新概念雙語：心理學家告訴你成年人結(jié)交朋友的方法

Singing helps large groups of adults bond quickly.

唱歌能將大群成年人快速凝聚在一起。

Research has found that adults today have fewer friends than they did in the 1980s， and that more people say they have no one to discuss important stuff with.

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，相比于20世紀80年代，如今的成年人朋友更少，并且越來越多的人表示，他們甚至沒有一個能與之討論重要事情的朋友。

A new， small study suggests that singing is an effective way to make new friends because it helps us bond quickly with others.

一項新的小型研究表明，唱歌是結(jié)交新朋友的有效方法，因為唱歌能使我們和其他人快速凝聚在一起。

For the study， led by Eiluned Pearce， Ph.D.， at Oxford University， researchers looked at participants， ages 18 to 83， in adult education classes organized by the Workers’ Education Association in the UK. Eighty-four participants were enrolled in one of four singing classes; 51 participants were enrolled in one of two creative crafts classes or a creative writing class.

這項研究由英國牛津大學的艾倫德·皮爾斯博士領導，由研究人員對參與者進行觀察——這些參與者來自英國工人教育協(xié)會組織的成人教育班，年齡在18歲到83歲之間。84位參與者被分到四個歌唱班，51位參與者被分到兩個創(chuàng)意工藝品班和一個創(chuàng)意寫作班。

Over a period of seven months， the classes met weekly. During the first， third， and final months， researchers asked participants to indicate how close they felt to their classmates.

在為期七個月的研究中，班級同學每周見一次面。在第一個月、第三個月和最后一個月中，研究人員會對參與者進行詢問，讓他們說明他們和同學的親密度。

Results showed something surprising. Although participants in all the classes felt closer to their classmates by the study’s end， participants in the singing classes developed that closeness much more quickly.

研究結(jié)果令人驚訝。盡管在學習結(jié)束的時候，所有班級的參與者都覺得與同學的關(guān)系更為親密，但是歌唱班參與者們的親密關(guān)系則發(fā)展得更為迅速。

As for why exactly singing facilitates fast group bonding， the researchers say one possible reason is that everyone does it at the same time. Compare that to creative writing or crafting， where everyone is working on an individual project. Another potential cause， according to the researchers， is that singing involves muscular effort， which triggers the release of certain molecules that can make us happier and more willing to cooperate.

至于歌唱為何能夠促進一個群體快速凝聚，研究人員稱，可能是因為歌唱時所有人都在同時做這件事情，而在創(chuàng)意寫作班和工藝品班，每個人都在單獨做自己的事情。調(diào)查人員稱，另外一個潛在的原因是唱歌會涉及到肌肉活動，而這會釋放出某些使人更快樂，更樂意與人合作的化學分子。

The takeaway here is that singing can be a great icebreaker among large groups of strangers (remember office karaoke night?)， which can facilitate individual friendships down the line.

這里的重點是，對于一大群陌生人來說，唱歌可能是最好的打破堅冰的方法(記得辦公室卡拉OK之夜嗎?)，這能夠大力促進人們友誼的發(fā)展。

“Really close relationships still depend on interactions between individuals or much smaller groups，” Pearce said ， “but this study shows singing can kick start the bonding process.”

“個人或是更小團體之間真正親密的關(guān)系，還取決于相互交流，”皮爾斯說，“但這項研究表明唱歌能夠成為友誼之路的開端。”