英語趣談:Personality從何而來?

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SOURCE都市报

Personality是the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character,即個性;例如︰John has a very strong personality.(約翰的個性很強。)Mary has a sunny personality.(瑪莉是個樂觀開朗的人。 )

Personality也解lively, engaging qualities,氣質;例如︰She has loads of personality.(她是個富有獨特氣質的人。)一個人的個性、性格也叫character,the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual,個人的獨特心理與道德特質。

已故美國心理學家Gordon Allport是研究personality的先驅。他這樣形容personality︰”Personality is and does something … It is what lies behind specific(特定的、具體的) acts and within the individual.”

Personality決定一個人待人處世的態度,故常說「性格決定命運」,但決定性格的又是什麼?是先天的遺傳,還是後天的培養、環境和經驗的影響?這些都是從科學角度問的問題。而有些心理學前輩就認為和生理有關。 Christian Jarrett在”The hidden side to your personality”一文中寫道:
Some of the founding fathers(創建人) of the psychology of personality wondered about this very question. Writing in 1961, the US psychologist Gordon Allport said he had faith that “sometime in the distant future, well-proved facts concerning personality will be found to interlock(相扣) with well-proved facts of human biology.”

近年有研究就發現︰
Looking inside our body gives greater clues. And a trickle(細流) of recent findings has recently turned into a torrent(急流), as studies are now revealing how personality is linked with many aspects of our biology, from our hormones(荷爾蒙) and our immune system(免疫系統) to the microbes(微生物) in our gut.

荷爾蒙和細菌

首先是cortisol,a type of steroid hormone which will be released when humans face stress or have low blood glucose,人類的一種腎上腺素荷爾蒙,當人承受壓力或血糖過低時它就會分泌。有研究發現:

The higher that participants scored on the trait of conscientiousness (which is associated with self-discipline, orderliness and ambition), the lower the levels of cortisol in their hair.

Conscientiousness是責任心、有良心、認真、盡責。 Conscientiousness關乎自律、條理,志向。 “This study therefore provides early evidence that highly conscientious people are also less likely to be stressed.” Conscientiousness高的人不太容易覺得受壓、焦慮。在基本心理上,他們是”less sensitive(敏感的) to stress”,故亦較健康和長壽。

另有研究發現︰”a small but significant(重要的) association between higher scores on neuroticism(神經過敏症) and levels of Gammaproteobacteria”。 Grammoproteobacteria是腸臟中的有害細菌。研究發現這些細菌與neuroticism的性格有關聯。

People who score highly on this trait (neuroticism) are prone to(容易) anger, hostility(敵意), low moods and worry. They are also more at risk of poor physical health.

說不定不久的將來,我們隨了靠觀察和問卷外,也可以用驗血、量度心跳率或荷爾蒙和腸道細菌來找出一個人的性格。 Daniel Nettle的Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are,解構性格之謎。

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