“工程師為什么要在公路上建彎道?”臨床心理學(xué)家和認(rèn)知神經(jīng)科學(xué)家伊恩·羅伯森的新書(shū)《壓力測(cè)試:壓力如何讓你變得更強(qiáng)大和更敏銳》(The Stress Test: How Pressure Can Make You Stronger and Sharper),便以這個(gè)問(wèn)題開(kāi)篇。本書(shū)將在今年1月出版發(fā)行。羅伯森對(duì)這個(gè)問(wèn)題的回答是,沒(méi)有彎道的公路,即單調(diào)漫長(zhǎng)、筆直的高速公路,會(huì)欺騙我們的大腦進(jìn)入一種“自動(dòng)駕駛”的狀態(tài)。而令人意外的是,在精力和警惕性下降的狀態(tài)下,人們很容易犯下愚蠢的錯(cuò)誤,或者當(dāng)環(huán)境發(fā)生變化時(shí)無(wú)法迅速做出反應(yīng)。當(dāng)你以每小時(shí)60英里的速度駕駛一輛兩噸重的汽車(chē)時(shí),這種大腦的瞬間短路可能是致命的。 但羅伯森表示,幸運(yùn)的是,人生的道路從來(lái)都不缺少?gòu)澋?。羅伯森是德克薩斯大學(xué)達(dá)拉斯分校(University of Texas, at Dallas)腦健康中心的T. 布恩·皮肯斯杰出科學(xué)家。當(dāng)然,這些彎道通常會(huì)表現(xiàn)為壓力,而當(dāng)我們沒(méi)有做好準(zhǔn)備的時(shí)候,這些壓力往往會(huì)產(chǎn)生大量的焦慮。但難點(diǎn)在于:羅伯森表示,壓力實(shí)際上可以幫助我們表現(xiàn)得更好,前提是我們知道如何駕馭壓力。 比如,你突然得知要參加一次數(shù)學(xué)考試。羅伯森表示,“如果你擔(dān)心和質(zhì)疑自己是否有能力”在考試中取得好成績(jī),壓力就會(huì)削弱你的表現(xiàn)。“但如果你不擔(dān)心自己的能力,壓力反而會(huì)提高你的能力——在這種情況下,壓力越大,結(jié)果越好?!逼べ|(zhì)醇會(huì)擾亂數(shù)學(xué)焦慮,但對(duì)于不緊張的人來(lái)說(shuō),皮質(zhì)醇的突然升高反而會(huì)產(chǎn)生相反的作用,研究顯示:皮質(zhì)醇升高會(huì)讓一個(gè)人進(jìn)入“績(jī)效甜蜜點(diǎn)”。 好消息是,我們可以訓(xùn)練自己,把日常的恐慌,變成一種興奮,就像棒球比賽中,一位優(yōu)秀的強(qiáng)擊手上場(chǎng)后面臨“英雄時(shí)刻”的那種感覺(jué)。在他們眼中,在0-2落后、兩人出局,抑或是平局時(shí)的快速直球,棒球就像排球一樣大,速度也同樣緩慢。 關(guān)于完成這種轉(zhuǎn)變的具體指導(dǎo),隱藏在羅伯森新書(shū)的字里行間 ,這本書(shū)大部分回顧了作者在工作和生活當(dāng)中,發(fā)現(xiàn)這一事實(shí)的具體過(guò)程。但他在書(shū)中討論的歷史和有趣的案例,很值得一讀。 即使沒(méi)有其他作用,在本周,面對(duì)節(jié)日之前的最終期限、最后時(shí)刻的購(gòu)物焦慮、出行與交通等,有人提醒我們殺不死我們的,必令我們更強(qiáng)大,也是好事。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) 譯者:劉進(jìn)龍/汪皓 |
“Why do engineers build bends in roads?” That’s the question with which clinical psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist Ian Robertson begins his new book, The Stress Test: How Pressure Can Make You Stronger and Sharper, due for release in January. The answer, explains Robertson, is that a road without bends—an endlessly, monotonously straight highway—lulls our brains into a state of “autopilot.” And in energy-saver, half-alert state, it’s surprisingly easy to make a dumb mistake—or fail to react quickly to a change in circumstances. When driving a two-ton vehicle 60 miles an hour, such flashes of mental failure can be deadly, of course. Luckily for us, though, the road of life has no shortage of bends, says Robertson, the T. Boone Pickens Distinguished Scientist at the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas, at Dallas. Sure, those bends, quite often, manifest as stress, often bringing profound anxiety when we’re not prepared for them. But here’s the rub: That stress, says Robertson, can actually help us perform better if we know how to harness it. Consider the prospect of taking a surprise math quiz. “If you worry about and doubt your ability” to perform well on the test, stress weakens your performance, Robertson says. “But if you don’t worry about your ability, stress can boost your performance—and in this case the more of it the better.” A sudden boost of cortisol that flummoxes the math-anxious has the opposite effect on the non-anxious, research shows: It pushes the person into the “performance sweet spot.” The good news is we can actually train ourselves to turn our quotidian panic into the kind of rush that great sluggers feel when they get that “hero moment” at the plate. For them, that 0-2, two-out, tie-game fastball looks as fat and slow as a volleyball. The actual how-to aspects of this transformation are snuck in here and there in Robertson’s book, which is largely a review of the author’s own discovery of this revelation through the course of his work and life experience. But that history, and the fascinating case studies he discusses, are worth reading. If nothing else, in this week of pre-holiday deadlines, last-minute-shopping anxiety, travel and traffic, it’s good to be reminded that whatever doesn’t kill us... can make us stronger. |