中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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And now, Science of Us attempts to unravel the answers to a summertime question of monumental importance: Why does nearly everyone instantly look more attractive with sunglasses on? You know you’re at least a little curious. And so was Vanessa Brown, a senior lecturer of art and design at Nottingham Trent University in the U.K. Her research focuses on the meaning we assign to commonplace, everyday objects, and in an academic book that’s coming out early next year, she explores the cultural and psychological relationship between sunglasses and our modern idea of “cool.” In an email to Science of Us, Brown explained what her research has uncovered about why most of us look better in shades. Because they really do make your misshapen face look better. Put on a pair of sunglasses, and voilà – instant symmetry! The dark lenses cover up any asymmetrical oddities around your eyes, and research on facial attractiveness shows a clear link between symmetry and our perception of beauty. As an added bonus, Brown pointed out, sunglasses provide a kind of scaffolding effect, imposing the appearance of an external, extra-chiseled bone structure on top of your relatively softer-featured face. Because mystery. Many of the snap judgments we form about people come from looking them in the eyes; shade yours, and you’re instantly a more intriguing presence. “The eyes are such a tremendous source of information — and vulnerability — for the human being,” Brown explained. Eye contact helps us form judgments about someone’s intelligence, confidence, andsincerity, and sunglasses keep us literally in the dark about forming those perceptions about a person. And it works both ways, because the wearer of the sunglasses feels more inscrutable, too. One recent study showed that people who wore sunglasses acted more selfishly and dishonestly than those wearing eyeglasses, which, the researchers argue, suggests that shades delude us into feeling more anonymous, or unknown. It's colloquial wisdom that an air of mystery increases sexual desire, and research bears that notion out. Think of the common “the thrill is gone” complaint that accompanies the long-term relationship, for one. And one recent study showed that women who were uncertain of a man's feelings toward them ended up reporting more attraction to those men. It's essentially the plot of many a rom-com: We're drawn to the people we can't quite figure out. Because of their historical link with edginess and glamour. We take their ubiquity for granted today, but sunglasses are a relatively modern everyday accessory, Brown said. Sales started to pick up in the 1920s, but they didn’t become commonplace until about two decades after that. The way sunglasses were most often used prior to their commercialization helps explain some of their inherent coolness, Brown said, because in their early days sunglasses were primarily used during risky water and snow sports, and were also associated with new technologies like airplane travel, which made them seem “daring and thoroughly modern.” Soon after that, Hollywood stars of the 1950s and 1960s started wearing sunglasses to defend themselves from being recognized by the public or harassed by paparazzi, whose flashbulbs would often explode violently, sometimes literally in their faces, Brown said. But regardless of practicality, movie stars’ adoption of the accessory cemented the link between sunglasses and glamour. Also – and this is more from my own personal research than Brown’s — hang-overs. They’re really great for hiding hang-overs. |
據《紐約雜志》網站6月23日報道，現在，《我們的科學》欄目將解開一個長期以來十分重要的夏日之謎：為什么幾乎所有人戴上墨鏡之后都會立刻顯得更吸引人？ 你知道你對這個問題還是有點兒好奇，英國諾丁漢倫特大學藝術與設計專業(yè)高級講師瓦內薩·布朗也對這個問題感到好奇。她進行了一項研究，重點關注我們賦予尋常事物的意義。在她明年年初即將出版的一本學術著作里，她從文化和心理學的角度分析了墨鏡和當代社會所定義的“酷”之間的關系。布朗向《我們的科學》欄目發(fā)了一封電子郵件，向我們解釋了她的研究成果，即為什么我們戴上墨鏡更好看。 因為墨鏡確實讓你那不規(guī)則的臉變得更好看。戴上一副墨鏡之后再看看你的臉——馬上變對稱了有木有！黑色的鏡片將你眼睛周圍不對稱的部位都掩蓋了，而有關面部吸引力的研究表明，對稱性與我們對美的看法有著千絲萬縷的聯系。 另外，布朗還指出，墨鏡就像腳手架一樣，可以讓你相對平坦的面部骨骼顯得更立體有型。 原因就在于神秘感。我們對于人的第一印象大都來自于他們的眼睛，如果你把眼睛遮住，你的外貌就會立刻變得更吸引人?！把劬τ谌祟悂碚f是相當重要的信息來源，也是識別弱點的工具?！辈祭式忉屨f，眼神交流有助于我們判斷一個人的智力、自信和誠意，而墨鏡讓我們無法對別人進行判斷。反過來也是一樣，因為戴墨鏡的人也會覺得自己更令人難以捉摸。最近的一項研究顯示，戴墨鏡的人比戴普通眼鏡的人的行為更自私和不誠實，盡管研究人員對此還有爭議，但也說明墨鏡會讓我們產生自己處于匿名狀態(tài)或神不知鬼不覺的感覺。 俗話說得好，越神秘，越誘惑。研究結果證實了這一觀點。例如，想一想人們總是抱怨一段長期感情中“激情不再”。最近的一項研究表明，女人越是對男人采取曖昧不清的態(tài)度，那么這個男人就對她越著迷。這本質上就是浪漫喜劇片的橋段：我們總是對自己猜不透的人著迷。 布朗說，由于墨鏡一直以來都是“犀利”和“迷人”的代名詞，所以我們現在總是覺得它的普及是理所應當的，但墨鏡直到相對現代的時期才成為日常飾品。墨鏡的銷量在上世紀二十年代開始增加，但直到40年代才飛入尋常百姓家。布朗說，在過去人們更注重墨鏡的用途，而不是大肆宣傳其與生俱來的冷酷氣質，因為早期的墨鏡主要用于水上和雪上冒險運動，并且往往和飛行旅行這類新技術聯系在一起，這能彰顯墨鏡“無畏和現代化”的氣質。 布朗說，在那之后不久，五六十年代的好萊塢明星們開始佩戴墨鏡以防止在公共場所被人認出來，或是防備狗仔隊記者的騷擾，這些狗仔隊記者瘋狂拍照，有時甚至把閃光燈都湊到明星臉上了。但拋開墨鏡的實用性不談，明星們戴墨鏡確實加強了墨鏡與“魅力”之間的聯系。 另外，我個人認為，宿醉也是墨鏡受歡迎的原因之一，因為墨鏡是掩蓋宿醉后囧相的絕佳裝備。 （譯者 Leedish 編輯 王輝） 掃一掃，關注微博微信
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