如何善加利用自己和他人的妒忌之心

Facebook now boasts more than a billion users-and it isn't the only one boasting. With posts showing off work promotions you didn't get, fun parties you weren't invited to and exotic vacations you can't afford, Facebook and other social-media websites have become huge generators of modern envy. In the process, they're providing researchers with a unique platform for examining those feelings.

Facebook現在誇耀擁有超過10億名用戶――而且還不只是它在誇耀。在Facebook與其他社交媒體網站上，不斷有人發帖炫耀他（或她）得到而你沒有得到的升職機會、他（或她）參加而你未受邀參加的歡樂派對，以及他（或她）度過的你負擔不起的海外假期。這使得Facebook與那些社交媒體網站成爲引發現代嫉妒心理的巨大來源。在此過程中，它們爲研究人員提供了一個研究這些心理的獨特平臺。

It isn't always a friendly picture. A study published last August by the journal Plos One, led by researchers at the University of Michigan, found that the more people used Facebook, the less satisfied they were with their lives. In another study last year involving almost 600 Facebook users, German researchers say they witnessed the 'rampant nature of envy' on social-networking websites.

局面並不總是融洽友好。由密歇根大學(University of Michigan)研究人員領頭、於去年8月發表在《公共科學圖書館・綜合》(PLoS ONE)期刊的一項研究發現，Facebook用得越多，人們對自己的生活就越不滿意。在去年一項涉及約600名Facebook用戶的研究中，德國研究人員稱他們發現社交網站上“嫉妒心理大肆蔓延”。

So modern envy seems to be bad-but it doesn't have to be. Researchers are finding that, if approached the right way, there can actually be an upside to this deadly sin.

這樣看來，現代嫉妒心理似乎是有害的――但它不一定就是如此。研究人員發現，如果處理得當的話，這種罪孽其實也有有利的一面。

Psychologists classify envy in two ways: malicious and benign. With benign envy, you are motivated by another person's success and strive to emulate it. With malicious envy, you want to cut the advantaged person down so you look better by comparison. Let's say you feel pangs of envy after your rival at another firm gets promoted. Malicious envy might drive you to undermine his success, but benign envy would inspire you to work harder and get promoted, too.

心理學家將嫉妒分爲兩類：一類是惡意嫉妒，另一類是善意嫉妒。如果你的嫉妒屬於善意嫉妒，你會受到他人成功的激勵而發奮去超越他的成功。如果是惡意嫉妒，你會想打擊佔上風的人，好讓你相比之下顯得更成功。假如你在另一家公司的競爭對手升了職，你感到一陣陣的妒意，那麼惡意嫉妒可能會讓你去貶損他的成功，而善意嫉妒會激發你更努力地工作以得到升職機會。

Studies show benign envy can be a great motivator. In a 2011 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers in the Netherlands conducted a series of experiments with more than 200 university students. Researchers found that when they triggered feelings of benign envy-as opposed to admiration or malicious envy-in the students, it drove them to want to study more and perform better on a test measuring creativity and intelligence. While admiration may feel better, the researchers found, it doesn't motivate performance like the pain and frustration of envy.

研究表明善意嫉妒可成爲很好的激勵動力。在2011年發表於《人格與社會心理學公報》(Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin)的一項研究中，荷蘭研究人員對200多名大學生展開了一系列實驗。他們發現，當他們激發出這些學生的善意嫉妒（而非崇拜或惡意嫉妒）時，這種心理會推動他們想多學習並在一項考覈創造力與智商的測試中表現得更出色。研究人員還發現，儘管崇拜也許讓人更好受些，但它不會像嫉妒帶來的痛苦與挫敗感那樣激勵出更佳表現。

Psychologists and other experts aren't immune to these feelings either. 'There's a man in my field who has made a big name for himself by so brilliantly promoting his work,' says executive coach Marcia Reynolds. 'Whenever I hear his name, I feel something in the pit of my stomach.' But instead of dismissing her envy, she reflects on it and asks herself, 'What's holding me back? Can't I play at his level too?'

