新概念雙語(yǔ)：心理學(xué)家告訴你成年人結(jié)交朋友的方法

Singing helps large groups of adults bond quickly.

唱歌能將大群成年人快速凝聚在一起。

Research has found that adults today have fewer friends than they did in the 1980s， and that more people say they have no one to discuss important stuff with.

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，相比于20世紀(jì)80年代，如今的成年人朋友更少，并且越來(lái)越多的人表示，他們甚至沒(méi)有一個(gè)能與之討論重要事情的朋友。

A new， small study suggests that singing is an effective way to make new friends because it helps us bond quickly with others.

一項(xiàng)新的小型研究表明，唱歌是結(jié)交新朋友的有效方法，因?yàn)槌枘苁刮覀兒推渌丝焖倌墼谝黄稹?/p>

For the study， led by Eiluned Pearce， Ph.D.， at Oxford University， researchers looked at participants， ages 18 to 83， in adult education classes organized by the Workers’ Education Association in the UK. Eighty-four participants were enrolled in one of four singing classes; 51 participants were enrolled in one of two creative crafts classes or a creative writing class.

這項(xiàng)研究由英國(guó)牛津大學(xué)的艾倫德·皮爾斯博士領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，由研究人員對(duì)參與者進(jìn)行觀察——這些參與者來(lái)自英國(guó)工人教育協(xié)會(huì)組織的成人教育班，年齡在18歲到83歲之間。84位參與者被分到四個(gè)歌唱班，51位參與者被分到兩個(gè)創(chuàng)意工藝品班和一個(gè)創(chuàng)意寫(xiě)作班。

Over a period of seven months， the classes met weekly. During the first， third， and final months， researchers asked participants to indicate how close they felt to their classmates.

在為期七個(gè)月的研究中，班級(jí)同學(xué)每周見(jiàn)一次面。在第一個(gè)月、第三個(gè)月和最后一個(gè)月中，研究人員會(huì)對(duì)參與者進(jìn)行詢(xún)問(wèn)，讓他們說(shuō)明他們和同學(xué)的親密度。

Results showed something surprising. Although participants in all the classes felt closer to their classmates by the study’s end， participants in the singing classes developed that closeness much more quickly.

研究結(jié)果令人驚訝。盡管在學(xué)習(xí)結(jié)束的時(shí)候，所有班級(jí)的參與者都覺(jué)得與同學(xué)的關(guān)系更為親密，但是歌唱班參與者們的親密關(guān)系則發(fā)展得更為迅速。

As for why exactly singing facilitates fast group bonding， the researchers say one possible reason is that everyone does it at the same time. Compare that to creative writing or crafting， where everyone is working on an individual project. Another potential cause， according to the researchers， is that singing involves muscular effort， which triggers the release of certain molecules that can make us happier and more willing to cooperate.

至于歌唱為何能夠促進(jìn)一個(gè)群體快速凝聚，研究人員稱(chēng)，可能是因?yàn)楦璩獣r(shí)所有人都在同時(shí)做這件事情，而在創(chuàng)意寫(xiě)作班和工藝品班，每個(gè)人都在單獨(dú)做自己的事情。調(diào)查人員稱(chēng)，另外一個(gè)潛在的原因是唱歌會(huì)涉及到肌肉活動(dòng)，而這會(huì)釋放出某些使人更快樂(lè)，更樂(lè)意與人合作的化學(xué)分子。

The takeaway here is that singing can be a great icebreaker among large groups of strangers (remember office karaoke night?)， which can facilitate individual friendships down the line.

這里的重點(diǎn)是，對(duì)于一大群陌生人來(lái)說(shuō)，唱歌可能是最好的打破堅(jiān)冰的方法(記得辦公室卡拉OK之夜嗎?)，這能夠大力促進(jìn)人們友誼的發(fā)展。

“Really close relationships still depend on interactions between individuals or much smaller groups，” Pearce said ， “but this study shows singing can kick start the bonding process.”

“個(gè)人或是更小團(tuán)體之間真正親密的關(guān)系，還取決于相互交流，”皮爾斯說(shuō)，“但這項(xiàng)研究表明唱歌能夠成為友誼之路的開(kāi)端。”