(单词翻译:单击)
Social Status Affects Who We Choose To Believe
社会地位影响我们的信任度
[Audio clip of President Reagan saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”]
戈尔巴乔夫先生，推到这块墙吧！
Sounds pretty powerful. You might believe it will actually happen.
听起来很有力度。或许你会相信它会真的发生。
But what if this guy were to say the same thing: [Audio clip of ordinary guy saying the same thing]
但是如果换作这个人说同样的话呢？
Hmmm. Maybe not so much. Because a study finds that the social status of a speaker makes a significant difference in how we interpret statements they make.
嗯，或许不这么令人信服。因为一项研究发现，一个发言人的社会地位会在我们听取其陈述的时候发挥很重要的作用。
Scientists showed participants clips of political statements, that were either true or false, made by a top politician, a news anchor or just your average joe. The participants also watched another set of videos, this time of the same people making true or false statements about general world information like, “Fidel Castro is a pop singer.”
科学家给试验者放政治演说片段，有的是一位顶级政治家说的，有的是新闻主播说的，有的是平常人说的，或真或假。试验者也看了另一组视频，这一次是同样的人讲述正常世界信息，或真或假，例如：“菲德尔·卡斯特罗是一个流行歌手。”
The subjects were more likely to accept the false statement coming from the political figure as opposed to the other speakers (including the news anchor!) However, participants did not accept any false world knowledge statements from any of the speakers. Brain recordings of the subjects reveal that their impressions of the speaker and what he or she says, happens very fast, within 150-450 milliseconds, which is within average reflex reaction time for humans. The study is in the journal PLoS One.
试验者更相信政治人物所说的话，而不是其他人说的，甚至包括新闻主播。然而，试验者不接受任何人说的假的常识。脑活动记录显示试验者对发言人及其讲话内容的印象发生的很快，在150到450毫秒之间，低于人类反射反应时间。研究发表在《公共科学图书馆·综合》期刊上。
Of course, given enough time, even a politician’s biggest supporter will accept that something he said isn’t true: [Audio clip of President Clinton saying: "I want you to listen to me, I'm going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."]
当然，给予充足时间，即使是一个政治家的死忠支持者都会接受其所说的话有些是假的。“你们听我说，我重申一遍，我绝对没有和这个叫莱温斯基的女士发生过性关系。”
—Christie Nicholson
