TED英語(yǔ)演講：你如何判斷什么是美

TED英語(yǔ)演講：你如何判斷什么是美

Anjan Chatterjee從進(jìn)化心理學(xué)和認(rèn)知神經(jīng)科學(xué)的角度研究了一

個(gè)自然的最迷人的概念：美。為什么某些線、顏色和形狀的的構(gòu)造組

合，會(huì)帶給我們一種美的感受?他將深入我們的大腦，探尋這背后的科

學(xué)原因。下面是小編為大家收集關(guān)于TED英語(yǔ)演講：你如何判斷什么

是美，歡迎借鑒參考。

演說(shuō)題目：How your brain decides what is beautiful

演說(shuō)者：Anjan Chatterjee

It's 1878. Sir Francis Galton gives aremarkable talk. He's

speaking to the anthropologic institute of Great Britainand

Ireland. Known for his pioneering work in human intelligence,

Galton is abrilliant polymath. He's an explorer, an anthropologist,

a sociologist, apsychologist and a statistician. He's also a eugenist.

1878 年，弗朗西斯高爾頓爵士 做了一場(chǎng)非凡的演說(shuō)。演說(shuō)的對(duì)

象是英國(guó) 與愛(ài)爾蘭的人類學(xué)機(jī)構(gòu)。高爾頓以他在人類智慧領(lǐng)域的先驅(qū)

工作聞名，他是個(gè)博學(xué)的人。他是個(gè)探險(xiǎn)家、是個(gè)人類學(xué)家、是個(gè)社

會(huì)學(xué)家、是個(gè)心理學(xué)家、也是個(gè)統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)家。他還是個(gè)優(yōu)生學(xué)家。

In this talk, heprents a new technique by which he can

combine photographs and producecomposite portraits. This

technique could be ud to characterize differenttypes of people.

Galton thinks that if he combines photographs of

violentcriminals, he will discover the face of criminality. But to his

surpri, thecomposite portrait that he produces is beautiful.

在那場(chǎng)演說(shuō)中，他展示了一項(xiàng)新技術(shù)，他可以把照片結(jié)合產(chǎn)生出

復(fù)合的肖像。這項(xiàng)技術(shù)可以用來(lái) 描繪不同類型人的特色。高爾頓認(rèn)為，

如果他可以把 暴力罪犯的照片結(jié)合起來(lái)，他也許就能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)罪犯的面

貌。但，出乎他意料，他制作出的復(fù)合肖像竟然很美。

Galton's surprising finding rais deep questions:What is

beauty? Why do certain configurations of line and color and form

exciteus so? For most of human history, the questions have

been approached usinglogic and speculation. But in the last few

decades, scientists have addresdthe question of beauty using

ideas from evolutionary psychology and tools ofneuroscience.

We're beginning to glimp the why and the how of beauty,

atleast in terms of what it means for the human face and form.

And in theprocess, we're stumbling upon some surpris.

高爾頓的意外發(fā)現(xiàn)，帶出了更深的問(wèn)題： 美，到底是什么? 為什

么將線條、顏色、形式 做某些配置之后就能感動(dòng)我們? 在大部份的人

類史上，人們都用邏輯和推測(cè)來(lái)處理這些問(wèn)題。但在最近幾十年，科

學(xué)家在處理關(guān)于美的問(wèn)題時(shí)，用的是來(lái)自演化心理學(xué)的想法 以及神經(jīng)

科學(xué)的工具。我們開(kāi)始研究美的定義與成因，至少對(duì)臉部及外型 已經(jīng)

開(kāi)始有了審美的概念。在過(guò)程中，我們偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些驚喜。

When it comes to eing beauty in eachother, while this

decision is certainly subjective for the individual, it'ssculpted by

factors that contribute to the survival of the group.

Manyexperiments have shown that a few basic parameters

contribute to what makes aface attractive. The include

averaging, symmetry and the effects of 's take each

one of the in turn.

談到互看順眼時(shí)，對(duì)個(gè)人而言，其審美標(biāo)準(zhǔn) 絕對(duì)是主觀的，原因

是因?yàn)檫@樣對(duì) 團(tuán)體的生存有所貢獻(xiàn)。許多實(shí)驗(yàn)都顯示，有幾個(gè)基本參

數(shù)與臉孔的吸引力有關(guān)。這些參數(shù)包括大眾臉、對(duì)稱性、以及荷爾蒙

的影響。我們一項(xiàng)一項(xiàng)來(lái)討論。

Galton's finding that composite or averagefaces are typically

more attractive than each individual face that contributes tothe

average has been replicated many times. This laboratory finding

fits withmany people's intuitions. Average faces reprent the

central tendencies of agroup. People with mixed features

reprent different populations, andpresumably harbor greater

genetic diversity and adaptability to theenvironment. Many

people find mixed-race individuals attractive and inbredfamilies

less so.

