(单词翻译:单击)
You've probably had a friend tell you to, like, "look on the bright side" when something bad happens.
可能有个朋友告诉过你，当一些不好的事情发生时，“要乐观点”。
Or, maybe you've heard someone say "happiness is a choice" or "if you believe it, you can achieve it."
或者，也许你曾听有人说过，“幸福是一种选择”或者“心诚所愿”。
This idea that you can think your way to happiness, health, and success has been the topic of countless books, motivational speeches, meditation apps, and videos.
思考通往幸福、健康和成功之路的这种想法，已经成为无数书籍、励志演讲、冥想应用和视频的主题。
But it turns out, like with pretty much everything in psychology, the truth is more complicated.
但事实证明，就像心理学中几乎所有的知识一样，实际情况却更加复杂。
And thinking positively can sometimes backfire and make you feel worse.
有时，积极的思考会适得其反，让你感觉更糟。
This idea that positive thoughts will manifest in your everyday life is so widespread now that it's almost gimmicky.
这种积极念头会在日常生活中彰显出来的想法被广泛地应用，现在它几乎都变成了一种噱头。
Like, you know those cheesy self-help books that have you repeat "I am strong, I am confident, I am worthy of love, and gosh darn it, people like me."
比如，你知道那些让你反复说“我坚强、我自信、我值得爱，天哪，像我这样的人”的低俗自助类书籍。
But the idea that our thoughts have power over our life hasn't actually been around for that long.
但是，我们的思想对生活具有影响力的想法实际上出现的时间并不长。
The term "positive psychology"–which refers to any kind of psychological intervention that focuses on strengths and good qualities—was first cited in 1954.
1954年首次引用“积极心理学”一词，这个词指的是集中优势和良好品质的任何一种心理干预。
And the idea that thoughts can impact our health and well-being only started to gain scientific credibility in the mid 1980s with a study that found that people who were inclined to look on the bright side of life were less bothered by things like stress or muscle soreness.
思想可以影响我们的健康和福祉的想法，在20世纪80年代中期才开始得到科学证实，一项研究发现，那些倾向于乐观看待生活的人很少受到压力或肌肉酸痛等事情的困扰。
In fact, the positive psychology movement as we know it today didn't really come about until the late'90s.
事实上，我们当下所说的积极心理学运动直到90年代末才真正出现。
The tenets of this movement quickly became adopted all over the place—from the business world, to the US military, and even some school systems—as a way to improve coping skills, performance, and mental health.
其宗旨很快得到广泛采用，从商界到美国军方，甚至一些学校体系，以此来提高应对技能、绩效和心理健康。
And the rest, as they say, is history.
其余的，就如他们所说，是历史了。
But for all the hype about positive thinking, the evidence for effectiveness is still pretty weak.
但是对于所有关于积极思考的炒作，有效性的证据仍然很弱。
A 2010 review points out that much of the research is correlational.
2010年的一篇综述指出，大部分研究结果是相关性的。
Positive thinking has been associated with better health and longer life, for example, but that doesn't necessarily mean one causes the other.
例如，积极的思考与更好的健康和更长的寿命相关，但这并不一定意味着一个导致另一个的发生。
There are a lot of other contributing factors that just aren't being captured by the current studies.
目前的研究还没有采集到很多其他的影响因素。
And the causation could go the other way—after all, it would not be super surprising if being healthier made you see the world in a more positive light.
毕竟，因果关系可能会走向另一个方向，如果更健康的身体能让你从更积极的角度看待这个世界，那就不足为奇了。
Also, a growing body of research has shown that positive psychology can, ironically, be kind of negative.
此外，越来越多的研究表明，积极心理学可以是消极的，这很有讽刺意味。
When study participants are told to imagine a positive outcome, they often end up being less likely to achieve their goals.
当要求研究参与者想象一个积极的结果时，他们通常不太可能实现自己的目标。
Research suggests that's because such positive fantasizing kind of kills your motivation.
研究表明，其原因是这种积极的幻想会扼杀你的动机。
For example, researchers in a 1999 study found that undergraduates who focused on getting a higher grade on a test studied less, which resulted in a lower grade.
例如，研究人员在1999年的一项研究中发现，那些专注于在考试中获得高分的本科生学习的更少，这导致他们获得较低的分数。
And in another study, participants that envisioned themselves getting their dream job ended up sending out fewer applications, and not surprisingly, getting fewer job offers.
