爱咬指甲是完美主义者的标志？

　　看这篇文章的时候，你是不是正在无意识地绕弄头发或者咬指甲？蒙特利尔大学的最新研究表明，这些强迫行为或许更能表现你的性格。

　　People who are generally impatient, or who get bored or frustrated¹ easily, are more likely to engage in repetitive body-focused behaviors such as skin-picking, nail-biting or eyelash-pulling, the researchers found.

　　研究人员发现，那些一般缺乏耐心、容易感到无聊或是沮丧的人更可能有重复性的身体强迫行为，比如抓皮肤、咬指甲或是拔睫毛。

　　The study, published in the March issue of the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry², points to perfectionism - a trait that can be more damaging than many people realize - as an underlying³ cause.

　　这份出版在《行为治疗与实验性精神病学》三月刊上的研究将这些行为归为完美主义的潜在原因，完美主义比许多人想象的更具危害性。

　　爱咬指甲是完美主义者的标志？

　　“We believe that individuals with these repetitive behaviors may be perfectionistic, meaning that they are unable to relax and to perform task at a ‘normal’ pace," Dr. Kieron O'Connor, professor of psychiatry at the university and the study's lead author, said in a press release Tuesday. "They are therefore prone⁴ to frustration⁵, impatience⁶, and dissatisfaction when they do not reach their goals. They also experience greater levels of boredom⁷.”

　　齐耳伦?奥康纳博士是蒙特利尔大学精神病学教授，同时也是该项研究的第一作者。他在星期二媒体发布会上表示：“我们认为有这些重复行为的人可能比较追求完美主义，意味着他们不能放松或是以‘正常’的速度完成某项任务，因此，当他们未能达到目标的时候，比较容易感到沮丧、不耐烦、不满意。还有，他们会更加觉得无聊。”

　　In the study, the researchers worked with 48 participants, half of whom regularly engaged in these types of behaviors. The other participants, who didn't engage in these behaviors, acted as a control group. The participants were asked questions about the extent to which they experienced emotions like boredom, anger, guilt⁸, irritability⁹ and anxiety. Then, each participant was exposed to situations designed to provoke particular feelings (including relaxation¹⁰, stress, frustration and boredom). In the boredom scenario¹¹, for instance, the subject was simply left alone in a room for six minutes.

　　在此项研究中，研究者选取了48名参与者，其中一半经常有上述强迫行为。另一半没有这种行为的参与者作为对照组。研究人员询问了参与者在何种程度下会经历无聊、愤怒、愧疚、易怒、焦虑等这些情绪。然后，每个参与者都被置于已设计好的情景中，目的是激起特别的情感（包括放松、压力、沮丧和无聊），例如，在无聊的情境中，研究对象会被单独留在一个房间里待6分钟。

　　Participants with a history of fidgety, body-focused behaviors reported greater urges to engage in those behaviors when they were feeling stressed and frustrated. But they didn't report feeling those urges while they were relaxing.

　　研究表明，有烦躁不安、身体强迫症病史的参与者感到压力大、沮丧时，会有更急切的愿望想要做出那些强迫行为。但是他们放松的时候，并没有表现出这种急切。

　　If you do bite your nails from time to time, there's no need to worry - you're probably not doing much harm. In fact, the researchers say that such behaviors serve a temporary purpose when we're not able to channel our energy more productively.

　　如果你时不时会咬指甲，没有什么可担心的——这可能不会有太大的伤害。研究人员表示，事实上，当人们无法充分释放自己的能量来做成一些事情时，这些行为可以暂时帮助人们排解。

　　"The positive effects of the habits are stimulation¹² and a (maladaptive) way of regulating emotion," O'Connor said in an email to The Huffington Post. "What triggers the habit is largely frustration and impatience so the action substitutes for more constructive¹³ action."

　　“这些习惯的正面影响是刺激和（适应不良时的）情绪控制方式，”奥康纳在写给赫芬顿邮报的邮件中说道。“出现这些习惯很大程度上是由于沮丧和缺乏耐心，所以这些行为代替了更具建设性的行为。”

　　Vocabulary

　　twist hair：绕弄头发

　　nail-biting：咬指甲癖

　　perfectionism：完美主义

　　underlying：潜在的

　　fidgety：烦躁不安的

　　maladaptive：不适应的

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