高爾頓發(fā)現(xiàn)，混血兒或有大眾臉的人 通常比一般單一血種的后代

更具吸引力。這個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)室的發(fā)現(xiàn)，與許多人的直覺(jué)不謀而合。一般人

的面孔代表了一個(gè)團(tuán)體的主要傾向。有混血特征的人，代表著不同的

族群，也被認(rèn)定有著更高的 基因多樣性、以及對(duì)環(huán)境的適應(yīng)力。許多

人覺(jué)得混血兒的臉孔 是較有吸引力的，而近親交配的家庭就比較沒(méi)吸

引力。

The cond factor that contributes tobeauty is symmetry.

People generally find symmetric faces more attractive

thanasymmetric ones. Developmental abnormalities are often

associated withasymmetries. And in plants, animals and humans,

asymmetries often ari fromparasitic infections. Symmetry, it

turns out, is also an indicator of health.

與美有關(guān)的第二個(gè)因子是對(duì)稱性。一般來(lái)說(shuō)，人們覺(jué)得對(duì)稱的面

孔 比不對(duì)稱的更有吸引力。不正常的成長(zhǎng)通常都與不對(duì)稱有關(guān)。植物、

動(dòng)物、及人類，造成不對(duì)稱的原因通常是受到寄生蟲的感染。因此，

對(duì)稱性 也是健康的指標(biāo)。

In the 1930s, a man named Maksymilian Faktorowicz

recognized the importance ofsymmetry for beauty when he

designed the beauty micrometer. With this device,he could

measure minor asymmetric flaws which he could then make up

for withproducts he sold from his company, named brilliantly

after himlf, Max Factor,which, as you know, is one of the world's

most famous brands for "makeup."

在 1930 年代，有個(gè)叫蜜斯米蘭佛陀維茲的人，當(dāng)時(shí)他在設(shè)計(jì)美

容校準(zhǔn)儀時(shí)，體認(rèn)到對(duì)稱性對(duì)于美的重要性，有了這個(gè)儀器，他可以

測(cè)量出微小的對(duì)稱瑕疵，接著他就可以用他公司所販賣的產(chǎn)品來(lái)補(bǔ)救，

并很聰明地把他的名字取其諧音 作為公司的名稱，蜜絲佛陀，各位應(yīng)

該知道，它是世界知名的 化妝品公司之一。

The third factor that contributes to facialattractiveness is the

effect of hormones. And here, I need to apologize forconfining

my comments to heteroxual norms. But estrogen and

testosterone playimportant roles in shaping features that we find

attractive. Estrogen producesfeatures that signal fertility.

與臉部吸引力有關(guān)的第三個(gè)因子是 荷爾蒙的影響力。在此我得道

個(gè)歉，因?yàn)槲业囊庖?jiàn) 僅限于異性戀的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)上。但在形成被我們認(rèn)為有

吸引力的那些特征上，雌激素和睪丸素扮演了重要的角色。雌激素產(chǎn)

生的特征會(huì)傳達(dá)出生育力。

Men typically find women attractive who haveelements of

both youth and maturity. A face that's too baby-like might

meanthat the girl is not yet fertile, so men find women attractive

who have largeeyes, full lips and narrow chins as indicators of

youth, and high cheekbones asan indicator of maturity.

男人通常會(huì)覺(jué)得，同時(shí)俱有 年輕和成熟元素的女人 很有吸引力。

太幼齒的面孔可能代表著 這個(gè)女孩還沒(méi)有生育能力，所以能吸引男人

的女人通常有大眼睛、豐唇、窄下巴，這些都是年輕的指標(biāo); 而高顴骨

則是成熟的指標(biāo)。

Testosterone produces features that weregard as typically

masculine. The include heavier brows, thinner cheeks

andbigger, squared-off jaws. But here's a fascinating irony. In

many species, ifanything, testosterone suppress the immune

system. So the idea thattestosterone-infud features are a

fitness indicator doesn't really make awhole lot of n. Here,

the logic is turned on its head. Instead of a fitnessindicator,

scientists invoke a handicap principle.

