Some People Are Born With Confidence
Some people are born with the belief that they are masters of their own lives. Others feel they are at the mercy of1 fate.
New research shows that part of those feelings are in the genes. Psychologists have long known that people confident in their ability to control their destinies are more likely to adjust well to growing old than those who feel that they drift on the currents of fate2 .
Two researchers who questioned hundreds of Swedish twins report that such confidence, or lack of it, is partly genetic and partly drawn from experience. They also found that the belief in blind luck — a conviction that coincidence plays a big role in life is something learned in life and has nothing to do with heredity.
The research was conducted at the Karolinska Institute — better known as the body that annually awards the Nobel Prize for medicine — by Nancy Pedersen of the Institute and Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Their results were recently published in the United States in the Journal of Gerontology.
People who are confident of their ability to control their lives have an"internal locus of control, "and have a better chance of being well adjusted in their old age, said Pedersen. An" external locus of control", believing that outside forces determine the course of life, has been linked to depression in latter years, she said.
"We are trying to understand what makes people different. What makes some people age gracefully and others have a more difficult time ?"she said. The study showed that while people have an inborn predilection toward independence and self-confidence, about 70 percent of this personality trait3 is affected by a person's environment and lifetime experiences.
Pedersen's studies, with various collaborators, probe the aging process by comparing sets of twins, both identical and fraternal, many of whom were separated at an early age.
The subjects were drawn from a roster first compiled about 30 years ago registering all twins born in Sweden since 1886. The complete list, which was extended in 1971, has 95,000 sets of twins.
練習題：
Ⅰ. Multiple choice:
1. Researchers questioned of Swedish twins report that such confidence is partly genetic .
A. hundreds B. thousands C. dozens D. 95, 000 sets
2. People who are confident of their ability to control their lives have a better chance of being well adjusted in their .
A. old age B. jobs C. family
3. By comparing sets of twins, Pedersen’s studies focus on .
A. the age process B. the social justice C. the social environment
4. The"internal locus of control"means .
A. self-constructive forces to maintain the balance of the mind
B. self-motivated power to achieve consciousness
C. inside forces determine the course of life
Ⅱ. Explain the following words:
1. blind luck
2. external locus of control
答案：
Ⅰ. 1. A 2 . A 3. A 4 . C
Ⅱ. 1. a conviction that coincidence plays a big role in life is something learned in life and has nothing to do with heredity
2. outside forces determine the course of life
參考譯文：
你的自信父母說了算
有些人天生相信他們是自我生命的主宰, 其他人則覺得他們受到命運的支配。一項新的研究發現這些感覺部分來自基因。
心理學家早就知道有信心掌握自己命運的人比那些覺得自己是受命運擺布的人更能適應老化。
兩位研究員在詢問了好幾百對瑞典的雙胞胎後報告說, 信心的有無, 一部分是與基因有關, 另一部分則是來自經驗的累積。他們同時發現, 相信盲目運氣——— 認為巧合在生命中扮演一個很重要的角色——— 的人是在生活過程中形成這一觀點的, 而與遺傳無關。
這項研究是在卡羅林斯卡醫學院裡進行的。這個醫學院以每年對外頒贈諾貝爾醫學獎而聞名。進行這項研究的是學院裡的南希· 皮德森和洛杉磯南加大的心理學教授瑪格麗特· 賈茲。研究結果發表在美國《老年學》期刊上。
皮德森說, 對自己掌握生命的能力有信心的人有一種「 內在控制的基因位點」, 比較能夠適應老年期。而「 外在控制的基因位點」相信外在力量決定生命之旅, 從而導致晚年的沮喪情緒。
她說:「我們想了解人與人之間相異的原因是什麼。是什麼原因使有些人安然地步入晚年, 而有些人則比較困難? 」
這項研究顯示, 有人能夠擁有天生的自信與獨立, 而百分之七十有這種個性的人, 是受環境與一生經驗的影響。
皮德森與眾多合作者進行的這項研究, 把許多在很小就分開的同卵及異卵雙胞胎放在一起比較老化的過程。
研究對象是從一本三十年前編纂的名冊中抽出的。這本名冊登記有自1886 年以來所有 在瑞典出生的雙胞胎。這份完整的名單— 直延續到1971 年, 共計九萬五千對雙胞胎。