新奇事件簿 男人易受同事薪水激励

New research shows that men are not just motivated by money, but also by how much more or less they earn than their colleagues. Traditional thinking was that men were only interested in the size of their pay packets. New findings from a study at the University of Bonn reveal that men are also concerned about how much their peers are getting. The research is published in this month’s edition of the journal Science. Researchers put 38 male volunteers under the microscope. The men had to perform simple tasks so that scientists could analyse the activity in the “reward centre” in their brain. They played a game in which they received payments depending on how well they did. They were also told how much money the other men were getting. The researchers discovered a lot more brain activity with the men who knew they were beating their rivals.

新的研究显示，男人不仅仅受钱刺激，还容易受到同事薪水的激励。传统的思维是，男人只对自己的薪水感兴趣。来自伯恩大学的最新研究发现，男人也关心同事的薪水。这份研究发表在本月的《科学》期刊上。研究人员调查了38名男性志愿者的情况。这些男性必须完成一些简单的任务，随后科学家分析大脑中“回馈中心”的活动。他们做了一个游戏，根据表现来获得报酬。他们还会被告知其他人得到多少钱。研究人员发现，知道自己击败竞争对手之后，男人的大脑活动活跃得多。

Lead scientist Dr Bernd Weber said he now wants to conduct a similar study on women. He wants to gauge¹ whether they too are motivated by their peers’ earnings² and not just individual success. It is not yet clear how the new findings will affect the workplace. There is a possibility that worker productivity could increase with the introduction of a system that created competition. Sales staff have long been in competition with each other to win bonuses. Human resource officers may now look at this research to find ways of bringing a sense of competitiveness to offices and perhaps schools. However, this may have a negative impact in the workplace if rivalries³ turn sour with jealousy⁴. One company CEO, Jackie Baxter said: “It’s a balancing act between keeping harmony in the office and encouraging workers to be more efficient.”

首席科学家Bernd Weber表示，他希望对女性进行一个类似的研究。他想要衡量女性是否也会受到同事收入的激励，而不只是个人的成就。目前还不清楚新的发现是否会影响工作场合。引入竞争机制后，员工的工作效率很有可能会提高。经常相互竞争的销售人员容易赢得奖金。人力资源官员或许应该认真研究一下这份报告，寻找为办公室和学校引入竞争感的途径。然而，如果竞争对手们互相嫉妒，可能会对工作场所带来负面影响。一家公司的CEOJackie Baxter表示：“办公室保持和谐和鼓励员工工作更有效率之间必须保持平衡。”

1 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

2 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

3 rivalries   

n.敌对，竞争，对抗( rivalry的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The new government was torn by rivalries. 新政府由于各派对立而四分五裂。 来自辞典例句
• Rivalries could bring about pain and hatred or give rise to fighting. 竞争会带来痛苦、仇恨，或者引起争斗。 来自互联网

4 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。