Television is often viewed as an anti intellectual medium. But truly clever people know how to use even the most unpromising material, and that is what Val Curtis and her colleagues at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have done. They employed the mass market appeal of TV to test a long held, but unproven, hypothesis(假设): that the emotion of disgust evolved to protect people from disease.
They set up their experiment in October 2007, by publicizing it on a BBC program called "Human Instincts". Viewers were invited to visit a website and, after giving a few biographical(个人介绍的)details, to view a series of 20 pictures and rate each of them for disgustingness on a scale of one to five. They were also asked to choose, from a list of possible candidates, with whom they would least like to share a toothbrush.
The results showed that in all seven pairs, the disease distinct pictures were more disgusting than their counterparts. For things like the apparent depiction of bodily fluids, or of a face that had been "enhanced" with spots, that may come as no surprise. But a crowded railway carriage was more distinguishing than an empty one, and a louse more disgusting than a wasp.
These last results confirmed Dr Curtis's suspicion that disgust is not, as many disgust researchers believe, just a way of avoiding eating disease bearing materials. Rather, it extends to threats that might be contagious(传染性的). Indeed, one result of the study was to show that the young are easier to disgust than the old. Another result was that women are more easily disgusted than men. Both of these make evolutionary sense. The young have more reproductive potential than the old, so should be more careful about what they touch and eat. And women are usually burdened with bringing up the children, so have to be disgusted on their offspring's behalf, as well as their own.
The results of the toothbrush study made similar sense. Strangers are more likely to carry new bacteria than acquaintances. Hence, of the available choices of toothbrush partner, a postman came off worst, and a lover best. A brush notionally belonging to a weatherman was, however, preferred to the boss's. Clearly the British feel more intimacy with the former than the later. Perhaps it might have been instructive to include a famous television personality among the choices?
1. In the first paragraph television is mentioned to .
A) prove that what some intellectuals had claimed is wrong
B) show that TV is an essential part of British people's daily life
C) demonstrate that mass media is a very profitable industry
D) introduce the media through which the survey was advertised
2. The experiment is chiefly done by .
A) watching the TV program called "Human Instincts" and filling out feedback forms
B) visiting different websites and making matches between pictures and numbers
C) rating various photos with numbers and selecting from a choice list
D) filling in biographical details and choosing a toothbrush
3. Which of the following is true about the result of the experiment?
A) A spotted face is more disgusting than a picture of bodily fluids.
B) A full packed subway is more disgusting than a louse.
C) A bleeding face is the most disgusting one.
D) A wasp makes people feel better than a louse.
4. The results of the experiment make evolutionary sense in that .
A) old people are less likely to produce goods for the society than the young
B) people's emotion of disgust is often related to the safety of their children
C) women are more likely to bring up children independent of men's help
D) old people are more likely to be disgusted than women
5. The results of the toothbrush experiment show that .
A) a boss is normally less clean and healthy than a weatherman
B) a postman is often dirtier than a lover
C) a public figure is often more popular than a boss in Britain
D) a famous television personality is the best toothbrush partner
发表于 2009-7-3 17:59
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