睪丸素產(chǎn)生的特征，通常會(huì)被我們 認(rèn)定為很有男子氣概。這些特

征包括濃眉、瘦臉頰、較大且方形的下頜。但這里有個(gè)很迷人的諷刺。

在許多物種中，睪丸素的增加反而會(huì)抑制免疫系統(tǒng)。所以認(rèn)為睪丸素

所賦予的特征是強(qiáng)健的指針，其實(shí)不是很有道理。在這里，邏輯被顛

覆了。科學(xué)家提出了一條 生理缺陷原則，指出睪丸素并非強(qiáng)健的指標(biāo)。

The most commonly cited example of ahandicap is the

peacock's tail. This beautiful but cumbersome tail doesn'texactly

help the peacock avoid predators and approach peahens. Why

should suchan extravagant appendage evolve? Even Charles

Darwin, in an 1860 letter to AsaGray wrote that the sight of the

peacock's tail made him physically ill. Hecouldn't explain it with

his theory of natural lection, and out of thisfrustration, he

developed the theory of xual lection.

最常被引用的生理缺陷例子，就是孔雀的尾巴。這美麗但累贅的

尾巴 并不能幫助雄孔雀 避開(kāi)獵食者，也不方便接近雌孔雀。為什么這

種奢華的附屬品會(huì)被演化出來(lái)? 即使達(dá)爾文，在 1860 年寫給 阿薩格

雷的信上也提到，看見(jiàn)孔雀尾巴會(huì)讓他 感到身理上的不舒服。他無(wú)法

用他的天擇說(shuō)來(lái)解釋原因，出于這挫折，他發(fā)展出了性擇說(shuō)。

On this account, the display of thepeacock's tail is about

xual enticement, and this enticement means it's morelikely the

peacock will mate and have offspring. Now, the modern twist on

thisdisplay argument is that the peacock is also advertising its

health to thepeahen. Only especially fit organisms can afford to

divert resources to maintainingsuch an extravagant appendage.

Only especially fit men can afford the pricethat testosterone

levies on their immune system. And by analogy, think of thefact

that only very rich men can afford to pay more than $10,000 for

a watch asa display of their financial fitness.

由于這個(gè)原因，孔雀展示尾巴的目的是性誘惑，這種誘惑意味著

這孔雀 很可能想交配、想生育后代。換個(gè)現(xiàn)代的角度想，雄孔雀是在

向雌孔雀展現(xiàn)牠的健康。只有特別強(qiáng)健的有機(jī)體才有資格傳宗接代，

并保有這奢華的附屬物。只有特別健康的人，才承擔(dān)得起睪丸素 抑制

免疫系統(tǒng)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。舉個(gè)類似的現(xiàn)實(shí)例子，只有超級(jí)富翁才有能力買支

超過(guò)一萬(wàn)美金的手表，來(lái)彰顯他們的經(jīng)濟(jì)實(shí)力。

Now, many people hear the kinds ofevolutionary claims

and think they mean that we somehow are unconsciouslyeking

mates who are healthy. And I think this idea is probably not

ers and young adults are not exactly known for

making decisions that arepredicated on health concerns. But they

don't have to be, and let me explainwhy.

許多人聽(tīng)到這類的演化主張，就會(huì)想，是不是這個(gè)原因，我們?nèi)?/span>

類會(huì)下意識(shí)地 去尋找健康的配偶。我認(rèn)為這個(gè)想法可能不太對(duì)。青少

年和年輕人容易被看上的原因，并不完全是他們健康條件上的優(yōu)勢(shì)。

他們也不想這樣，讓我來(lái)解釋原因。

Imagine a population in which people havethree different

kinds of preferences: for green, for orange and for red. Fromtheir

point of view, the preferences have nothing to do with health;

theyjust like what they like.

想象有一個(gè)族群，族群中的人有三種偏好： 有人偏好綠色、有人

偏好橘色、有人偏好紅色。從他們的觀點(diǎn)，這些偏好與健康無(wú)關(guān); 他們

就是喜歡這顏色。

But if it were also the ca that the preferencesare

associated with the different likelihood of producing offspring --

let'ssay in a ratio of 3:2:1 -- then in the first generation, there

would be 3greens to 2 oranges to 1 red, and in each subquent

generation, the proportionof greens increa, so that in 10

generations, 98 percent of this populationhas a green preference.

但如果我們?nèi)祟悓?duì)這些顏色偏好的比率 也剛好與產(chǎn)生后代的有

關(guān)…... 假設(shè)原來(lái)的比率是 3:2:1…...那么，在第一代中，會(huì)有三個(gè)綠色、

兩個(gè)橘色、一個(gè)紅色。在后續(xù)的每個(gè)世代中，喜歡綠色的比例會(huì)增加，

在十代之后，這個(gè)族群中就有 98% 的人都偏好綠色。

Now, a scientist coming in and sampling this

populationdiscovers that green preferences are universal. So the

point about this littleabstract example is that while preferences

for specific physical features canbe arbitrary for the individual, if

tho features are heritable and they areassociated with a

reproductive advantage, over time, they become universal forthe

group.

