Hey guys, Tara here for DNews, and if sites like Facebook and Twitter have taught us anything, it's that people love to gossip.

嗨各位，我是 DNews 的 Tara，若說臉書和推特這類網站教會了我們什麼，那就是人喜歡八卦。

It's human nature! We've always been taught that's a bad thing, and that we shouldn't do it.

這是人的本性！而我們一直以來都被教導八卦是不好的，我們不該講八卦。

But new research shows that may not be the case.

但是新的研究發現，事實或許並非如此。

A study published this week in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin finds that hearing gossip may actually help us adapt to our social environments,

本週在 Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 期刊發表的一篇研究發現，聽八卦其實可以幫助我們適應社會環境 ，

allowing us to self-improve and expose potential threats.

讓我們能夠進步和發覺潛在的威脅。

For their study, a team of researchers from the Netherlands asked a group of participants to recall an incident where they had received either positive or negative gossip about someone else.

在他們的研究裡，一群來自荷蘭的研究員請一組受試者回想之前聽到關於別人正面或負面八卦的經驗 。

Then they were asked to measure how that gossip had affected their levels of self-improvement, self-promotion, and self-protection.

然後再要求受試者衡量那個八卦影響他們自我進步、自我推銷還有自我保護的程度。

What they discovered is that hearing positive gossip tends to lead to self-improvement.

他們發現，聽到正面八卦通常會引起自我進步。

In the sense that when we hear something great about someone else, it indirectly suggests ways that we can improve upon ourselves.

當我們聽到關於別人的好事時，也會間接啟發了我們可以讓自己進步的方法。

Makes sense.

這很合理。

But what about negative gossip? How does that affect us?

但負面八卦呢？那又會如何影響我們？

Well, according to their findings, negative gossip actually produces a two-fold reaction.

根據他們的研究發現，負面八卦事實上會產生雙重反應。

On the one hand, it increases our self-promotion because in a weird Schadenfreude kind of way, it can be kind of flattering to know that we're doing better than other people.

一方面，負面八卦會增加我們的自我推銷，因為在某種怪異的幸災樂禍心態，知道自己過得比其他人好可能會讓我們自我感覺良好。

At the same time though, it also increases our self-protection concerns because it signifies that we could also potentially be affected by whatever negative treatments befell the person we're gossiping about.

然而同時，負面八卦也同時會增加我們的自我保護，因為這表示不論我們八卦的對象遭到什麼樣的負面待遇，我們也可能會受到影響 。

Obviously, these aren't hard-and-fast guidelines, and people react differently to gossip, depending on their personality,

但顯然的，這些都不是放諸四海而階準的準則，而且大家對八卦的反應並不同，這取決於人的個性，

which is why researchers conducted another part to this study where they assigned participants one of two different personalities:

這也是為什麼研究員進行了另一個部分的研究，他們將受試者限定為兩種個性：

a sales agent who uses their knowledge and skills to get ahead,

一種是用知識和能力來獲得成功的銷售員，

or a sales agent who tramples over others to demonstrate their superiority.

另一種則是靠輕視別人來展現優越感的銷售員。

In this example, they found that the people who really cared about improving their job performance through knowledge and skills, were more likely to learn from positive gossip,

這個例子中，他們發現那些真正想要用知識和能力讓工作表現進步的人，比較能夠從正面八卦中學習，

whereas those who trampled over others to get ahead, typically felt threatened when hearing good news about someone else.

然而那些靠著把別人比下去而成功的人，聽到別人的好消息時通常會感到受威脅。

So, how good of a person you are is clearly a factor here. But there are also differences among genders.

因此，你的個性好不好顯然是個因素。但是不同性別也會有差異。

Women, for example, tend to be more fearful when they hear negative gossip about someone else because they're afraid that it could happen to them, too.

舉例來說，女人聽到別人的負面八卦時，通常會比較害怕，因為她們怕那也會發生在自己身上。

Men, not so much.

但男人就不太會這樣。

In fact, men tended to be more fearful of positive gossip because it was seen as a potential threat.

事實上，男人通常比較害怕正面八卦，因為他們視其為潛在威脅。

No matter how you react, it seems at least one thing is clear: gossip causes everyone to pause and self-reflect,

不論你的反應為何，至少有件事似乎是肯定的：八卦使每個人停下來自我反省 ，

and in some cases, that reflection can and does lead to self-improvement.

而在某些情況，這些省思能夠，也的確會促進自我進步。

Speaking of things to be fearful of, I want to let you guys know that we recently shot a TestTube episode about cyberbullying and whether or not that is actually illegal.

說到令人害怕的事，我想讓各位知道，最近我們拍了一部 TestTube 影片，內容關於網路霸凌及其是否真的違法。

If you've been on the Internet lately then you know this is a huge hot-button issue,

如果你最近有上網就會知道這是非常熱門的話題，

so if you're interested in knowing more about it, I implore you to check out that episode at youtube.com/testtubenetwork.

所以若你有興趣了解更多，請上 youtube.com/testtubenetwork 觀賞影片。

In the meantime, if you guys have any questions, comments, fun gossip to share as long as it's anonymous,

同時，如果你有任何問題、建議或有趣的八卦要分享，只要是匿名的，

just leave it in the comments below. Otherwise, thanks for watching.

你都可以在下面留言。那，謝謝觀賞囉！