辦公室中的謠言八卦心理學

01 辦公室中的謠言八卦心理學

辦公室里的八卦和謠言如同角落中的灰塵，它無處不在，但人們總是有意或無意地忽視它。八卦和謠言如何影響到了我們的辦公室生活？

八卦和謠言是辦公室生活的一部分——它們讓人們獲得娛樂和信息，讓人際關系更密切，但它們也能敗壞名聲、摧毀信任，造成不良心態(tài)，甚至降低生產率。

結果有益的八卦和謠言與結果有害的，其區(qū)別在于背后的意圖，信息給人何種印象、促成何種行動，以及信息被允許傳播和發(fā)酵的時長。

除了提供非正式交流網絡，八卦和謠言為人們眼中的不公和權力不平衡，或者嫉妒、怨恨、無聊，乃至仇恨等情感提供了心理空間。當人們無法與一個問題或者一個人正面對抗的時候，與同事閑聊成為了一種發(fā)泄郁悶的方式。

謠言背后的焦慮與恐懼

People's anxieties heighten at times of change and uncertainty, such as when an organisation restructures, changes leadership or undertakes a merger or acquisition.Such situations lead people to worry about how they will be affected.Who will be promoted or demoted, whose job will disappear or be changed, and who will be paid what?

出現(xiàn)改變和不確定性的時期，比如組織發(fā)生重組、領導人變更或進行并購時，人們的焦慮情緒會增強。這些狀況會使人們擔心自己將受到何種影響。誰會得到晉升或者被降職，誰會失去飯碗或者職位發(fā)生變動，誰的薪酬又會是多少？

In the absence of adequate information from management, people naturally create narratives to fill the void.The longer executives take to make decisions, the more anxious people become and the more rumours fill the vacuum and make sense of the uncertainty.

在管理層公布的信息不足的情況下，人們會自然而然地提出各種說法來填補這一空白。高管們做決策花的時間越長，人們就會越焦慮，就越會有更多謠言來填補真空，試圖為這種不確定找到合理解釋。

Nicholas DiFonzo, professor of psychology at Rochester Institute of Technology and co-author of Rumor Psychology , says: “The common denominator seems to be fear — we're afraid of what this person in the organisation will do to us; we're afraid of how [the]engineering [department]is going to get more money and we in marketing are going to get less money; we're afraid of what this rival company is doing — and so we spread rumours about them.”

羅徹斯特理工學院心理學教授、《謠言心理學》的合著者尼古拉斯·迪豐佐(Nicholas DiFonzo)表示：“共同的要素似乎是恐懼——我們擔心組織里的這個人會對我們做什么；我們擔心工程（部）將得到更多資金，而我們市場部的人得到的資金將會變少；我們害怕對手公司正在做的事情——因此我們傳播關于它們的謠言?！?/p>

Studies have shown that while rumours reduce trust in management and harm the attitudes of staff, they do not necessarily affect productivity.

研究表明，盡管謠言降低了員工對管理層的信任，對員工的心態(tài)造成了不良影響，但謠言并不一定會影響生產率。

Prof DiFonzo explains: “If I hear rumours about my company being downsized and [the]management won't talk to me, there's a great deal of uncertainty.I may feel worse about [the]management, I may trust them less, but I may work harder so that if there is a downsizing I will be retained.”

迪豐佐教授解釋道：“如果我聽到謠言說公司正在精簡人員，而管理層不置可否，事情就有很大的不確定性。我可能會對管理層感覺更糟，我可能更加不信任他們，但我可能會更努力工作，這樣假如公司真的在精簡人員，我會被留下來?！?/p>

八卦如何影響我們

Gossip, as opposed to rumour, is often about social networking and bonding and can be entertaining, irresistible and even witty.Because it is so pleasurable, people tend not to consider the harm it causes.

和謠言不同的是，八卦通常與社交網絡和人際關系相關。八卦可以是富有娛樂性、不可抗拒，甚至詼諧的。因為八卦如此令人愉悅，人們往往不考慮八卦引起的害處。

Although positive gossip occurs, it is the negative gossip most people enjoy more because it makes us feel better about ourselves and reassures us, because we are not the subject of it.

盡管正面的八卦是存在的，但大多數(shù)人更喜歡負面八卦，因為這種八卦讓我們自我感覺更良好，更自信，因為我們不是被八卦的對象。

There are many motives for malicious gossip.Projecting our own feelings of inadequacy on others by putting them down rids us of our bad feelings and makes us feel superior.Gossip allows us to retaliate against perceived unfairness, act out passive-aggressive and envious feelings and redress power imbalances.People revert to gossip when they believe they cannot confront an issue directly.

人們有很多動機進行惡意的八卦。通過貶低他人，我們把自身的不足感投射到他們身上，讓我們擺脫不好的感覺，產生優(yōu)越感。八卦讓我們報復我們眼中的不公，用行動表達我們的消極抵抗情緒和嫉妒感，糾正權力失衡。當人們相信自己無法與一個問題正面對抗時，就會訴諸八卦。

A woman who came to me for psychotherapy related how a colleague who was also a friend denied she was having an affair with the boss despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.The betrayal she felt was aggravated by feelings of unfairness, powerlessness and distrust because of privileges her colleague was enjoying as a result.Because she could not confront either party directly, she joined in the office gossip to clear her confusion, but primarily to have an outlet for her feelings.

一個找我進行心理治療的女性向我講述，她的同事兼朋友否認其與老板有染，但有可信證據指向相反的事實。她的同事因此享受了種種特權，這使這位女性產生了不公、無力和不信任感，加重了她遭受背叛的感覺。當事雙方都是她無法直接對抗的。因此她加入了辦公室八卦，以搞清楚到底是怎么回事。但從根本上說，這樣做是為了發(fā)泄她自己的情緒。

There is a positive element to gossip, though.It acts as a safety valve for grievances, allowing pent-up feelings to be released in a way that minimises potential damage.Rushing to a quiet corner with a colleague for a whispered rant is preferable to a flare-up with your boss.

不過，八卦也有積極作用。八卦可以作為疏導不滿的安全閥，讓壓抑的情緒用一種最大限度減少潛在傷害的方式釋放出來。和一個同事沖到一個僻靜的角落低聲抱怨，總比沖著你老板發(fā)火更可取。

詞匯總結

malicious [m?'l???s]

adj.懷有惡意的；惡毒的

There are many motives for malicious gossip.

人們有很多動機進行惡意的八卦。

retaliate aganist 報復；反擊；復仇

Gossip allows us to retaliate against perceived unfairness, act out passive-aggressive and envious feelings and redress power imbalances.

八卦讓我們報復我們眼中的不公，用行動表達我們的消極抵抗情緒和嫉妒感，糾正權力失衡。

pent-up 壓抑的；積壓的

It acts as a safety valve for grievances, allowing pent-up feelings to be released in a way that minimises potential damage.

八卦可以作為疏導不滿的安全閥，讓壓抑的情緒用一種最大限度減少潛在傷害的方式釋放出來。

revert to 重提,回到,恢復(先前的話題或主題)

People revert to gossip when they believe they cannot confront an issue directly.

當人們相信自己無法與一個問題正面對抗時，就會訴諸八卦。

aggravate[?gr?ve?t]

v.使嚴重；使惡化

The betrayal she felt was aggravated by feelings of unfairness, powerlessness and distrust because of privileges her colleague was enjoying as a result.

她的同事因此享受了種種特權，這使這位女性產生了不公、無力和不信任感，加重了她遭受背叛的感覺。