為啥捏泡沫紙讓人爽歪歪？

Recently, the manufacturers of Bubble Wrap, the alarmingly addictive packaging that was apparently a brand name all along, announced that they would be redesigning their product. The new version — the horror — will not pop. As Jaime Fuller notes on Daily Intelligencer, the newly imagined product will be called iBubble Wrap, “its Rice Krispies-esque melodies replaced by bubbles that transfer air between one another so they never deflate.”

最近，泡泡包裝膜的制造商Bubble Wrap(沒錯(cuò),這個(gè)聞名的產(chǎn)品就是品牌名)打算推出一款無法捏爆的氣泡包裝，它奪走了我們捏爆氣泡的樂趣。Jaime Fuller在Daily Intelligencer上說:”新包裝名為iBubble Wrap，每個(gè)氣泡之間的空氣是互通的，它將取代爆米花型泡泡包裝膜。”

This raises an important question: What, exactly, was ever so satisfying about popping Bubble Wrap, anyway? As it happens, Kathleen M. Dillon, now psychology professor emerita at Western New England College, published a study in the journal Psychological Reports back in the early 1990s investigating this.

這就牽扯出一個(gè)重要的議題：為何捏爆Bubble Wrap會(huì)這么令人滿足呢?西新英格蘭學(xué)院的心理學(xué)教授Kathleen M. Dillon在20世紀(jì)90年代早期就曾研究過這個(gè)問題，他的研究發(fā)表在《心理學(xué)報(bào)告》上。

A relatively light topic for scientific investigation, to be sure, but in her write-up, Dillon defends her inquiry with some surprising heft, quoting a 1970stome about the calming powers of touch: "In ancient Greece it was customary, and is still in so much of Asia, to carry a smooth-surfaced stone, or amber, or jade, sometimes called a 'fingering piece.' Such a 'worrybead,' as it is also named, by its pleasant feel, serves to produce a calming effect. The telling of beads by religious Catholics seems to produce a similar result." Dillon adds that keeping your hands busy with little projects like needlework is considered relaxing, and suggests that attacking a sheet of Bubble Wrap might work in the same way.

這是一個(gè)相對(duì)輕松的科學(xué)調(diào)查，在Dillon的論文中，她引用了20世紀(jì)70年代關(guān)于觸碰力量的看法：“在古希臘和如今的亞洲大部分地方，人們會(huì)攜帶一塊表面光滑的石頭、琥珀或者玉石，有時(shí)候它被稱作‘念珠’。這樣的‘安神串珠’正如同它的名字一樣，能通過它那令人愉悅的觸感給人鎮(zhèn)定之感。天主教的述說之珠似乎有著相似的效果。”Dillon還表示讓你的手忙于小項(xiàng)目，比如針線活能讓人放松下來，她認(rèn)為捏爆Bubble Wrap的包裝紙似乎有相同的作用。

And indeed, Dillon's research did show that undergraduates who got to pop two sheets of Bubble Wrap felt at once calmer and more awake after they were done than before they'd started; they also reported higher levels of calmness and alertness than a group that was not granted popping privileges. Borrowing from the theories of Robert E. Thayer, a psychologist who studied biological explanations for moods, she speculates that it has to do with a very natural, human response to stress: freezing in your tracks. In real danger, this might be helpful, because it gives you a moment to decide what action to take — better to fight back or flee? A similar thing might happen when people are nervous or stressed, and so it could be that little nervous motions like finger tapping or foot jiggling —or Bubble Wrap popping! —are ways of releasing that muscle tension, which helps reduce the feeling of stress.

Dillon的研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)那些捏爆兩張Bubble Wrap包裝紙的本科生，比他們?cè)谀蟊b紙之前更加冷靜也更加清醒。他們也比另外一組沒有捏爆包裝紙氣泡的人更加冷靜且警覺性更高。借鑒研究情緒生物學(xué)解釋的心理學(xué)家Robert E. Thayer的理論，她推測這與人類天然的壓力應(yīng)激反應(yīng)有關(guān)，在這種應(yīng)激狀態(tài)下人能夠在很短的時(shí)間內(nèi)充分調(diào)動(dòng)自身的全部潛能。在遇到真正的危險(xiǎn)時(shí)，這種應(yīng)激反應(yīng)用途非常大，它能讓你在瞬間做出最好的決定——勇敢迎戰(zhàn)還是逃走?在人們緊張或者壓力較大時(shí)也會(huì)發(fā)生相似的事情，因此細(xì)微的緊張動(dòng)作比如敲手指、抖腿或者捏爆Bubble Wrap包裝紙都能有效減緩肌肉緊張，有助于減輕壓力感。

Or, I don't know, maybe it's just that those little pops are really, really fun to hear. “It’s compulsive," Dillon once told the New York Times. "I’ve seen secretaries fighting for it —Give me that. It’s obviously something that’s desirable and addictive at some level.”

或者，我只是猜測哈，可能就因?yàn)闅馀菽笃频穆曇魧?shí)在是太有趣了。紐約時(shí)報(bào)采訪Dillon時(shí)他說：“這東西會(huì)上癮，我就見過秘書們?yōu)榱藫屗ち覐P殺，顯然這是一種在某種程度上能令人產(chǎn)生渴望并上癮的東西。”