Peers Know You Better Than You Do

　　Most of us follow the beat of our own drummer. But it turns out that members of our social networks are great predictors of how we’ll respond to future events. In a study in the March 20th issue of the journal Science, researchers at Harvard had undergraduates go on five-minute speed dates. Some women read a brief bio of a guy and his tastes. Others were told how much a woman who had already speed-dated the guy enjoyed herself。

　　Before each date, the ladies had to predict if they’d have a good time. Most believed the bio would enable them to better gauge if they would like the date. But women who read about someone else’s experience had half as many missed predictions as those trusting their own instincts。

　　The researchers say such “surrogate” information may be strong because we’re more alike than we think. Even people of different cultures share similar likes and dislikes. Plus we tend to hang out with people who share our interests. So while we may be marching to our own beat, we’re always part of a bigger band。

　　你的同伴更了解你

　　我们中的大多数人都按自己的方式行事。但是对于我们如何对未来的事情做出反应，我们社交圈子中的朋友是了不起的“预言家”。在3月20日发表于《科学》(Science)杂志上的一项研究中，来自哈佛大学的研究者们让一些大学生们进行5分钟的“闪电”约会。一些女大学生读过了某个男士的简短个人介绍并知道了他的“口味”。另外一些女大学生则被告知某位已经和这位男士闪电约会的女士是如何地高兴。

　　在每次约会前，这些女士们必须预测她们是否将要获得一段美好时光。大多数女士相信男士的个人简介能使她们更好地判断她们是否会喜欢这次约会。但是那些了解了别人经历的女士们和那些相信自己直觉的女士们都只预测对了一半。

　　研究者们说这些“代理”信息的影响可能很强，因为我们人和人之间的相似比我们自己想象的要多。即使是不同文化背景的人们也共享类似的喜好和厌恶。再加上我们倾向于与自己兴趣相投的人出去玩儿，所以虽然我们可能会踩着自己的“鼓点”前行，但是我们常常并没有离开大“乐队”。