在另一项研究中，那些期望自己得到理想工作的参与者最终发送的工作申请数量更少，可想而知，他们得到的工作机会也更少。
This isn't the only way positive psychology can backfire.
这不是积极心理学可能出现适得其反的情况的唯一方式。
A study done in 2009 found that repeating positive self-statements like "I am a lovable person" actually made people with low self-esteem feel worse.
2009年的一项研究发现，重复说“我是一个可爱的人”这样积极的自我陈述，实际上会让自卑的人感觉更糟。
The researchers suggested this might be because those mantras reminded them of all the ways they weren't measuring up.
研究人员认为，这可能是因为这些话语提醒他们所有不满足标准的地方。
Instead of boosting their esteem, the statements seemed to lead the participants to dwell on why those positive phrases weren't true for them.
这些话语并没有提升他们的自尊，反而让参与者思考为什么这些积极的短语对他们来说不真实。
And you might think that positive thinking would be most useful when life is really hard—like, if you were diagnosed with cancer.
当生活很艰难的时候，比如你被诊断出患有癌症，你可能会认为积极的思考最有用。
But a 2010 review of positive psychology in cancer care found that attitude had no effect on survival.
但是2010年对癌症治疗积极心理学的一篇综述发现，态度对生存率没有影响。
In fact, negative emotions tend to help people process chronic illnesses better.
事实上，消极情绪有助于人们更好地处理慢性病。
Psychologists think this could be because focusing on the positive becomes a form of denial, while feeling all those awful feels lets people deal with the realities of their situation.
心理学家认为，这可能是因为专注于积极的事物会成为一种否认的形式，而所有这些可怕的感觉会让人们应对他们的现实处境。
And there are other times when it's helpful to take off the rose-colored glasses, because psychologists have found that we process information differently depending on how we feel.
还有一些时候，摘下玫瑰色的眼镜是有帮助的。因为心理学家发现，我们处理信息的方式取决于我们的感受。
In short, your brain puts more effort into careful, thoughtful analysis of the world around you when you feel kind of crummy, because it's trying to figure out the best way to fix whatever you feel is broken.
简而言之，当你感到有点沮丧时，大脑会更加努力地对周围世界进行细致地分析，因为它试图找出解决你那支离破碎的感觉的最佳方法。
Studies have found that negative moods enhance systematic processing in your brain, for example—so being pessimistic can help you form stronger, more persuasive arguments and help you distinguish fact from fiction.
研究发现，消极情绪会增强大脑的系统处理能力，比如说，悲观情绪可以帮助你形成更坚定、更有说服力的论点，并帮助你区分事实和虚构。
And pessimism can improve your memory, as studies have found that when you're in a good mood, your brain doesn't really take the time to distinguish important information from useless details.
悲观主义可以改善记忆力，研究发现，心情好时，大脑不用花时间区分重要信息和无关的细节。
This is why I remember nothing.
这就是我什么都记不住的原因。
Negative moods can also help you avoid making mistakes, since processing all the worst-case possibilities can make you work harder to avoid those potential pitfalls.
消极情绪也可以帮助你避免犯错误，因为处理所有最坏情况的可能性会使你更加努力地避免那些潜在的陷阱。
So I guess just be pessimistic and sad!
所以我想只是悲观和悲伤吧！
No, that's not what we're saying.
不，我们不是这么说的。
Positive thinking can work—sometimes.
积极的思考有时会奏效。
For example, a 2015 brain imaging study of 67 people found that self-affirmations based on the participants values activated the reward centers of their brains and motivated them to change their future actions.
例如，2015年进行的一项研究中，考察了67人的大脑成像结果，发现基于参与者价值观的自我肯定激活了他们大脑的奖励中心，并激励他们改变未来的行为。
But context really matters.
但环境真的很重要。
For example, a 2012 study found that when you think people expect you not to feel sad about something, that actually makes you feel more sad about it.
例如，2012年的一项研究发现，当你认为人们希望你不要为某件事感到难过时，这会让你更为难过。
Researchers have also found that the effectiveness of positive thinking is dependent on individual factors like how anxious you are, your personality, your cultural background and belief system, and what kind of coping mechanisms you have.
研究人员还发现，积极思考的有效性取决于个人因素，比如你的焦虑程度、个性、文化背景和信仰体系，以及你具有的应对机制。
Take that 2009 study, for example—the one that found that positive self-statements backfired for people with low self-esteem.
以2009年的一项研究为例，该研究发现积极的自我陈述对自尊心低的人会出现适得其反的结果。
It also found that they worked for people who had high self-esteem: those participants felt significantly better after repeating the mantras.
