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The Influence of Psychology

心理学的影响

The social and psychological theories of our time also have an impact on our beliefs. Before the past few decades, people were urged to be self-disciplined, self-critical, and self-effacing. They were urged to practice self-denial, to aspire to self-knowledge, to behave in a manner that ensured they maintained self-respect.Self-centeredness wasconsidered a vice.“Hard work,” they were told, “leads to achievement, and that in turn produces satisfaction and self-confidence.” By and large, our grandparentsinternalizedthose teachings. When they honored them in their behavior, they felt proud; when they dishonored them, they felt ashamed.

我们这个时代的社会学和心理学的理论对我们的信念也产生了影响。在几十年前，人们被督促要求自律、自我批评和自谦，要进行自我否定，要有自知之明，要以一种确保能维护其自尊的方式来行事。以自我为中心的行为被视为恶习。他们被告知：“努力工作可带来成就，同时又可带来自我满足感和自信。”大体而言，我们的祖父母们早把这些教导内化吸收了。当他们以自己的行动去尊从这些教导时，就会感到自豪；不尊从这些教导时，就会感到可耻。

internalize：[ɪnˈtɜ:rnəlaɪz]  vt.使内在化;使藏在心底;

Today the theories have been changed—indeed,almost exactly  reversed.Self-esteem,which nineteenth-centurysatiristAmbrose Bierce defined as“an erroneous appraisement,” is now considered animperative.Self-centeredness has been transformed from vice into virtue, and people who devote their lives to helping others, people once considered heroic andsaintlike,are now said tobe afflicted with“a disease to please.” The formula for success and happiness begins with feeling good about ourselves. Students who do poorly in school, workers who don’t measure up to the challenges of their jobs, substanceabusers,lawbreakers—all are typicallydiagnosed as deficient in self-esteem.

如今，这些理论都变了——事实上，几乎正好颠倒了过来。自尊，曾被19世纪讽刺作家安布罗斯·毕尔斯(Ambrose Bierce)定义为“一种错误的称赞”，现在却被认为是一种必不可少的要求。以自我为中心的行为已从恶行变成了美德。那些为帮助别人而献出生命的人、曾被认为是英雄或神圣的人，现在却被说成是患有“取悦他人的疾病”。成功和幸福的规则始于自我感觉良好。学校里表现差的学生，不能应付工作挑战的人，浪费钱物的人，违法的人——所有这些人一般都被定为缺少自尊。

self-esteem：[self ɪ'sti:m]  n.自尊;自大;傲骨;

satirist：[ˈsætərɪst] n.讽刺作家;

imperative：[ɪmˈperətɪv]  adj.势在必行的;必要的，不可避免的;命令的，专横的; [语]祈使的;  n.命令;必要的事;规则; [语]祈使语气;

saintlike：['seɪntˌlaɪk]  adj.圣洁的;

be afflicted with：v.受折磨;

abuser：n.滥用者;

In addition, just as our grandparentsinternalized the social and psychological theories of their time, so most contemporary Americans have internalized the message of self-esteem. We hear people speak of it over coffee; we hear it endlesslyinvokedon talkshows. Challenges to its precepts are usually met with disapproval.

此外，就像我们的祖父母们内化吸收了他们那个时代的社会学和心理学理论一样，当代大多数美国人也已经内化吸收了有关自尊的信息。我们听到人们在喝咖啡时谈论它，在脱口秀节目中无休止地提到它。对自尊信条的质疑通常都会遭到反对。

invoke：[ɪnˈvoʊk]  vt.乞灵，祈求;提出或授引…以支持或证明;召鬼;借助;

But isn’t the theory of self-esteemself-evident? No. A negative perception of our abilities will, of course,handicapour performance. Dr. MaxwellMaltz explains the amazing results one educator had in improving the grades of schoolchildren by changing their self-images. The educator had observed that when the children saw themselves as stupid in a particular subject (or stupidin general), they unconsciously acted to confirm their self-images. They believed they were stupid, so they acted that way. Reasoning that it was their defeatist attitude rather than any lack of ability that was undermining their efforts, the educatorset out tochange their self-images.He foundthat when he accomplished that, they no longer behaved stupidly! Maltzconcludes from this and other examples that our experiences can work a kind of self-hypnotism on us, suggesting a conclusion about ourselves and then urgingus to make it come true.

