撿到錢包要?dú)w還失主，這是一個(gè)基本的道德準(zhǔn)則?？墒?，如果撿到的錢包里有一大筆錢呢？是不是就不那么容易做到拾金不昧了？

答案是，你想錯(cuò)了。最新調(diào)查表明，遺失的錢包里現(xiàn)金越多，拾獲的人將其歸還的可能性越大。

Does the amount of cash in a lost wallet impact how likely a person is to return it?

遺失錢包內(nèi)的現(xiàn)金數(shù)量是否會(huì)影響其歸還率？

Classical economic theories suggest that the greater the temptation, the less likely we are to be honest -- but a new study turns the idea on its head, finding that altruism, and a powerful aversion to viewing oneself as a "thief," outweigh the financial incentives.

經(jīng)典的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)理論認(rèn)為，誘惑越大，我們越不可能誠實(shí)，但一項(xiàng)新的研究顛覆了這一觀點(diǎn)。這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，利他主義和把自己看作“小偷”的強(qiáng)烈厭惡感會(huì)勝過經(jīng)濟(jì)誘因。

altruism ['?ltr??z(?)m]：n.利他；利他主義

aversion[?'v???(?)n]：n.厭惡；討厭的人

A team of researchers studied these questions in a huge experiment spanning 355 cities in 40 countries -- one of the most rigorous investigations so far into the intersection of economics and psychology.

一組研究人員在針對40個(gè)國家355個(gè)城市的大型實(shí)驗(yàn)中研究了這些問題，這是迄今為止對經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)和心理學(xué)交叉領(lǐng)域最嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)?shù)恼{(diào)查之一。

The results, published Thursday in Science, also reveal extreme differences between countries, with Switzerland and Norway topping the honesty list.

6月20日刊登在美國《科學(xué)》雜志上的調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示，不同國家的人對撿到錢包的態(tài)度存在顯著差異，瑞士和挪威的人最為誠實(shí)。

But although rates of civic honesty varied greatly from country to country, one thing remained remarkably constant: wallets with money, as opposed to no money, boosted reporting rates.

盡管各國民眾的誠實(shí)度不盡相同，但有一個(gè)現(xiàn)象驚人地一致：裝有錢的錢包比空錢包歸還率更高。

The global average for reporting a lost wallet was 40 percent, which grew to 51 percent when it had money.

從全球平均來看，丟失錢包的歸還率為40%，而有現(xiàn)金的錢包歸還率則達(dá)到了51%。

"The evidence suggests that people tend to care about the welfare of others and they have an aversion to seeing themselves as a thief," co-author Alain Cohn from the University of Michigan said.

研究報(bào)告的作者之一、密歇根大學(xué)的阿蘭·科恩說：“研究結(jié)果表明，人們傾向于關(guān)心其他人的福利，討厭視自己為竊賊?！?/p>

Researchers from the University of Zurich and the University of Utah were also part of the work.

來自蘇黎世大學(xué)和猶他大學(xué)的研究人員也參與了這項(xiàng)調(diào)查。

The researchers then polled a group of 279 top-performing professional economists to see if they would have accurately predicted the outcome, which only 29 percent did.

研究人員還讓279位頂級的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家參與了調(diào)查，看他們是否能準(zhǔn)確預(yù)測結(jié)果，然而只有29%的人回答正確。

"Our results suggest that even experts tend to have cynical intuitions about other people's motivations, often exaggerating the role of financial incentives and underestimating the role of psychological forces," added Cohn.

科恩補(bǔ)充說：“調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示，即使是專家對人的動(dòng)機(jī)也持很悲觀的態(tài)度，常?？浯蠼?jīng)濟(jì)誘因的作用，低估心理因素?！?/p>

cynical ['s?n?k(?)l]：adj.憤世嫉俗的；冷嘲的

The experiment, which cost $600,000, is unparalleled in its magnitude. More than 17,000 identical wallets were dropped off at banks, cultural establishments like theaters and museums, post offices, hotels, and police stations or courts of law.

這項(xiàng)調(diào)查耗資60萬美元（約合412萬元人民幣），規(guī)模前所未有。研究人員將1.7萬多個(gè)相同的錢包丟棄在了銀行、劇院和博物館等文化設(shè)施、郵局、酒店、警察局和法院等地。

The wallet would be placed on the counter by the research assistant, who would deliver it to an employee telling them they had found it on the street but were in a hurry and had to go.

研究助理會(huì)把錢包放在柜臺(tái)上，然后把它交給一名員工，告訴他們在街上撿到了錢包，但很著急離開。

Each contained a grocery list, a key, and three business cards in the local language using fictitious but commonplace male names and an email address, signaling the owner was a local resident.

每個(gè)錢包里都有一張購物清單、一把鑰匙和三張當(dāng)?shù)卣Z言的名片，上面用的是虛構(gòu)的但很普通的男性名字和一個(gè)電子郵件地址，表明主人是當(dāng)?shù)鼐用瘛?/p>

fictitious[f?k't???s]：adj.虛構(gòu)的；假想的；編造的

Some had no money, while others contained the equivalent of $13.45, adjusted for purchasing power in the target country.

有的錢包里沒有任何現(xiàn)金，有的錢包里則有相當(dāng)于13.45美元的當(dāng)?shù)刎泿拧?/p>

In three countries (the US, UK and Poland), they repeated the experiment with even more money: $94.15, which boosted reporting rates by an average of 11 percentage points compared to the smaller amount.

在美國、英國和波蘭，研究人員重復(fù)進(jìn)行了試驗(yàn)，在錢包里放入了94.15美元，而歸還率比現(xiàn)金更少的錢包平均高出了11%。

They also found that having a key boosted reporting rates by 9.2 percentage points in the three countries.

他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)，在這三個(gè)國家中，錢包中有鑰匙使歸還率提高了9.2%。

Since the key is valuable to the owner but not the finder, this pointed toward an altruism concern in addition to the cost of negatively updating one's self image.

由于鑰匙對失主很有價(jià)值，但對拾到的人卻沒有價(jià)值，這表明除了顧及自我形象受損外，人們還有利他主義的考慮。

英文來源：法新社

翻譯&編輯：yaning