現(xiàn)在來(lái)了一個(gè)科學(xué)家，對(duì)這個(gè)族群進(jìn)行抽樣，發(fā)現(xiàn)對(duì)綠色的偏好

是很普遍的。這個(gè)小小的純理論例子的重點(diǎn)是，雖然對(duì)于特定身體特

征的偏好可能是因人而異的，但如果那些特征是有遺傳性的，而且與

繁殖優(yōu)勢(shì)有關(guān)聯(lián)的話，隨時(shí)間過(guò)去，這些特征就會(huì)變成團(tuán)體的普遍現(xiàn)

象。

So what happens in the brain when we ebeautiful people?

Attractive faces activate parts of our visual cortex in theback of

the brain, an area called the fusiform gyrus, that is especially

tunedto processing faces, and an adjacent area called the lateral

occipital complex,that is especially attuned to processing objects.

所以，當(dāng)我們看見(jiàn)美麗的人時(shí)，頭腦中會(huì)發(fā)生什么變化? 有吸引力

的臉孔會(huì)觸發(fā) 我們的部份視覺(jué)皮層，它位在大腦的后方，這個(gè)區(qū)域叫

做梭狀回，專門用來(lái)處理臉孔信息，還有一個(gè)相鄰的區(qū)域，叫側(cè)枕葉

復(fù)合體，它是特別用來(lái)處理對(duì)象信息的。

In addition, attractive facesactivate parts of our reward and

pleasure centers in the front and deep in thebrain, and the

include areas that have complicated names, like the

ventralstriatum, the orbitofrontal cortex and the ventromedial

prefrontal cortex. Ourvisual brain that is tuned to processing

faces interacts with our pleasurecenters to underpin the

experience of beauty.

此外，具吸引力的臉孔會(huì)觸發(fā)位在我們大腦前方深處的 獎(jiǎng)賞與快

感中樞，包括一些名稱復(fù)雜的區(qū)域，比如腹側(cè)紋狀體、眼眶額葉皮質(zhì)、

及腹內(nèi)側(cè)額葉。我們用來(lái)處理臉孔的視覺(jué)大腦 會(huì)和我們的快感中樞互

動(dòng)，強(qiáng)化對(duì)美感的體驗(yàn)。

Amazingly, while we all engage with beauty,without our

knowledge, beauty also engages us. Our brains respond to

attractivefaces even when we're not thinking about beauty. We

conducted an experiment inwhich people saw a ries of faces,

and in one condition, they had to decide ifa pair of faces were

the same or a different person.

但驚人的是，當(dāng)我們「遇見(jiàn)」美麗時(shí)，卻不知道，美麗同時(shí)也

「遇見(jiàn)」了我們。即使我們沒(méi)有想著美，我們的大腦卻會(huì)對(duì) 有吸引力

的臉孔做出反應(yīng)。我們做了一個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)，讓人們看一系列的臉孔，在一

個(gè)條件下，他們得要判定一對(duì)臉孔是否屬于同一個(gè)人。

Even in this condition,attractive faces drove neural activity

robustly in their visual cortex, despitethe fact that they were

thinking about a person's identity and not theirbeauty. Another

group similarly found automatic respons to beauty within

ourpleasure centers. Taken together, the studies suggest that

our brainautomatically responds to beauty by linking vision and

pleasure. The beauty detectors,it ems, ping every time we

e beauty, regardless of whatever el we mightbe thinking.

即使在這個(gè)情況中，有吸引力的臉孔會(huì)明顯地驅(qū)動(dòng) 受測(cè)者視覺(jué)皮

層的神經(jīng)活動(dòng)，盡管當(dāng)時(shí)他們?cè)谙氲氖侨说纳矸荩皇撬麄兠啦幻馈?/span>

另一群人也有類似發(fā)現(xiàn)，在我們的快感中樞里，我們對(duì)美會(huì)有自動(dòng)的

反應(yīng)。整體來(lái)看，這些研究指出，我們的大腦會(huì)藉由視覺(jué)和快感的鏈

接對(duì)美會(huì)自動(dòng)的反應(yīng)，似乎，每回當(dāng)我們看到美時(shí)，這些對(duì)美有反應(yīng)

的偵測(cè)器就會(huì)響起，不論我們當(dāng)時(shí)在想什么其它的事。

We also have a "beauty is good"stereotype embedded in the

brain. Within the orbitofrontal cortex, there'soverlapping neural

activity in respon to beauty and to goodness, and thishappens

even when people aren't explicitly thinking about beauty or

brains em to reflexively associate beauty and

good. And this reflexiveassociation may be the biologic trigger

for the many social effects of tive people receive all

kinds of advantages in life. They're regarded asmore intelligent,

more trustworthy, they're given higher pay and

lesrpunishments, even when such judgments are not

warranted.

