双语热点:日常仪式的惊人力量:为什么生活需要有仪式感

2021-10-29 02:45:52 GMT2021-10-29 10:45:52(Beijing Time) Sina English

毕业典礼,婚礼,还有其他无数的生活仪式,现在的人已经生活在一个被仪式感包围的世界。即将到来的双11活动,何尝不也是一种变相的狂欢仪式呢?为什么人们不厌其烦地重复这些仪式?你想过没有。研究者认为,仪式活动让人类大脑相信存在稳定和可预测性,是“对抗不确定性和焦虑的习惯性缓冲器”。

Rituals come in many different forms and are practised in cultures the world over, but why have they become such an important part of our lives?

When the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski visited the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea in the early 20th Century, he noted the elaborate preparations fishermen would make before setting out to sea. They would carefully paint their canoes with black, red and white paint, chanting spells as they did so. The vessel would be struck with wooden sticks, the bows stained with red ochre and crew members would adorn their arms with shells.

当人类学家布罗尼斯瓦夫·马林诺夫斯基(Bronislaw Malinowski)在20世纪初访问巴布亚新几内亚的特罗布里安群岛(Trobriand Islands)时,他注意到,渔民出海前会做精心准备。他们会小心翼翼地在独木舟上涂上黑色、红色和白色颜料,边涂边念咒语。他们用木棒敲击船,把船头染成赭色,船员也用贝壳装点手臂。

Malinowski recorded a long list of ceremonies and rituals the islanders would perform before venturing out onto the open sea. But when the fishermen went out into the nearby calm lagoon, they did not use these rites. Malinowski concluded that the "magic" rituals performed by the islanders were a response to help them cope with the unpredictable might of the Pacific Ocean.

马林诺夫斯基记录了岛民们在冒险出海之前会进行的一长串仪式。但当渔民出海进入附近平静的泻湖时,他们不再使用这些仪式。马林诺夫斯基得出了这样的结论,岛民举行的“魔法”仪式是为了帮助他们应对太平洋不可预知的力量。

Later anthropologists have noted that fishermen in other parts of the world, such those engaging in deep sea fishing off the gulf coast of Texas and drifter fishing skippers in East Anglia, UK, were also prone to superstitions and rituals to help them cope with the uncertainty and dangers of their profession.

后来的人类学家注意到,世界其他地区的渔民,比如在德克萨斯州海湾沿岸从事深海捕鱼的渔民和英国东安格利亚的流刺网渔船船长,也容易产生迷信和坚持仪式,来帮助他们应对职业带来的不确定性和危险性。

But evidence points to the existence of rituals long before the 20th century. One of the earliest examples of a human ritual practice is thought to be a carving of a python in a cave in Botswana, Southern Africa, dating back 70,000 years. Thousands of stone spearheads in the cave were thought to have been burnt in a ritual, including some that had been intricately carved from red stone brought from hundreds of miles away. The archaeologists who made the discovery believe the destruction of the spearheads were part of ritualistic sacrifices to the python.

但有证据表明,早在很久很久以前,仪式就已经存在了。人类仪式实践的最早例子被认为是在非洲南部博茨瓦纳的一个洞穴中雕刻的一条蟒蛇,可以追溯到七万年前。据知,洞穴里的数千支石制矛头在一场仪式中被焚烧,其中一些矛头是用从数百英里外运来的红色石头精心雕刻而成。发现这一结果的考古学家认为,破坏矛头是对蟒蛇进行祭祀仪式的一部分。

But why have rituals been used for such a long time?

但是为什么仪式存在了这么长时间呢?

A ritual is defined by psychologists as "a predefined sequence of symbolic actions often characterised by formality and repetition that lacks direct instrumental purpose". Research identifies three elements of a ritual. First, it consists of behaviours that occur in fixed succession – one after another – and are typified by formality and repetition. Secondly, the behaviours have symbolic meaning and lastly, these ritualised behaviours generally have no obvious useful purpose.

心理学家将仪式定义为“一组预先设定好的象征性动作序列,通常以形式和重复为特征,缺乏直接的效用目的”。研究确定了仪式的三个要素。首先,它由固定连续发生的行为组成,一个接一个,并以形式和重复为典型;其次,这些行为具有象征意义;最后,这些仪式化的行为通常没有明显目的。

Rituals occur surprisingly often within our everyday lives. It's believed that we form rituals based on our values. For instance, people with Christian values christen their babies as a symbol of spiritual rebirth.

仪式感在我们的日常生活中经常发生。人类形成了基于价值观的仪式。例如,有基督教价值观的人给婴儿洗礼,作为精神重生的象征。

But rituals go further than helping us to live out our values. They may also make us less anxious.

但仪式的作用远不止帮助我们实现价值观。它们也可能让我们不那么焦虑。

Ritualistic practices can help to bring a degree of predictability to an uncertain future. They convince our brains of constancy and predictability as "ritual buffers against uncertainty and anxiety", according to scientists.

