We’re unconsciously attracted to people, places and things that resemble ourselves.

我們不自覺地被與我們近似的人、地點與事物所吸引。

And it affects our life in some pretty bizarre ways.

而他們也以某些奇怪的方式影響我們一生。

In one study, researchers analysed the public records of 66 million Americans and found that

在一項研究中，專家分析了 6600萬美國人的檔案後發現，

people are disproportionately likely to live in places whose names resemble their own.

相當高比例的人們傾向住在地名與自己名字相似的地方。

Just like St. Louis and it’s Louises, Jacksonville is inhabited by more Jacks, Philadelphia by Philips, and Virginia Beach by Virginias.

就如同聖路易市的路易們，傑克遜維爾住著許多傑克，費城有許多菲利浦，而維吉尼亞海灘也有許多維吉尼亞。

While some gravitate towards these places,

當某些人會被這些地方所吸引，

it’s also possible that parents living in Georgia are more likely to name their children George or Georgia.

住在喬治亞州的家長們，也有較高的可能性會將他們的孩子取名為喬治或喬治亞。

The researchers also found people are more likely to live in cities whose names began with their birthday numbers.

研究人員也發現，人們更傾向於住在名稱以他們的生日日期開頭的城市裡。

If you were born on the second of the month, you’d live in Two Harbors, Minnesota. The third? Three Oaks, Michigan.

如果你出生在一個月的第二天，你可能住在明尼蘇達州的 Two Harbors。那第三天呢？是密西根的 Three Oaks。

And people were more likely to choose careers whose labels resemble their names.

此外，人們也更容易從事名稱與他們姓名相仿的職業。

Dennis or Denise are overrepresented among dentists; Laurie, Lauren and Lawrence among lawyers.

如 Dennis 或 Denise 這樣的名字相當容易出現在牙科醫生中；律師中則以 Laurie, Lauren 與 Lawrence 為多數。

Researchers called this effect of unconscious self-love “Implicit Egotism”. And it doesn't stop there.

研究者稱這種不自覺的自我愛戀為「內隱式的本位主義」。而這個現象遠不止於此。

A recent study of undergraduate students found when you work in a group,

近期一份關於大學生的報告顯示，當你以小組為單位合作時，

sharing initials with other members of the group increases the overall quality of your group work.

若你的姓名和其他組員擁有相同的字母開頭，整體的團隊合作品質將會提升。

Bizarrely, the study was authored by three researchers by the names of Polman, Pollmann and Poehlman.

奇特的是，這份研究正是由三位名為 Polman, Pollmann 和 Poehlman的研究員所完成。

They suggest this is caused by the “Name-letter effect”, where we have a preference for the letters in our names.

他們認為這是由「姓名－字母效應」所造成，也就是我們會對出現在我們姓名中的字母有所偏好。

We write our name thousands of times throughout our life,

在我們的一生中，我們會寫無數次自己的名字，

so the more we are merely exposed to something–like those letters–the more we like it.

所以當我們越暴露在這樣的環境下，例如這些字母，我們就會更喜歡它們。

It's also known as the “Mere exposure effect.”

這也被稱為「單純曝光效應」。

One study in the 1980s showed people more often ranked letters belonging to their name as their most preferred letters of the alphabet.

一份 1980 年代的報告指出，人們經常將出現在自己名字中的字母列為最喜歡的字母。

And they found this Name-letter effect across 12 different European languages.

此外，他們也發現這種「姓名－字母效應」出現在 12 個不同的歐洲語言中。

Some of the findings - like more Louises living in St Louis - seem counter-intuitive,

某些研究，例如聖路易市有較多的 Louis，看似是違反直覺的；

but they are supported by a lot of data, like analysing birth, marriage and death records.

但他們卻有很多數據支持，例如生日、婚姻或死亡的數據分析。

So when Angela moves to Los Angeles or Phillip buys a Phillips television, there may be some implicit egotism involved.

所以，當 Angela 搬到洛杉磯，或是 Philip 買了一台飛利浦電視，這其中都可能有「內隱的本位主義」牽涉其中。

But, finally, there’s a scientific explanation for why Susie sells sea shells by the sea shore.

但，對於為什麼 Susie 會在海邊賣貝殼（美式繞口令）總算有科學的說法了。

If you don't already, check out my Twitter and Tumblr for brain effects and episode updates.

如果你還沒有，請到我的 Twitter 和 Tumblr 來更新有關腦的最新影片。

And subscribe to Braincraft for a new brainy video every Thursday!

訂閱 Braincraft 以收看每個禮拜四的最新影片！