時差N小時:引起信任的化學作用

Trust is essential to social interaction amonghumans. Making friends, conducting businesstransactions, leading a team, and even playinggames would be all but impossible without it. Buthave you ever wondered why we trust other peopleat all?

信任對人們進行社交互動至關(guān)重要。沒有信任，就不能交朋友，進行商業(yè)交易，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)團隊，就連玩游戲都是不可能的。你可曾想過究竟為什么要相信他人?

Little is known about the science of trust, butresearchers have begun to focus on the peptide oxytocin as a potential clue to the biologicalbasis for this behavior. Oxytocin is produced in the hypothalamus, and acts on areas of thebrain responsible for social behaviors.

很少有人了解信任的科學，但研究人員已經(jīng)開始重視這一領(lǐng)域，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)催產(chǎn)素是一條潛在線索，可能是信任這種行為的生理學基礎(chǔ)。催產(chǎn)素產(chǎn)生于下丘腦，作用于大腦，促進人們進行社交活動。

Scientists hypothesize that oxytocin stimulates a trust response by encouraging"approach behavior" —that is, reducing the natural suspicion we have to the socialproximity of others. The chemical has also been found to reduce the brain's fear response topictures of human faces.

科學們假設(shè)通過鼓勵“趨向行為”(即降低我們天生的對他人的懷疑，從而接近他人)，催產(chǎn)素能刺激信任反應(yīng)。據(jù)研究，在面對人類面孔照片時，這種化學物質(zhì)可以降低人們膽怯心理。

Under its influence, people are more willing to take social risks. In one study, researchershad their subjects play a simple game based on trust. Those who had been given a dose ofsynthetic oxytocin were more likely to trust the other players than those who had not.

在其影響下，人們也更愿意承擔社會風險。在一項研究中，科學家們讓受試者玩一個建立在信任基礎(chǔ)上的游戲。那些服用過一劑合成催產(chǎn)素的受試者，更容易相信別人，而其他人則沒有。

In another study, seventy individuals with general social phobias used synthetic oxytocinfor one month, taking a dose before entering difficult social situations. These subjects weremore relaxed and exhibited a higher level of confidence when interacting with others whilesupplementing their brain's natural levels of the chemical.

在另外一項研究里，70名患有社交恐懼癥的受試者連續(xù)一個月服用合成催產(chǎn)素，并在進入社交困境之前也服用一劑。受試者在與他人交流時，表現(xiàn)得更輕松，并展現(xiàn)出十分自信的一面。

Scientists are hopeful that further research into the effects of oxytocin will provide a newway to treat anxiety disorders in humans, from debilitating shyness to autism andschizophrenia. As they continue to explore oxytocin's role in brain activity, they hope to furtherunderstand these disorders, as well as the normal function of trust in human societies.

科學家們希望通過進一步研究催產(chǎn)素作用，能研發(fā)出一種新的方式來治療人類的焦慮癥，克服軟弱的羞怯心理，孤獨癥和精神分裂癥。隨著繼續(xù)探索催生素在大腦的作用，他們希望進一步了解這些行為障礙，還有信任在人類社會中的正常功能。