仪式性的做法有助于给不确定的未来带来一定程度的可预测性。科学家称,它们让人类大脑相信存在稳定和可预测性,是“对抗不确定性和焦虑的习惯性缓冲器”。

Studies show that the anxiety-reducing effect of rituals can apply to almost any high-pressure endeavour. In one entertaining experiment, researchers instructed participants to perform an anxiety-inducing task – to sing Don't Stop Believing (by the rock band, Journey) in front of strangers. The participants were separated into two groups, with one asked to perform a ritual beforehand (including sprinkling salt onto drawings they had created). The second group were given instructions about their performance and left to sit quietly.

研究表明,仪式减轻焦虑的效果几乎适用于任何高压工作。在一项有趣的实验中,研究人员指导参与者执行一项诱发焦虑的任务——在陌生人面前唱《不要停止相信》(由摇滚乐队Journey演唱)。参与者被分成两组,其中一组被要求事先进行一项仪式(包括在他们画的画上撒盐)。第二组被告知他们的表现,然后让他们安静地坐着。

The participants' heart rate, feelings of anxiety and performance of the song were measured to determine anxiety levels. "Participants who completed the ritual sang better, had significantly lower heart rates, and reported feeling less anxious than participants who had not performed the ritual," says Francesca Gino, head of the negotiation, organisations and markets unit at ‎Harvard Business School and co-author of the study.

研究人员通过测量参与者的心率、焦虑感和演唱程度来确定他们的焦虑程度。哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)谈判、组织和市场部门负责人、该研究的合著者弗朗西斯卡·吉诺(Francesca Gino)表示:“完成仪式的参与者唱得更好,心率明显更低,报告称,他们的焦虑感比没有进行仪式的参与者少。”

In another study involving 75 Hindu women in Mauritius, anxiety was triggered among the participants by asking them to prepare a speech for expert evaluation. All participants were fitted with a heart rate monitor and asked to complete surveys at the beginning and end of the experiment. Some of the participants were sent to a local temple to perform rituals before completing the second survey while the rest were asked to sit and relax.

在另一项涉及毛里求斯75名印度教妇女的研究中,实验人员要求她们准备一篇演讲,以供专家评估,这引发了参与者的焦虑。所有参与者都配备了心率监测器,并被要求在实验开始和结束时完成调查。在完成第二次调查之前,一些参与者被送到当地的寺庙进行仪式,而其余的则被要求坐下来放松。

Similar levels of anxiety were reported by both groups in the first survey. However, after the second survey, self-reported anxiety levels for the participants who performed the rituals were lower. The heart rate readings also confirmed that the participants who performed ritualistic actions had lower physiological anxiety.

在第一次调查中,两组报告的焦虑水平相似。然而,在第二次调查之后,进行仪式的参与者自我报告的焦虑水平较低。心率读数也证实,仪式行为的参与者生理焦虑程度较低。

Sports psychologists also propose that pre-performance rituals can confer benefits for athletes, such as better execution and possible reduction in anxiety levels. Rafael Nadal, winner of 20 Grand Slam singles titles, reportedly has almost as many rituals – 19 – which he uses before each match. In his 2012 autobiography, Rafa: My Story, Nadal explains that his rituals are "a way of placing myself in a match, ordering my surroundings to match the order I seek in my head."

运动心理学家还提出,赛前仪式可以给运动员带来好处,比如拥有更好的执行力,以及可能降低焦虑水平。据报道,曾赢得20个大满贯单打冠军的拉斐尔·纳达尔(Rafael Nadal)在每场比赛前都有19次这样的仪式。在他2012年的自传《拉法:我的故事》(Rafa: My Story)中,纳达尔解释说,他的仪式是“一种让自己置身于比赛中的方式,让周围的环境与我在脑海中寻找的顺序相匹配。”

Incidentally, the type of ritual doesn't appear to have a bearing on the reduction of anxiety. Gino adds that "even simple rituals can be extremely effective". Research suggests, paradoxically, that rituals involving pain, injury or trauma could hold some type of psychological advantage for those who perform them. For example, fire-walkers reported a higher level of happiness after they took part in this ritualistic ordeal.

顺便说一句,仪式的种类似乎对减少焦虑没有影响。吉诺说:“即使是简单的仪式也可能非常有效。” 矛盾的是,研究表明,涉及疼痛、伤害或创伤的仪式可能对那些进行这些仪式的人有某种心理优势。例如,参与过火(踏火)仪式的人说,在他们参加了这种仪式式的严酷考验后,他们的快乐水平更高。

There are also some indications that rituals can help us cope with some of the most challenging periods of our lives too, such as when grieving.

也有一些迹象表明,仪式也可以帮助我们应对生活中一些最具挑战性的时期,比如悲伤的时候。

End of life rituals can create stronger connections between the dying and their loved ones. In a 2014 study, researchers found that grief was lower among participants who performed personal rituals, like washing the car of the deceased every week. When we experience loss, we often feel a loss of control, so it's perhaps not surprising that rituals are used to create some semblance of order to regain control.