心理學家與其他專家也免不了會產生這些感覺。高管教練馬西婭・雷諾茲(Marcia Reynolds)稱：“在我的行業中有這麼一個人，他通過絕妙地宣傳自己的工作而變得名聲大噪。每當我聽到他的名字，我就感覺肚子裏有些不舒服。”然而，她並未着眼於消除自己的嫉妒心，而是反思這件事並自問：“是什麼阻止了我前進？我能達到他的水平嗎？”

'Those painful pangs of envy are there for an evolutionary reason,' says Texas Christian University researcher Sarah E. Hill, 'alerting us that someone has something of importance to us.' Building on this theory, Dr. Hill and others conducted a series of experiments, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, to test whether envy improves attention and memory-the tools needed to copy a rival's steps to success. In one experiment, half of the participants were asked to recall past feelings of envy; the other half weren't. The two groups were then shown mock interviews of fictitious peers. The group primed with envy paid closer attention and better recalled details about the interview subjects. In other words, envy made them more astute. Not only can envy motivate us to reach for higher goals, it may even give us the cognitive push to get there.

得克薩斯基督教大學(Texas Christian University)研究人員薩拉・E.・希爾 (Sarah E. Hill)稱：“那些令人痛苦的嫉妒心原因之一與進化有關，它提醒我們別人獲得了我們看重的東西。”以這一理論爲基礎，希爾博士與其他人展開了一系列實驗來檢驗嫉妒是否會增強注意力和記憶力――這些都是仿效競爭對手的成功步驟所需的技能。試驗結果發表在《個性與社會心理學期刊》（Journal of Personality and Social Psychology）上。在其中一個實驗中，一半受試者被要求回憶過往的嫉妒心理；另一半則未受此要求。接下來，這兩組受試者觀看了虛構同齡人的模擬訪談。回憶了過往嫉妒心的一組觀察得更細緻，並且對與面試對象有關的細節回憶得更清楚。換句話說，嫉妒讓他們變得更敏銳。嫉妒不僅會激發我們去實現更高的目標，或許還會在認知方面爲我們實現目標帶來激勵。

Envy works at the office, too. In a 2010 Harvard Business Review paper, business school professors Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson examined workplace envy through the lens of hundreds of executives and their organizations over a 10-year period. While the case studies showed that unchecked envy can damage careers and organizations, the authors also found that envy can be put to good use. Your 'envy reflex,' they write, can point you in the right direction, focusing your time and attention on the areas that are important to you. 'Think of it as data on what you value,' they add.

嫉妒心理在職場同樣也能發揮作用。在2010年發表於《哈佛商業評論》(Harvard Business Review)的一篇論文中，商學院教授塔尼婭・梅農(Tanya Menon)與利・湯普森(Leigh Thompson)透過數百名管理者及其所在企業的視角，對職場嫉妒現象進行了爲期10年的調研。雖然這些個案研究表明不受約束的嫉妒會毀掉一個人的職業甚至是企業本身，但論文作者也發現嫉妒也可得到妥善的利用。他們寫到，你的“嫉妒反射”，能將你指向正確的方向，將你的時間與注意力集中在對你很重要的領域上。他們指出：“就把它看作你重視之物的有關資料。”

To guard against falling into the malicious-envy trap, the professors suggest taking stock of your own achievements when faced with envy. In an experiment, they asked people to prepare for a task in which they had to evaluate a rival's latest idea. They asked half of the participants to list their own accomplishments or values before the task; the other half weren't asked to do so. The affirmation group was willing to spend 60% more time learning about the rival's plan than the control group. If employees were encouraged to follow similar thinking, they wrote, 'the impact could be huge.'

爲了防止落入惡意嫉妒的陷阱，教授們建議可在產生嫉妒心理時盤點自己的成就。在其中一個實驗中，他們讓受試者爲一個任務做準備，他們必須在這個任務中評價競爭對手最近的想法。他們讓一半受試者在開始該任務前先列出他們自己的成就；另一半人則未受此要求。結果顯示，列出自己成績的一組願意比控制組多花60%的時間來了解競爭對手的計劃。他們寫到，如果企業鼓勵員工採取相似的思考方式，“其影響可能是巨大的。”

Envy that.

嫉妒去吧。