THE CONVERSATION  对话

Academic rigour, journalistic flair
学术严谨，新闻天赋

frank60/Shutterstock

Published: June 3, 2024 12.17pm BST
出版日期北京时间 2024 年 6 月 3 日中午 12 时 17 分

Jose Yong

Assistant Professor of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle
纽卡斯尔诺桑比亚大学心理学助理教授

Portuguese 葡萄牙语

English 英语

Research is showing that many of our contemporary problems, such as the rising prevalence of mental health issues, are emerging from rapid technological advancement and modernisation. A theory that can help explain why we respond poorly to modern conditions, despite the choices, safety and other benefits they bring, is evolutionary mismatch.
研究表明，我们当代的许多问题，如日益普遍的心理健康问题，都源于快速的技术进步和现代化。进化错配理论可以帮助解释为什么我们对现代条件反应迟钝，尽管它们带来了选择、安全和其他好处。

Mismatch happens when an evolved adaptation, either physical or psychological, becomes misaligned with the environment. Take moths and some species of nocturnal flies, for example. Because they have to navigate in the dark, they evolved to use the moon for direction. But due to the invention of artificial lighting, many moths and flies are drawn to street lamps and indoor lights instead.
当身体或心理上的进化适应与环境发生错位时，就会出现错配。以飞蛾和某些种类的夜行性苍蝇为例。因为它们必须在黑暗中航行，所以它们进化到利用月亮来辨别方向。但由于人工照明的发明，许多飞蛾和苍蝇被路灯和室内灯光所吸引。

The same happens for humans. A classic example is our "sweet tooth", which motivated ancestral humans to search for calorie-rich foods in nutritionally scarce environments. This sweet tooth becomes mismatched to the modern world when food companies mass produce foods laden with refined sugars and fat, hijacking an otherwise useful trait. The result is tooth decay, obesity and diabetes.
人类也是如此。一个典型的例子就是我们 "爱吃甜食"，它促使祖先人类在营养匮乏的环境中寻找热量丰富的食物。当食品公司大量生产富含精制糖和脂肪的食品时，这种 "爱吃甜食 "的特性就与现代世界不匹配了。结果就是蛀牙、肥胖和糖尿病。

The modern world is replete with things that make our once-adaptive instincts go awry. For instance, humans evolved to live in kin-based, nomadic tribes of approximately 50 to 150 close-knit people. Our adaptive need to belong functions well in such settings. In large cities populated by hundreds of thousands of strangers, however, people can end up feeling lonely and like they have not many close friends.
现代世界充斥着让我们曾经适应的本能出错的东西。例如，人类在进化过程中生活在以亲属为基础的游牧部落中，这些部落由大约 50 到 150 个紧密团结的人组成。在这样的环境中，我们对归属感的适应性需求发挥了很好的作用。然而，在有成千上万陌生人居住的大城市里，人们最终会感到孤独，觉得自己没有几个亲密的朋友。

Studies have also shown that when social animals are kept in crowded spaces, they experience competitive stress which has consequences for physical health such as poorer immune functioning_ and reduced fertility. Like the animals in the crowding studies, humans living in crowded cities too can experience unprecedented levels of stress and tend to have fewer children.
研究还表明，当社会性动物被饲养在拥挤的空间里时，它们会经历竞争压力，从而对身体健康造成影响，如免疫功能下降_和生育能力降低。与拥挤研究中的动物一样，生活在拥挤城市中的人类也会经历前所未有的压力，而且往往会减少生育。

Cities can be a lonely place to live. metamorworks/Shutterstock
城市是一个孤独的居住地。 metamorworks/Shutterstock

The social inequality in modern societies also differs from the more egalitarian hunter-gatherer environment. Humans evolved to care about social status, which motivates us to redress status gaps between ourselves and others. But when social disparity is too intense and people like Elon Musk, whose net worth would take the average American several million years of work at the mean annual wage to catch up with, are regularly made salient by the media, our concerns with social status can lead to social status anxiety.
现代社会的社会不平等也不同于较为平等的狩猎-采集环境。人类进化到关心社会地位，这促使我们纠正自己与他人之间的地位差距。但是，如果社会地位差距过于悬殊，而媒体又经常突出报道埃隆-马斯克这样的人，那么我们对社会地位的关注就会导致社会地位焦虑。

Social media exacerbates the problems associated with social comparisons. As people typically share the best sides of themselves online, social media presents a skewed impression of reality, which can make viewers feel worse about their own. The quantification of worth through likes and followers also allows people to obsess with greater precision over where they stand in relation to others.
社交媒体加剧了与社交比较相关的问题。由于人们通常会在网上分享自己最美好的一面，因此社交媒体会呈现出一种扭曲的现实印象，这可能会让观众对自己感觉更糟。通过 "赞 "和 "粉丝 "对价值进行量化，也会让人们更精确地纠结于自己与他人的关系。

