英语文化随身带

by Cathy Manson

How can you tell if someones lying？ The answer is， theyre probably not.

Traditional economics[经济学] says that people are rational beings who will lie if its to their advantage. A recent university study has shown that， actually， were pretty honest—especially when were at home.

Researchers in Germany phoned people at home and asked them to toss a coin. There was a strong financial incentive to fake the result： if the coin landed tails-up， the participant[参与者] would receive money or a gift voucher[礼券]， while if the coin landed heads-up， they would get nothing. Because they were on the phone， they knew there was no risk of getting caught if they lied.

And yet people told the truth. Over hundreds of tosses a coin will land tails-up roughly 50% of the time. In this study， over half the people asked （55.6%） said that the coin landed heads-up， which meant they would receive nothing.

Previous studies had found that people were more deceitful. In those laboratory studies， 75% of people reported a winning coin and claimed a reward. So the research team thinks its being in our own homes which makes us play fair， although its not yet clear why.

In fact both types of study show people are surprisingly trustworthy. Even in the laboratory， 25% of people turned down a reward by telling the truth. The researchers say this is because honesty is highly valued in human society. We care about our reputation[名誉] and our sense of ourselves as decent people. So lying has a psychological[心理上的] cost and it seems this cost outweighs the financial benefits of lying.

你如何看出某个人有没有撒谎？答案是——他们也许没有撒谎呢。

传统经济学认为人类是理智的动物——如果对自己有利，他们就会撒谎。而最近一项大学研究显示，我们其实挺诚实的——特别是在家的时候。

德国的研究人员往人们家里打电话，并叫他们抛硬币（猜正反面）。这个实验设下了很丰厚的金钱奖励，诱惑人们谎报结果：如果硬币落地后背面朝上，受访者将得到金钱或礼券奖励；如果硬币正面朝上，受访者则一无所获。由于受访者是在使用电话，所以他们知道即使撒谎也没有被发现的危险。

然而人们还是说了实话。在几百次的抛硬币当中，背面朝上的几率约为50%。在这项研究里，超过一半的受访者（55.6%）说硬币正面朝上，也意味着他们将得不到奖品。

过去的一些研究发现人们在以前比现在更容易撒谎。在那些实验室进行的研究中，75%的人说抛赢了，要拿奖品。因此，研究小组认为是家的环境令我们公平行事，尽管原因未明。

事实上，两种类型的研究都显示了人们出乎意料地可靠。即使是在实验室里，也有25%的人说了实话而不要奖品。研究人员说，这是因为在人类社会里，诚实受到高度重视。我们在乎自己的声誉，和作为一个正派的人的自尊感。因此，撒谎要付出心理成本，而这种成本似乎比撒谎所带来的金钱收益要大。

Quiz小测验

阅读短文并回答问题。

1. According to traditional economics， when do people lie？

2. Did researchers visit people in their homes？

3. What happened if they said the coin landed tails-up？

4. Were people more honest in laboratory studies or in their own homes？

5. According to the researchers， what is highly valued in society？