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有时候，无聊比忙碌更有意义——无聊能够触发人们对公益事业的关注，做出慈善行为，比如献血。而不是陷入那些令人痛苦的、事实上又毫无意义的工作之中。 If this weekend is yawning ahead of you, offering nothing but the same old routines and dull chores, then don't despair: boredom is good for you, a new study claims. 如果即将到来的，是个慵懒的、无所事事的周末。伴随习以为常的惯行例事，和显得枯燥的琐事，请不要绝望：对你来说，或许无聊是件挺棒的事儿，一项新的研究报告如是说。 Far from dulling the mind and leading to a lack of productivity, boredom can inspire people to seek out ways of being altruistic, empathatic and to engage in prosocial tasks, particularly unpleasant ones such as giving blood. 你的思想不再会被沉重的工作消磨了关泽，不再会有膨胀的生产量，无聊可以激励人们敞开胸怀，更多寻求一些无私的方式，将情感从自我转向公众领域，而尝试一些公益工作，甚至是不那么愉快的，比如捐血。 "Bored people feel that their actions are meaningless and so they are motivated to engage in meaningful behaviour," said Wijnand van Tilburg, from the University of Limerick, co-author of the paper, Bored George Helps Others: A Pragmatic Meaning-Regulation Hypothesis on Boredom and Prosocial Behaviour. "If prosocial behaviour fulfills this requirement, boredom promotes prosocial behaviour. “无聊的人觉得他们的行动是毫无意义的，而正因为如此，他们没有强烈的利己动机，而做出的行为往往是更有意义的。来自利默里克大学的Wijnand van Tilburg在他的一篇名为《无聊使乔治热爱施助：基于无聊和公益行为的意义规律假说》中提出这样的论点“如果一项公益行为满足某种特定的要求，那么无聊将有助于个体实施该公益行为。” "Investigating the link between boredom and prosocial behavior is not only highly novel but also counter-intuitive," said Van Tilburg, who will present the paper with co-author, Dr Eric Igou, on Friday at the British Psychological Society 2011 Annual Conference. “研究无聊状态与公益行为之间的联系是十分新颖的，并且，结果甚至是违反直观印象的。”Van Tilburg准备将其研究成果发表在英国心理学学会2011年度会议上。 "Past research has associated boredom almost exclusively with aversive correlates, yet closer inspection suggests a much richer array of potential consequences that may well go beyond merely negative outcomes, such as prosocial behaviour." “以前的研究仅在寻找无聊与负面行为的相关性，而最近的调查发现，无聊的某些潜在正面效应可能超过了负面结果，如一些公益行为。” People who are easily bored typically score highly on so-called "dispositional measures of sensation seeking". This may, says Van Tilburg, at least partially explain the positive relationship between boredom proneness with aggression, anger, and hostility. 无聊者通常是伴有“寻求心灵感觉的倾向性”的人。Van Tilburg认为，这至少在一定程度上解释了，无聊情绪多引导一些主动性的情绪：比如攻击性、愤怒和敌意。 But when people feel meaningless, Van Tilburg found that they are more likely to engage in behaviour they believe will re-establish their sense of meaningfulness. They do not, he added, simply turn to distractions that are fun and interesting. 然而，当人们感到生活无意义时，更有可能做出的是，那些他们认为的能重塑生活之意义的行为。他们不会，简单地将注意力转移到一些有趣而快乐的事情上。 "Boredom can paradoxically be a very strong motivator for people to seek out unpleasant yet meaningful tasks, such as blood donations, against meaningless but pleasant behaviour," he said. "It does not promote engagement in meaningless yet pleasant behaviour." “无聊这种情绪——事实上是一种强大的原动力，同时又是矛盾的的: 它激励人们寻求不令人愉悦的、又赋有意义的行为”他说，“相反的，它不会激励那些欢愉而无意义的行为。” Through a series of seven studies, researchers found that boredom increases prosocial motivations that impact on positive behaviours that last far beyond the length of time of the boring activity itself. 研究人员发现，无聊激励人们参与积极行为的作用时间远远超出了其本身持续的时间。 "Boredom makes people long for different and purposeful activities, and as a result they turn towards more challenging and meaningful activities, turning towards what they perceive to be really meaningful in life," said Van Tilburg. “无聊使人们渴望不同寻常的、具有目的性的行为。因此，他们会选择更具有挑战性的、更赋有意义的活动，他们会投身于他们认为生命中真正有意义的工作中。” "Donating to charity or signing up for blood donations could not have increased the level of stimulation, interest, arousal, novelty, fun, or challenge experienced during the boring activity, simply because the boring activity finished before prosocial behavior was assessed," he said. "Therefore, we show that boredom affects attitudes and behaviour even after the boring activity, if people have not had the chance to re-establish meaningfulness." “在无聊状态下，慈善行为不会增加心灵所感知的其刺激性、趣味性、新颖性抑或是挑战性水平。这仅仅是因为，一旦内心对正进行的公益行为做出了评价，无聊状态就立即结束了。因此，只要我们还没有重塑生活之意义，无聊状态结束后就仍然保持有对我们行为及心态的作用。” Van Tilburg said his research proves that boredom can promote behaviour that benefits society. "Being bored may be miserable, but at the same time it provides benefits for others who are in need of support," he said. "This is important as past boredom research mainly suggested detrimental correlates such as aggression or pathological gambling. Van Tilburg的研究证明，无聊可以促进公益行为。“无聊是一种痛苦的状态，但同时也是一种利他的状态“ 他指出，“这个发现比较有意思，由于过去对于无聊状态的研究主要都集中在它的负面影响，比如强烈攻击性行为，或沉迷于赌博。 "Of course, this does not mean that boredom is necessary for prosocial behaviour," added Van Tilburg. "It is one positive effect of an utterly negative experience, demonstrating the dynamic character of how people attempt to re-establish a sense of meaningfulness." “当然，这并不意味着无聊状态是公益行为的必要条件，事实上，它是一个非常消极的生活体验，而公益行为是它产生的一个积极效应。其中展示了，人们重新建立生活意义感的动态因素。” The paper has been welcomed by Adrian Savage, an editor at the online life coach site, www.lifehack.org. "Being bored turns your mind inward and encourages reflection. When you're rushing about, there's no time to think. When you're bored, there's nothing else to do but think," he said. Adrian Savage，一位在线心理培训网站的编辑，支持论文的观点。“无聊使人们认真审视自己的内心并渴望得到回音。当你忙碌时，并没有时间去停下来思考。当你没有其他事情可做时，就只剩下思考了” "Boredom is nearly always essential to creativity. It isn't true that creativity is mostly sparked by having a specific problem to be solved. It's far more likely to arise because the person is bored with the way something has been done a thousand times before and wants to try something new," added Savage. "Boredom stimulates the search for better ways to things like nothing else does." “事实上，无聊是发挥创造力必不可少的条件。创造力并不是由急需解决的某个问题所激发的，它更有可能被唤醒在某一过程以相同方式进行了千百万次后，心灵所感枯燥乏味而寻求新的方式。” Savage补充说，“无聊激励心灵去发现无人所至的全新思想，也许是更棒的思想。” |
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