我們腦中也內(nèi)建了一個(gè) 「美等于好」的刻板印象。在眼眶額葉皮

質(zhì)中，對(duì)于「美」及「好」 所造成的神經(jīng)活動(dòng)反應(yīng) 是有重迭性的，即

使人們沒(méi)有特別去想著美或好，也會(huì)發(fā)生。我們的大腦似乎會(huì)反射性

地把美與好連結(jié)在一起。社會(huì)上因「美」而產(chǎn)生的回饋，其背后的關(guān)

聯(lián)性可能就是 這些生物觸發(fā)器在驅(qū)動(dòng)。有吸引力的人，在人生中有各

種優(yōu)勢(shì)。他們會(huì)被視為比較聰明，比較值得信賴，他們會(huì)比較高薪、

比較少受懲罰，即使這類的判斷是沒(méi)根據(jù)的。

The kinds of obrvations reveal beauty'sugly side. In my

lab, we recently found that people with minor facial

anomaliesand disfigurements are regarded as less good, less

kind, less intelligent, lesscompetent and less hardworking.

Unfortunately, we also have a "disfiguredis bad" stereotype. This

stereotype is probably exploited and magnified byimages in

popular media, in which facial disfigurement is often ud as

ashorthand to depict someone of villainous character. We need

to understandthe kinds of implicit bias if we are to overcome

them and aim for a societyin which we treat people fairly, bad

on their behavior and not on thehappenstance of their looks.

觀察到這種現(xiàn)象 也揭露出美的丑陋面。在我的實(shí)驗(yàn)室中，我們最

近發(fā)現(xiàn) 有輕微面部異常及缺損的人，會(huì)被認(rèn)為比較不好、比較不仁慈、

比較不聰明、比較沒(méi)能力、且比較不努力。不幸的是，我們也有「缺

損等于不好」的刻板印象。大眾媒體的影像可能會(huì)利用和放大 這種刻

板印象，他們常用「面部缺損」 這種簡(jiǎn)單的描繪方式 來(lái)形容反派人物。

我們需要了解這類的暗示性偏見(jiàn)，才有可能克服它們，并朝向一個(gè)能

平等待人的社會(huì)邁進(jìn)，不要只是看一個(gè)人的外表就斷定人的好壞。

Let me leave you with one final is a work in

progress. The so-called universal attributes of beauty

werelected for during the almost two million years of the

Pleistocene. Life wasnasty, brutish and a very long time ago. The

lection criteria forreproductive success from that time doesn't

really apply today.

讓我留給各位一個(gè)最后的思考。美的定義還在改變。所謂放諸四

海皆準(zhǔn)的美的特征 是從幾乎兩百萬(wàn)年的 「更新世」所挑選出來(lái)的。那

時(shí)生命很糟糕、很粗野、很古早。當(dāng)時(shí)能繁衍成功的選擇標(biāo)準(zhǔn)在現(xiàn)今

并不適用。

For example, death by parasite is not oneof the top ways that

people die, at least not in the technologically developedworld.

From antibiotics to surgery, birth control to in vitro

fertilization,the filters for reproductive success are being relaxed.

And under the relaxedconditions, preference and trait

combinations are free to drift and become morevariable. Even as

we are profoundly affecting our environment, modern

medicineand technological innovation is profoundly affecting

the very esnce of whatit means to look beautiful. The universal

nature of beauty is changing even aswe're changing the univer.

比如，因寄生蟲而造成死亡 并不是人類前幾名的死因，至少在技

術(shù)發(fā)達(dá)的世界中不是。從抗生素到手術(shù)，從生育控制到試管授精，繁

殖成功的過(guò)濾器已經(jīng)被放寬了。在這些放寬的條件下，偏好與特性的

組合可以自由搭配，也變得更多樣性。即使我們會(huì)深深影響我們的環(huán)

境，現(xiàn)代醫(yī)學(xué)及技術(shù)創(chuàng)新會(huì)深深影響著 我們對(duì)美的定義。即使我們正

在改變?nèi)澜纾帐纼r(jià)值對(duì)美的定義也在改變。

Thank you.(Applau)

謝謝大家。(掌聲)