Several problematic trends can be understood from this evolutionary mismatch. For instance, competition and status anxiety have been linked to obsessions with educational attainment, vying for prestigious jobs and materialism. There is a growing trend of "going broke to look rich", as people incur debt to afford things that create the impression of having status.
从这种进化上的不匹配中，我们可以了解到一些有问题的趋势。例如，竞争和地位焦虑与痴迷于教育程度、争夺有名望的工作和物质主义有关。人们为了买得起能给人留下 "有地位 "印象的东西，不惜举债，"看起来有钱，其实没钱 "的趋势愈演愈烈。

People are also more likely to take risks when they feel that they need to gain a competitive edge. Coupled with the rising cost of living, people can find their jobs are inadequate not only to keep up with societal expectations but also to build wealth. A 2023 report by global investment professionals association, the CFA Institute, indicated that many Gen Z people are turning to risky investments like cryptocurrencies in a bid to cope. The intensely competitive modern world can also drive people to undergo dangerous cosmetic surgeries and weight loss regimes.
当人们认为需要获得竞争优势时，他们也更有可能冒险。再加上生活成本上升，人们会发现自己的工作不仅无法满足社会的期望，也无法积累财富。全球投资专业协会--特许金融分析师协会（CFA Institute）的一份 2023 年报告指出，许多 Z 世代正在转向加密货币等高风险投资，以求应对。竞争激烈的现代社会也会促使人们接受危险的整容手术和减肥计划。

As people struggle to live up to society's expectations of successful adults, they seem to be redefining_ their goals in life. Surveys of Gen Z and Millennial respondents have found that increasing costs of living are forcing these age groups to lower their career ambitions and give up the idea of owning a home, starting a family or even finding a romantic partner. A 2023 survey of 55,000 people born between 1981 and 2012 found that respondents are focusing on caring more for their mental and physical health instead.
随着人们努力不辜负社会对成功成年人的期望，他们似乎正在重新定义自己的人生目标。对 Z 世代和千禧一代受访者的调查发现，生活成本的不断增加正迫使这些年龄段的人降低职业抱负，放弃拥有房屋、组建家庭甚至寻找浪漫伴侣的想法。2023 年对 5.5 万名 1981 年至 2012 年出生的人进行的一项调查发现，受访者更关注自己的身心健康。

When competition becomes too intense, people may internalise the pressure and experience anxiety or depression. Researchers have linked self-harm and depression to people feeling they can no longer deal with the demands of modern society. These trends are especially prevalent in countries with a strong shame culture, such as Japan and South Korea.
当竞争变得过于激烈时，人们可能会将压力内化，从而出现焦虑或抑郁。研究人员认为，自残和抑郁与人们感到自己无法再应对现代社会的要求有关。这些趋势在日本和韩国等羞耻文化浓厚的国家尤为普遍。

Studies have shown that some externalising responses may include anger at the perceived unfairness of a contest that seems impossible to win, resulting in cynicism, aggression and hostility. A manifestation of this anger can be noted in, for example, "incel" circles, in which men often feel they are unable to find a romantic or sexual partner because the odds are unjustly stacked against them.
研究表明，一些外化反应可能包括对似乎不可能获胜的竞争中的不公平感感到愤怒，从而产生愤世嫉俗、攻击性和敌意。例如，在 "乱伦 "圈子中就可以看到这种愤怒的表现，在这个圈子中，男性往往认为他们无法找到恋爱或性伴侣，因为他们受到了不公平的待遇。

The evolutionary mismatch perspective doesn't suggest that we return completely to an ancestral way of life, but to find ways to adjust our environment such that it aligns better with our evolved nature. For example, we can think of ways to engineer the built environment to reduce crowdedness or increase access to nature. Indeed, nature immersion, such as forest-bathing (focusing on sensory engagement to connect with nature) and community gardening, can reduce stress and improve wellbeing.
进化错配观点并不建议我们完全回归祖先的生活方式，而是要想办法调整我们的环境，使其更符合我们进化的本性。例如，我们可以想办法设计建筑环境，以减少拥挤程度或增加接触大自然的机会。事实上，沉浸在大自然中，如森林浴（注重感官参与，与大自然建立联系）和社区园艺，可以减轻压力，提高幸福感。

Lifestyle changes to reduce consumerism and exposure to mass and social media, alongside focusing on meaningful work rather than job prestige, are also likely to help. Some counter-trends like minimalism and mindfulness indicate a growing awareness that finding contentment in the little things can allow us to avoid the pitfalls of modernity.
改变生活方式，减少消费主义，减少接触大众媒体和社交媒体，同时注重有意义的工作而不是工作声望，也可能有所帮助。极简主义和正念等一些反趋势表明，人们越来越意识到，从小事中寻找满足感可以让我们避免现代性的陷阱。

These are just some ideas. But appreciating the evolutionary basis of our problems and raising awareness of the mismatch perspective may give us a better chance of tackling them at the root.
这些只是一些想法。但是，了解我们问题的进化基础并提高对错配观点的认识，可能会让我们更有机会从根本上解决这些问题。