(单词翻译:单击)
If you read the headlines today, you probably come away feeling like the world is a scary, dangerous, hopeless place.
如果你读了今天的头条新闻，可能会觉得这个世界是一个可怕、危险、令人绝望的地方。
But in reality, many things are better now than ever.
但事实上，现在很多事情都比以前好。
Worldwide homicide rates have largely been dropping for centuries, for example, and global life expectancy keeps climbing. So why all the bad news?
例如，几个世纪以来，全世界的凶杀率一直在大幅下降，全球预期寿命也在不断攀升。那为什么还全是坏消息呢？
It's easy to put the blame on the media for running sensational, negative news stories that'll sell papers; if it bleeds, it leads, as they say.
人们很容易责怪媒体刊登耸人听闻的、负面新闻报道来出售报纸。如果新闻故事出现流血事件，就像他们所说的那样，它就会成为导火索。
But who's buying those papers?
但是谁在买那些报纸呢？
Like, we are. And there's a psychological reason for that.
我们在买，这是有心理原因的。
Even if we say we prefer good news, we are wired to pay more attention to bad news.
即使我们说更喜欢好消息，但我们也会更关注坏消息。
But here's a surprise: social media might be the antidote.
但有一个惊喜：社交媒体可能是个解决的方法。
The media isn't making it up: there really is higher consumer demand for negative news.
媒体并没有编造新闻故事，而是消费者对负面新闻的需求确实更高。
In 2007, the Pew Research Center released data on US consumer news preferences over the last two decades.
2007年，皮尤研究中心公布了过去20年美国消费者对新闻偏好的数据。
Throughout that time, the most popular topics stayed pretty reliable: war and terrorism, bad weather, and human-made and natural disasters. Bad news all around.
在这段时间里，最受欢迎的话题仍然是相当可信的：战争和恐怖主义、恶劣天气、人为和自然灾害，到处都是坏消息。
A 2012 study found a clue as to why.
2012年的一项研究发现了找到原因的线索。
In that study, participants were hooked up to biosensors to watch a series of news stories.
在这项研究中，参与者被连接到生物传感器上后，观看一系列新闻报道。
The negative stories brought on stronger and more sustained reactions in the participants' heart rates and skin conductance levels than positive stories did.
与正面报道相比，负面报道给参与者的心率和皮肤电导水平带来了更强、更持久的反应。
As an explanation, the researchers in that study pointed to a long-established phenomenon: negativity bias.
作为一种解释，该研究的研究人员指出了一种长期存在的现象：消极偏见。
That's the tendency for negative things, all else being equal, to have a bigger effect on us than positive things.
这就是消极的事件（其他方面都相同），对我们的影响比积极事件更大的倾向。
Specifically, negative things stick out more in your mind and tend to outweigh any other good things.
具体来说，消极的事情在你的脑海中更为突出，往往超过其他好事情。
Your brain also processes the negative more thoroughly than the positive.
你的大脑在处理消极事件时，也比积极事件更彻底。
For example, people tend to describe negative things with more complex language than they do positive things.
例如，与积极的事件相比较，人们倾向于用更复杂的语言来描述消极的事件。
The weird thing is that there's also a positivity bias.
奇怪的是还有一种积极的偏见。
That's the tendency for people to form mostly positive theories about reality.
这是人们对现实形成的大多都是积极理论的倾向。
And that contradiction, in itself, also has a name: positive-negative asymmetry.
而这种矛盾本身也有一个名字：正负不对称。
Basically, we assume things will be mostly good, but we still place more importance on bad things.
基本上，我们认为事情是好的，但我们仍然更重视坏事。
For one thing, they're more rare, and for another, ignoring them is a bigger risk than paying them too much attention.
一方面，它们比较罕见；另一方面，忽视它们比过多关注它们的风险更大。
The thinking is that this helps us survive.
这种想法这有助于我们生存。
Assuming things will turn out okay motivates people to explore the world, whether that's venturing out of their cave or asking someone out on a date.
假设一切都会好起来，能激励人们去探索世界，无论是冒险走出洞穴还是与人出去约会。
But at the same time, being vigilant about the negative helps people avoid danger while they're doing that exploring.
但同时，对负面因素保持警惕有助于人们在进行探索时躲避危险。
That may be why negative headlines are so good at grabbing our attention.
这也许就是为什么负面新闻会吸引我们的注意力。
A 1991 study had participants read negative, positive, and neutral words printed in different colors and asked them to name the colors as quickly as possible.
1991年的一项研究让参与者阅读用不同颜色印刷的否定、肯定和中性词，并要求他们尽快说出颜色。
It took longest for them to name the colors of negative words, and according to researchers, that's because they couldn't help but pay attention to the word itself.
