify bad habits, she says, by noting exceptions to known statistics, such as: It hasn\'t hurt me yet, or, My grandmother smoked all her life and lived to be 90.
與大多數動物相比，我們人類從事的大量行為對於我們種族和我們自身來說是有害的。我們撒謊、欺騙以及偷竊，在我們自己的身體上刻上些裝飾品、高度緊張並且自殺，同時當然也殺害他人。科學在解釋為什麽一種理智的物種如此的惡毒、自我傷害並且危害他人時提供了更多的見解。
10. 傳播流言
研究者說：從進化的角度上說，我們人類是為判斷和議論別人而設計的，而無論這種行為如何的傷人。這裏有牛津大學靈長目動物學家羅賓頓巴對待這個問題的看法：狒狒們打扮彼此以保持社會鏈接的鞏固。但是我們人類進化的更加完善，於是我們利用流言作為”社會鏈接增強劑“，這兩種行為都是後天習得的。研究發現：傳播的流言建立起不同團體的界限，並且提高自尊。在很多實例中，流言的目的不是真相或準確性。真正重要的是以犧牲第三方的利益為代價，流言能夠偽造一種團結的局麵。”當兩個人同時表達對另一個人的厭惡時，流言使他們彼此更加親近，“傑尼弗博森說道，他是南佛羅裏達大學的心理學教授。
9. 賭博
同樣，賭博似乎也存在在我們的基因當中，並且在我們大腦中是以硬鏈接的形式存在的，這也許可以解釋為什麽這樣一種潛在破壞性的活動會如此之尋常。甚至連猴子也賭博。一個測量猴子對於果汁獎勵的賭博願望的研究發現：盡管潛在獎勵在減少，靈長類動物卻表現得不理智，並且打賭認為獎勵的幾率會增加。去年刊登在神經元雜誌上的一項研究表明：幾乎所有的獲勝都會激活大腦當中的與獲勝有關的回路，並且會進一步增強賭博的動機。”賭徒們通常將險勝解釋為特殊的事件，這鼓勵他們繼續賭博，“劍橋大學的魯克克拉克說道。”我們的結論顯示大腦對於險勝事件作出的回應就像對待完全勝利一樣，即使結果是失敗的。”其他的研究也顯示失敗會使賭徒失去自製力。去年的一份研究顯示，當人們提起計劃賭博費用時，他們是理智的。但是如果他們失敗了，理智就不複存在了，於是他們改變了賭博計劃並且賭得更多。
8. 高度緊張
壓力可以是致命的，它提高患心髒病甚至是癌症的風險。壓力能夠導致沮喪，而沮喪能夠導致自殺--這是另一種人類所特有的危害行為。但是到底為什麽我們會緊張卻很難確定。這些事實會與很多實例引起共鳴，但是：對於很多人來說，現代的工作場所是重大壓力的源泉，這點在孩子身上也存在。據國際勞工組織稱，全世界有超過6億的人一周工作會加班48小時。科技中的進步--智能手機和寬頻網絡--意味著工作和自由時間之間界限的模糊。據最近的報道稱，大約有一半的美國人將工作帶回家。成為父母的壓力同時支持了一項2007年的研究結論，即年紀大的人感覺的壓力會更小。“很多年齡較大的工作者是空巢老人，”研究者菲舍說道，他是密歇根大學社會研究學院（ISR）的一名組織心理學家。“他們已經沒有了青年人和中年人處理的工作與個人之間的衝突了，對於孩子的責任隨著他們工作和個人需要而變得越加容易。”健康專家建議：鍛煉和充足的睡眠是戰勝壓力最佳的途徑。
7. 為美麗而動刀
據行業預測，到2015年，17%的美國居民將會接受外觀裝飾的程序（即各種美容手術）。一些人稱它為自我熏陶，或者藝術，或者是一種消磨時間或者反抗權威的方式。但是總體上，並且考慮到人們可能死於美容手術過程，到底是什麽使那麽多的人們如此熱衷於這種以人工的方式裝飾他們？首先，當美容公司的選擇並不豐富的時候，這項實踐是古老的，通常與教派和宗教或者權利和地位聯係在一起，並且事實上對比一些古老的實踐，很多現代美容手術當中的夾、縮和填充的程序都是無害的。人們再塑他們的手，拉長他們的脖子，拉伸他們的耳朵和嘴唇，幾千年來，不斷描繪著他們的身體或者是那隨身佩帶的永恒的珠寶。
