《10到25岁》第一章(7)：重新思考青春期激素，睾酮不是让人变得不成熟和缺乏理性，而是让人对尊重更加敏感
说明：我正在连载《10到25岁》这本书的原文和翻译。本文是第一章的第7篇。到目前为止，原文的结构
- 介绍
- 第一部分：理解10到25岁的年轻人
- 第一章：我们为啥错了
What I haven’t told you yet is that the Vegemite study was also designed to test Ron Dahl’s hypotheses about the pubertal hormone testosterone. We did this to demonstrate the limitations in a foundational part of the neurobiological- incompetence model, which holds that young people’s surging testosterone makes them fundamentally immature and irrational. If we could show that testosterone is just something that makes people more sensitive to respect, then we could turn the model on its head.
我还没有告诉你们的是，维吉麦研究也是为了测试罗恩·达尔关于青春期激素(睾酮)的假设。我们这样做是为了展示神经生物学无能模型的基础部分的局限性，该模型认为年轻人的睾酮激增使他们从根本上变得不成熟和缺乏理性。如果我们能证明睾酮只是让人对尊重更加敏感，那么我们就可以颠覆这个模型。
In the Vegemite study, we divided each of the two instruction groups in half, so there were four groups in total. Half of each instruction group got a dose of testosterone before they received the Vegemite instructions, and half got a placebo (in this case, a harmless drug that they were told was testosterone but actually wasn’t). The testosterone, which the subjects took by spraying it up their noses, wears off in a few hours and doesn’t have any long-term effects. But it does temporarily put you in a heightened teenager-like state, awash in pubertal hormones. Notably, we did this among the young adults (eighteen to twenty-five) whose testosterone levels were measured ahead of time and shown to be low. These were the people who might not have been as attuned to status and respect at that time if not for our dose of testosterone. We wanted to know: If you took a low- testosterone young adult and infused them with testosterone, would they react more negatively to disrespect, and more positively to respect, like a teenager would?
在维吉麦研究中，我们将每个指示组分成两半，所以总共有四个组。每个指示组的一半在收到服用维吉麦指示前，服用了一剂睾酮，另一半则服用了安慰剂（在这种情况下，是一种无害的药物，他们被告知是睾酮但实际上不是）。受试者通过喷鼻方式摄入的睾酮会在几小时内消退，并且没有长期效果。但它确实会让你暂时处于一种类似青少年的激发状态，沉浸在青春期激素中。值得注意的是，我们在年轻成人（18至25岁）中进行了这项实验，事先测量了他们的睾酮水平，显示较低。这些人在没有我们给予的睾酮剂量时，可能不会那么关注地位和尊重。我们想知道：如果你给一个低睾酮的年轻成人注入睾酮，他们是否会像青少年一样对不尊重反应更负面，对尊重反应更正面？
The results were astounding. See figure 1.4. When low-testosterone young people got a placebo, with no additional testosterone (the two bars on the left), they only slightly distinguished between respectful and disrespectful instructions. But when they got a nasal shot of testosterone, the instructions made a big difference (see the two bars on the right). Less than a third of the young people on testosterone complied with the disrespectful instructions (32 percent). But when asked respectfully, the young people on testosterone proved the most willing to comply of any group (68 percent)—an increase of more than two times.
结果令人震惊。见图1.4。当低睾酮的年轻人接受安慰剂，没有额外的睾酮（左边的两个条形图）时，他们对尊重和不尊重的指令只有轻微的区分。但当他们接受鼻喷睾酮后，指示产生了巨大差异（见右边的两个条形图）。不到三分之一的接受睾酮的年轻人遵守了不尊重的指令（32%）。但当被尊重地要求时，接受睾酮的年轻人证明是最愿意遵守的群体（68%）——增加了两倍多。
The Vegemite study showed that the hormone-sensitized defiance that we’ve come to expect isn’t young people’s destiny. Instead, defiance is one response to the adolescent predicament—provoked by a mismatch between how youth want to feel (respected) and how we make them feel (disrespected). Young people try to narrow the respect gap by asserting their autonomy. But we don’t need to put them in this position at all. We can encourage healthy autonomy if we can satisfy their needs for status and respect through what we say and how we say it.
维吉麦研究显示，人们习以为常的对激素敏感的反抗，并不是年轻人的宿命。相反，反抗是对青少年窘境——由年轻人希望感受到的（被尊重）和我们所让他们感受到的（不被尊重）之间的不匹配——的一种反应。年轻人试图通过主张他们的自主性来缩小尊重差距。但我们根本不需要让他们处于这种境地。如果能通过所说的话，以及说话方式满足他们对地位和尊重的需求，我们可以鼓励年轻人自主追求健康。
Of course, I’m not saying that disrespectful language is the only reason why young people don’t take their medications. But I am saying that harnessing young people’s desire for status and respect is a promising way to get their attention and keep them focused on behaviors that are good for their well-being. Imagine how much better our lives would be if hormonal young people were twice as likely to make a wise choice, all from a small shift in our language.
当然，我并不是说无礼的语言是年轻人不服用药物的唯一原因。但我的确认为以下方法更有前景：利用年轻人对地位和尊重的渴望，来吸引他们注意，并让他们专注于有益于其福祉的行为。想象一下，如果仅仅因为我们语言上的微小改变，激素旺盛的年轻人做出明智选择的概率翻倍，我们的生活会有多好。