然而，关于自尊的理论不是不言而喻吗？不是，对我们能力的负面看法，当然会影响我们的行为。马克斯韦尔-奠尔茨(Maxwell Maltz)博士解释了一个教育工作者通过改变学生的自我形象来提高这些孩子成绩的惊人结果。这位教育工作者观察到，当孩子们觉得自己在某个课目上表现愚笨（或者在各科都愚笨）时，他们就会无意识地以行为去证实这种自我形象。他们觉得自己愚笨，所以行为也会表现得如此。这位教育工作者推断出，正是这种失败主义的态度而不是能力上的任何缺陷阻碍了他们的努力，因此他着手改变他们的自我形象。他发现，当他做到这一点时，他们就不再表现得愚笨了。莫尔茨从这个及其他例子中得出结论：我们的经验能对我们产生一种自我催眠的作用，并催生出关于我们自己的结论判断，从而促使我们将结论判断变为现实。

handicap：[ˈhændiˌkæp]  n.障碍;缺陷;不利条件;给弱者增加的杆数（按击球次数计数，并随参赛者的进步而减少）;  vt.妨碍，使不利;使（某人）行动和生活不正常;

set out to do打算，着手做什么

Many proponents of self-esteem went far beyond Maltz’s demonstration that self-confidence is an importantingredientin success. They claimed that there is no such thing as too much self-esteem. Research does not support that claim. For example, Martin Seligman, aneminentresearch psychologist and founder of the movement known as positive psychology, cites significant evidence that, rather than solving personal and social problems, including depression, the modern emphasis on self-esteem causes them.

许多自信提倡者比莫尔茨关于自信是成功的重要因素的论证更深入。他们声称，并不存在太过自尊的情况。但研究成果并不支持这个声称。例如，马丁-塞利曼(Martin Seligman)，一位杰出的研究型心理学家，积极心理学运动的发起人，援引了重要的证据表明：现代社会对自尊的重视并没有解决个人和社会问题，包括抑郁症，反而引发了这些问题。

ingredient：[ɪnˈgri:diənt] n.因素;（混合物的）组成部分;（烹调的）原料;（构成）要素;

eminent：[ˈɛmənənt] adj.显赫的;（指人）知名的，杰出的，卓越的;（指品质、特性）明显的，显着的，突出的;闻达;

Maltz’s research documents that lack of confidenceimpedesperformance, a valuable insight. But such research doesn’t explain why the more global concept of self-esteem has become so dominant. The answer to that question lies in the popularization of the work of humanistic psychologists such as Abraham Maslow.Maslow described what he called the hierarchy of human needs in the form of apyramid, with physiological needs (food and drink) at the foundation. Above them, in ascending order, are safety needs, the need for belongingness and love, the need for esteem and approval, and aesthetic and cognitive needs(knowledge, understanding, etc.). At thepinnacleis the need for self-actualization, or fulfillment of our potential. In Maslow’sview, the lower needs must be fulfilled before the higher ones. It’s easy to see how the idea that self-esteem must precede achievement was derived from Maslow’s theory.

莫尔菠在研究文献中指出，缺乏自信会妨碍一个人的行为表现，这是一个有价值意义的见解。但这样的研究并未解释越来越普遍的自尊概念为何变得如此占主导地位。这个问题的答案在于像阿伯拉罕·马斯洛(Abraharn Maslow)这样的人文主义心理学家的研究工作被人们所熟知。马斯格描述了他所说的以金字塔形式表示的人类需求层次：生理需要（吃、喝）在最底层，在这之上依次是安全的需要、归属感和关爱的需要、自尊和认可的需要、美学和认知的需要（知识、理解力等）；在金字塔的顶端是自我实现的需要，或者叫实现自我潜力的需要。在马斯洛来看来，低级需要必须在高级需要之前得到实现。这就容易明白，从马斯洛的理论如何得出自尊的观念必须先于成就这一观点。

impede：[ɪmˈpid]  vt.阻碍;妨碍;阻止;

pinnacle：[ˈpɪnəkəl]  n.顶峰;顶点;尖顶; [建]（哥德式建筑的）小尖塔;  vt.为…加尖塔;把…放在高处;