生命结束仪式可以在临终者和他们所爱的人之间建立更牢固的联系。在2014年的一项研究中,研究人员发现,进行个人仪式(比如每周为死者洗车)的参与者悲伤程度较低。当我们经历失去时,通常会感到失去了控制,所以仪式被用来创造一些表面上的秩序,来重新获得控制,这并不奇怪。

But the benefits of rituals also extend beyond the individual – they're evident in groups of people, too.

但仪式的好处也不仅仅局限于个人,在群体中也很明显。

Ritualistic behaviour can improve social bonding when we practise it collectively. "Having social networks has frequently been linked to wellbeing, and it is thought that rituals – frequent group gatherings – are particularly good at facilitating such networks," says Valerie van Mulukom, a psychologist at Coventry University in the UK and co-author of a study on the effect of secular rituals on social bonding.

当我们集体实践时,仪式性行为可以改善社会关系。英国考文垂大学(Coventry University)的心理学家、一项关于世俗仪式对社会关系影响的研究的合著者瓦莱丽-范-穆鲁科姆(Valerie van Mulukom)说:“拥有社会网络经常与幸福联系在一起,人们认为仪式特别擅长促进这种网络,比如频繁的团体聚会。”

Group rituals indicate that members are like-minded and share certain values, which promote an atmosphere of trust. For example, ritualistic chants have been shown to make football fans feel connected. And for singer-songwriter Beyoncé, saying a prayer in a circle with all her crew is a "spiritual practice" that leads to a perfect performance.

团体仪式表明成员有相同的想法和相同的价值观,这促进了信任。例如,有研究表明,仪式化的圣歌能让足球迷产生共鸣。对于创作型歌手碧昂丝(Beyoncé)来说,和所有工作人员围成一圈祈祷是一种“精神练习”,可以带来完美的表演。

"After participating in group rituals, many individuals report greater connection to others, in some cases even when just observing a ritual," says Johannes Karl, a PhD Student at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand who has studied how rituals affect social bonding and health.

新西兰惠灵顿维多利亚大学(Victoria University of Wellington)的博士生约翰内斯·卡尔(Johannes Karl)说:“在参加完集体仪式后,许多人都表示自己与他人的联系更紧密了,在某些情况下,甚至只是观察仪式。”卡尔研究了仪式如何影响社会联系和健康。

Research by van Mulukom into religious rituals in Brazil and the UK determined that taking part in rituals boosted pain thresholds and the ability to experience positive emotions, which increased social bonding in the group. But social bonding is not only limited to religious rituals. "We found that this effect occurs in both religious rituals and secular rituals," adds van Mulukom.

范-穆鲁科姆对巴西和英国的宗教仪式进行的研究表明,参加宗教仪式可以提高疼痛阈值和体验积极情绪的能力,从而增强群体中的社会联系。但是社会联系不仅仅局限于宗教仪式。“我们发现这种效应在宗教仪式和世俗仪式中都存在,”范-穆鲁科姆说。

Despite their many benefits, however, there are some downsides to rituals.

尽管仪式有很多好处,但也有缺点。

For groups, evidence implies that rituals can stimulate inter-group bias. For example, one study that gave groups of children bags of string and beads found that those who participated in collective rituals spent more time showing their materials to group members who took part in the rituals than with children who didn't belong to the group.

有证据表明,仪式可以刺激群体间的偏见。例如,有一项研究给一群孩子几袋绳子和珠子,发现那些参加集体仪式的孩子花更多时间向参加仪式的成员展示材料,而不是向不属于这个团体的孩子展示。

More disturbingly, group ritualistic endeavours, such as hazing, the cruel initiation ceremonies prevelant among some student groups or within the military, are extremely harmful. Hazing often involves degrading and humiliating the initiated and, on rare occasions, has resulted in death. Research on hazing prevention found that a commitment to cultural change is required to combat this type of harmful group ritual.

更令人不安的是,团体形式的仪式,如欺辱、残酷的入会仪式在一些学生团体或军队中盛行,是极其有害的。欺凌行为往往涉及人格侮辱,并在少数情况下导致死亡。关于防止欺凌的研究发现,要对抗这种有害的群体仪式,需要致力于文化变革。

Overall, research suggests that whether informal, secular, individual or group-based, rituals can have a positive effect on our wellbeing. Given that rituals have stress-busting qualities, Gino advises us to "adopt pre-performance rituals during stressful situations in your own lives, perhaps before giving a presentation at work, taking an exam, or having a difficult conversation." Like the fishermen of the Trobriand Islands, they could help steel you for the rough seas ahead.

总的来说,研究表明,无论是非正式的、世俗的、个人的还是团体的,仪式都能对我们的健康产生积极影响。鉴于习惯具有减压的特性,吉诺建议我们“当生活中碰到压力,比如要在工作中做报告、考试或进行艰难的对话之前,采用预演仪式,” 就像特罗布里安群岛的渔民一样,可以帮助你做好准备,应对前方汹涌的大海。

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