他们花了很长时间才说出否定词的颜色，据研究人员说，这是因为他们不自觉地会注意到这个词本身。
In a study from 2003, researchers flashed negative and positive words at participants at a pace too fast for them to consciously register.
在2003年的一项研究中，研究人员以过快的速度向参与者闪现消极和积极的词汇，使他们无法有意识的注意到这些词。
They still got a sense for the words on a subconscious level, but didn't read them exactly.
他们在潜意识里仍然对这些词有感觉，但并没有完全读对。
Still, those participants got a stronger impression of the negative words than the positive words.
尽管如此，这些参与者对负面词汇的印象比正面词汇强。
And a 2014 study found that even people who said they preferred positive news stories still gravitated toward negative ones.
2014年的一项研究发现，即使是那些表示偏爱正面新闻的人，也仍然更会被负面新闻所吸引。
In other words, time and again, it's been shown that we're more aware of, and drawn to, the negative.
换言之，这样的反复表明，我们更会注意到，也更会被负面新闻所吸引。
But believe it or not, there may be a glimmer of hope, thanks to social media, of all things.
但是信不信由你，幸亏还有社交媒体，一切可能都还有一线希望。
In 2010, the New York Times released an analysis of over 7,000 articles, showing the more positive an article was, the more likely it was to be shared, and to go viral.
2010年，《纽约时报》发布了一份对7000多篇文章的分析报告，显示一篇文章越积极，就越有可能被人们所分享，并传播出去。
And another study in 2017 showed that people using YouTube and Twitter prefer sharing positive content over negative content.
2017年的另一项研究显示，使用油管和推特的人更喜欢分享正面内容，而不是负面内容。
Why is this? It may come down to the difference between how people use social media and how they use traditional media.
为什么会这样？这可以归结为人们如何使用社交媒体，以及如何使用传统媒体之间的差异。
We consume the news as outside observers, but we use social media as active participants.
我们以外部观察者的身份来看新闻，但是我们是以参与者的身份来使用把社交媒体的。
People post, tweet, and email links to signal things about themselves and communicate with the rest of the world.
人们通过发布、推特和电子邮件链接来传递自己的信息，并与全世界其他地方的人进行交流。
And just like in real life, if you're a Debbie Downer who fills people's feeds with too much sad, scary, or maddening content, you risk turning people off.
就像在现实生活中一样，如果你是黛比·唐纳，发布太多悲伤、恐怖或令人发狂的内容，就可能让人们厌烦。
And that could sway our feeds to feel more positive.
这会影响我们发布让人们感觉更积极的内容。
However, researchers note that studying emotional valence, whether something is perceived as positive or negative,
然而，研究人员注意到，研究情绪的效价，不管是感知到积极的还是消极的，
is different from studying what researchers call arousal, which tracks whether or not something activates the nervous system and helps us feel.
都不同于研究人员所说的唤醒，它跟踪的是某样东西能否激活神经系统，并帮助我们感觉。
It turns out that high arousal makes more of an impact on the decision to share something than whether it's positive or negative,
事实证明，高的觉醒对分享的决定比这个消息是正面或负面的影响更大，
especially if what's being shared taps into feelings of awe, anger, or anxiety.
尤其是如果分享的内容让人产生敬畏、愤怒或焦虑感觉的话，效果则更加明显。
And that might explain why some people feel like the tone and the content of what's being shared online has changed a lot in recent years.
这或许可以解释为什么有些人觉得，网上分享的内容和基调近年来发生了很大变化。
It's not ALL adorable cat pictures, unfortunately.
不幸的是，这些并非都是可爱的猫咪照片。
But don't count out the bad news.
但别把坏消息算在内。
Researchers hypothesize that negativity bias is there to keep us vigilant about what can hurt us,
研究人员假设，消极偏见是为了让我们警惕什么会伤害到我们，
and the media is there to keep us abreast of threats, problems, and wrongdoing in the world.
而媒体是为了让我们了解世界上存在的各种威胁、问题和错误行为。
If we shield ourselves from negative news, we can't do anything to protect ourselves, or to make it right.
如果我们对负面新闻视而不见，就不能做任何事来保护自己，或使之正确。
So yes, enjoy that feel-good story your aunt shared on Facebook, but don't discount the gloomy headlines either.
所以，是的，好好享受你的阿姨在脸书上分享的那个让人感觉不错的故事吧，但也不要轻视那些令人沮丧的头条新闻。
Those headlines help us make the world a better place.
那些头条新闻帮助我们把世界变得更美好。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych, and a huge thanks to our patrons, who we love and appreciate every single day here at SciShow headquarters.
感谢收看本期《心理科学秀》节目，也非常感谢我们的赞助人，我们在科学秀总部的每一天都爱着他们，并对他们表示感谢。
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如果你们有兴趣帮助我们制作精彩的视频，请从访问patreon.com/scishow开始吧。