Other theories might have been adopted,however. A notable one is Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s, which was advanced at roughly the same time as Maslow’s and was based on both Frankl’sprofessional practice and his experiences in Hitler’s concentration camps.Frankl argues that one human need is higher than self-actualization: self-transcendence,the need to rise above narrow absorption with self. According to Frankl, “theprimordialanthropologicalfact [is] that being human is being always directed, and pointing to something or someoneother than oneself: to a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter, a cause to serve or a person to love.” A person becomes fully human “by forgetting himself and giving himself, overlooking himself and focusing outward.”

但是，也许还可采纳其他不同的理论。最著名的一个就是澳大利亚的精神病学家维克特-弗兰克( Viktor Frankl)的理论，这种理论提出的时间与马斯洛的理论大致相同，它以自己的专业实践和在希特勒集中营的经历为基础。弗兰克认为，人有一种需要远高于自我实现：自我超越，这是提升到了超出狭隘的自我专注的需要。根据弗莱克尔的理论，“原始人类学的实际情况是，人总是被引导、被指向自身之外的某件事或某个人：指向要实现某个事物的意义而非自己，或指向将要遇到的一个人、从事的某项事业、爱上的某个人。”一个人“通过忘掉自我、奉献自我、忽视自我并完全投入到外界”而成为完美的人。

primordial：[praɪˈmɔ:rdiəl]  adj.初生的，初发的，原始的;

anthropological：[ˌænθrəpəˈlɑdʒɪkl:]  adj.人类学的;

Making self-actualization (or happiness) the direct object of our pursuit, in Frankl’s view, is ultimately self-defeating;such fulfillment can occur only as “the unintended effect ofself-transcendence.” The proper perspective on life, Frankl believes, is not what it can give to us, but what it expects from us; life is daily—even hourly—questioning us, challenging us to accept “the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for [each of us].”

在弗兰克看来，若把自我实现（或幸福）作为我们追求的直接目标，终究会适得其反；这种目的只是作为“自我超越的非预期结果”时才可能实现。弗兰克认为，对生活的正确观念并不是它能给予我们什么，而是我们能给它什么期望；生活就是每天（甚至是每小时）的自我寻思，自我接受并承担这一责任——“找到生活的正确答案，并完成生活不断向我们每个人提出的挑战”。

Finding meaning, according to Frankl’stheory, involves “perceiving a possibility embedded in reality” and searching for challenging tasks“whose completion might add meaning to [one’s] existence.” But such perceiving and searching are frustrated by the focus on self: “As long as modern literature confines itself to, and contents itself with, self-expression—not to say self-exhibition—it reflects its authors’ sense of  futility and absurdity. What is more important, it also creates absurdity. This is understandable in light of the fact that meaning must be discovered, it cannot be invented. Sense cannot be created, but what may well be created isnonsense.”

根据弗兰克的理论，意义的发现包括“感知现实中蕴藏的可能性”，以及寻求具有挑战性的任务，“这些任务的完成也许可以提升[一个人]生存的意义”。但是，这样的感知和寻求会因为太过集中关注自我而受挫：“只要现代的文献限于并满足于自我表达（不要说自我展示），那它所反映的是其作者空洞的、荒谬的感觉。更重要的是，它又产生新的荒谬。鉴于意义必须被发现而不能被发明这一事实，这一点是可以理解的。感觉是不能被创造的，而能被创造的却没有意义。”

Whether we agree completely with Frankl, one thing is clear: Contemporary American culture would be markedly different if the emphasis over the past several decades had been on Frankl’s theory rather than on the theories of Maslow and the other humanistic psychologists. All of us would have been affected—we can only imagine how profoundly—in our attitudes, values, and beliefs.

无论我们是否完全同意弗兰克的观点，有一点是显然的：如果过去几十年里人们强调的是弗兰克尔的理论而不是马斯洛和其他人文主义心理学家的理论，那么，当代美国文化会有很大的不同。我们所有人的态度、价值观和信仰都会受到影响——我们只能想象这种影响有多深远。