也許在今天最強的動機就是要變得漂亮，但是一個人可以自己來定義美，或者是簡單的與一個特定的團體保持一致。美的吸引力不能因為想要整容的動機而被拒絕。研究表明，購物者從富有吸引力的銷售者手中購買更多的商品；有吸引力的人們比其他人更快占據著人們的視線；身材苗條的人在找工作和被提升時更加容易。“這裏有這樣一個理論：如果你看起來不錯那麽你將會更快樂。你將覺得自己的狀態更好一些，”心理學家戴安娜說道，她是婦女和家庭國家研究中心的主席。“並且從邏輯上也解釋得通，因為我們生活的社會中人們的確關注我們看上去的樣子。”像嬰兒潮出生的人一樣，這也是目前時代的標誌：在這個經濟衰退的時期美容手術的數量下降，但除皺激光療法卻異常火爆。
6. 欺負
研究發現一半或者一半以上的學齡期的孩子經曆過欺負行為。2009年的一項歐洲研究表明，在學校欺負別人的孩子同樣可能在家欺負他們的兄弟姐妹。這種現象促使研究者又進行了一項新的研究，即假設欺負行為通常開始於家庭。“在我們的研究中無法區分那一種行為更早出現，但是有可能是，如果孩子在家裏的行為是以某種方式，比如說欺負他的兄弟姐妹，如果這種行為未加抑製，那麽他們可能會將這種行為帶到學校當中去，”來自意大利一所大學的艾瑞斯麗娜這樣說。
但是欺負行為不隻是小孩子的把戲。一項研究發現幾乎30%的美國辦公室工作者經曆過來自上司或者工友的欺負，其方式從壓製與工作息息相關的信息到侮辱性的謠言以及其他有目的的侮辱行為。並且一旦開始，欺負行為會越來越糟糕。“欺負，從定義上理解就是矛盾的升級。這是它如此難以抑製的原因之一，因為它通常以一種微小的方式開始，”莎拉克蕾西說道，她是亞利桑那州立大學的健康與工作項目的主任。專家說與工作場所的欺負行為作鬥爭，反應要理智、明確和一致。為什麽我們會有欺負行為？心理學家說，是為了獲得地位和權利。並且對於一些人來說，可能會很難抵製這種行為。研究者在猴子身上也觀察到了欺負行為，並推測這種行為可以回溯到我們的進化樹上。
5. 說謊
沒有人確切的知道為什麽人類撒謊如此頻繁，但是研究發現這種現象很平常，並且這種行為通常與深層的心理因素有關。
“它與自尊有關，”馬薩諸塞州大學的心理學教授羅伯特弗裏德曼說道。“我們發現隻有當人們感到他們的自尊受到威脅的時候，他們立刻會開始在更高的水平上編製謊言。”弗裏德曼正在指導一項研究，這其中人們頻繁的撒謊，其中60%的人在一段十分鍾的談話裏至少撒謊一次。撒謊不簡單。一個研究得出這樣的結論：謊話比陳述事實多30%的長度。最近的研究發現人們在工作場所用電郵撒謊比用舊式寫信的方式更多。
在很多情況下人對於謊言來說是否意義重大完全是另一個問題。要回答這個問題需要提出一種對於撒謊行為的更加複雜的定義。“當一項陳述上升到謊言的水平時，一定存在某些條件，”哲學教授詹姆士馬洪解釋道，他是華盛頓和李大學的教授。“首先，一個人必須發表了一項言論，並且必須認為這項言論是虛假的。第二，這個人作出的這項言論希望他的聽眾認為是真的。其他的就我對於撒謊的定義進行的辯護都是無關緊要的。”動物同樣也有實施騙術的能力，甚至連機器人都學會撒謊了，在一項實驗中它們因為在一項競賽當中和其他機器人的表現而被獎勵或是被懲罰。
4. 欺騙
很少有人類的特質像欺騙一樣令人迷惑。盡管很多人說誠實是一種美德，但是根據一項由皮有研究中心進行的調查表明：將近1/5的美國人認為在稅收上的欺騙是可以接受的或者認為這不是一個道德問題。同樣大約10%的人在對於配偶的欺騙行為上具有矛盾的態度。