研究还发现，积极的自我陈述对自尊心高的人有效：那些参与者在重复这些话语后明显感觉好多了。
And there's one group of people where positive thinking pretty much never works–they're called defensive pessimists.
有一组人的积极思维几乎从不起作用，他们被称为防御性悲观主义者。
They're the people who overthink everything and imagine all the things that could go wrong in a situation.
这些人对每件事都考虑得过多，想象出在一种情境下所有可能出错的情况。
And if that sounds like you?
如果这听起来像你的话？
You're not alone—psychologists estimate as many as 30% of people may be defensively pessimistic.
你并不孤单，心理学家估计，多达30%的人可能是防御性悲观主义者。
As doomsday as this kind of thinking might seem, a number of studies have found that imagining all the worst case scenarios is a defensive pessimist's preferred coping style, and if you take that away, they're worse off.
这种想法看起来像世界末日一样，许多研究发现，想象所有最坏的情况是防御性悲观主义者的首选应对方式，如果把它排除，情况会更糟。
Their negative thinking makes them less prone to experiencing depression when something bad happens, like a friend dies, because they spend more time bracing for the worst.
消极的想法使他们在经历不好的事情，比如朋友去世时，更不容易感到沮丧，因为他们花更多的时间应对最坏的情况。
And their pessimistic outlook can also help motivate them to take control in situations, and strange as it might seem, it can boost their confidence.
他们悲观的态度也有助于激励他们控制各种局面，还能增强他们的信心，尽管这看起来很怪异。
But when they're forced to be optimistic, that damages their performance.
但当他们被迫乐观时，会破坏他们的表现。
So for some people, always looking on the dark side of life is actually better than trying to see that silver lining.
所以对于一些人来说，总看到生活黑暗的一面实际上比试图看到一线希望要更好。
It seems that, like with most things, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for boosting self-esteem or dealing with all the terrible stuff life throws at you.
就像大多数事情一样，没有一刀切的策略来提高自尊心或处理生活中遇到的所有可怕的事情。
And if you think about it, you might already know what works best for you.
如果你考虑一下，就可能已经知道什么对你最有效了。
If you feel like you're forcing yourself to think happy thoughts and it really isn't helping...you're probably right.
如果你觉得在强迫自己去想快乐的念头，而且没有用，你可能是对的。
But if repeating “I am a lovable person” brings you confidence and joy, go for it!
但是如果反复说“我是一个可爱的人”能给你带来自信和快乐，那就去吧！
We're not here to yuck on your yums—we're just here to give you the facts.
我们不是来这里嘲笑你的，只是告诉你事实。
Before you go, we have a very exciting announcement.
节目结束之前，我们有一个非常激动人心的消息要公布。
SciShow has just launched Universe Unboxed, our very own line of science experiment kits for kids elementary school-aged and older.
科学秀刚刚推出了Universe Unboxed，这是我们自己的科学实验套件系列，供小学生和年龄较大的孩子使用。
They're packed full of fun experiments which teach specific science concepts, and for each, there is a video demonstration featuring me!
充满了有趣的实验，这些实验教授特定的科学概念，每个都配有一集有我出镜的视频演示！
So you can see how it's done and guess what happened before you learn the science behind them.
你可以观看实验的实施方法，并在学习其背后的科学概念之前猜一猜会发生什么。
Like, in the “Brain Teasers” kit, you learn how to do some things that seem impossible, like fit an inflated balloon inside of a bottle.
比如，在“脑筋急转弯”工具包中，你会学到如何做一些看起来不可能的事情，比如在瓶子里装一个膨胀的气球。
Turns out you can't just put a deflated balloon in first and blow it up from the outside—and that has everything to do with how air and gas pressures work.
原来不能先把一个放了气的气球放进瓶里，然后从外面把它吹起来，这都与空气和气压的工作方式有关。
In addition to explaining the experiments, we also explain how scientists actually use the scientific concepts you're learning in the real world.
除了解释实验之外，我们还解释科学家如何实际应用你在现实世界中学到的科学概念。
So you're not just learning how science works—you're learning why it matters.
你不仅仅在学习科学是如何运作的，还在学习它的重要性。
To buy one of these kits for yourself or your favorite kid, or to find them in a store near you, check out UniverseUnboxed.com.
要为你自己或最喜欢的孩子购买这些工具包，或想在附近的商店中找到它们，请访问UniverseUnboxed.com。