研究發現，倡導高的道德標準的人們往往是最惡劣的騙子。最惡劣的騙子傾向於是那些具有高的道德水平，同樣又認為在某些情形之下欺騙是道德上正義的行為。名人和被認為是道德領袖的政治要員對於配偶的欺騙行為日漸猖狂。這種行為有種簡單的解釋，專家說：當男性想獲得性時，他們往往出現比女孩更多的欺騙行為。這種行為可能特別的又出現在擁有權利的人們手中。“人們沒有必要去實踐他們所宣揚的東西，”勞倫斯約瑟夫說，他是紐約雅迪菲大學的臨床心理學家。“在什麽程度上人們的道德價值確實指引他們做什麽和不做什麽，這個問題沒有明確的答案。”
3. 偷竊
偷竊可以由需要的動機引發。但是對於有偷竊癖的人來說，偷竊可以由偷竊過程中單純的興奮體驗引發。在一項涉及43000人的研究中發現:11%的人承認至少有一次在商店扒竊的經曆。“這些人即便是對於他們可以輕易支付的商品也進行扒竊，‘明尼蘇達大學醫學院的喬恩格蘭特說。
在一項2009年的研究中，參與者或者服用一種安慰劑或者是環丙甲羥二羥嗎啡酮（一種麻醉拮抗藥，為抑製酒精、毒品和賭博的上癮行為）。環丙甲羥二羥嗎啡酮阻斷了一種稱為內因性麻醉劑的物質的效果，研究中猜想這種物質在偷竊過程中被釋放，從而在大腦中引發了愉快的感覺。這種藥物減少了偷竊和偷竊行為的需求，格蘭特和他的同事在生物精神病雜誌上這樣寫到。偷竊可能存在於我們的基因之中。畢竟，連猴子也這樣做。卷尾猴利用捕食者的報警信號去警告其他的猴子以便使它們分散和避免威脅。但是有些猴子則會發出虛假的信號，然後從那些四下逃散的猴子手中偷取食物。
2. 渴望暴力
暴力在有記載的人類曆史裏隨處可見,這致使有些研究者得出結論：我們渴望它，即它存在於我們的基因當中並且影響著我們頭腦中的獎賞中心。但是回溯幾百萬年，有證據表明我們的人類祖先比今天的人們更加熱愛和平，盡管在史前曆史上存在著同類相食的記錄。
2008年進行的一項研究有結論道：人類似乎是渴望暴力，就像他們對性、食物和毒品的需求一樣。這項發表在精神病藥物學雜誌上的研究發現：在老鼠中，涉及其他獎賞的大腦神經元叢集也同時存在於對暴力的渴望這項活動中。
研究者認為這項發現可以應用在人類的大腦中。”侵犯行為幾乎發生在所有的脊椎動物中，並且這種行為在獲得和保持重要的資源如夥伴、領地和食物時很必要，“研究小組成員克雷格肯尼迪說，他是田納西州範德堡大學特殊教育和兒科專業的教授。”我們發現大腦中的獎賞通路參與到了對於一項侵犯行為的反應當中，同時多巴胺也參與其中。“很多研究者信息人類中的暴力是可以幫助人類生存的進化了的趨勢。”侵犯行為在種族當中進化，其中它增加了一個個體的存活或繁殖，並且這取決於該種族特殊的環境、社會、繁殖和曆史的環境，”猶他大學的生物學家大衛說道。
1. 堅守壞習慣
如果我們不是具有習慣的生物的話，也許這張清單上的其他項遠不會達到棘手的程度。事實上，研究發現即使是一項特別的壞習慣的危害是十分明確的，但人們發現要戒掉它們還是困難的。“並不是因為人們沒有收到他們擁有巨大危害的信息，”阿爾伯塔大學的森迪嘉定說。“我們傾向於一種目前的生活，延續的隻是短暫的未來--並不是長期的規劃。”嘉定在研究了為什麽人們堅守壞習慣之後引用了一下的原因：
---人類先天的反抗
---對於社會接納的需要
---無法確切的知道危害的性質
---對於世界的個人主義的看法以及將不健康的習慣合理化的能力
---沉溺不良習慣的遺傳素質
她說，人們傾向於通過注意已知統計資料之外的特殊情況來將壞習慣合理化，例如“它還沒有傷害到我，”或者“我的祖母終生吸煙而活到了90歲。”
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