研究：获得铜牌比获得银牌更开心

Finishing first is what matters at the Winter Olympics, but scientists believe that coming home third is often better than being second best.

It's all to do with a tongue-twisting phenomenon called "counterfactual thinking" or "what might have been", said Victoria Medvec, a psychologist and university professor.

"On average, bronze medallists are happier than silver medallists," she told the Globe and Mail newspaper, explaining that third-place winners have upward thoughts ("at least I won") that increase satisfaction.

In stark contrast, those who come in second tend to have downward "if only" thoughts that decrease happiness.

The most telling study involving athletes used footage from medal ceremonies at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Researchers including Medvec from the Northwestern University's School of Management in Illinois, asked subjects to rate the satisfaction of bronze and silver medal winners based on their facial expressions.

The study revealed a discrepancy between performance and satisfaction, said Medvec.

"Those who perform objectively better can actually feel worse than those who they outperformed."

Expectations from sponsors, teammates and fans can contribute to an athlete's sense of disappointment, according to Saul Miller, a Vancouver-based psychologist.

在冬奥会上争得第一名固然重要，但是科学家认为摘得铜牌而归比摘得银牌感觉更好。

心理学家、大学教授维多利亚．麦维琪说，这一切都和“反向思考”现象有关，也就是“本来可以怎么样”的想法。

她告诉《环球邮报》说：“一般来说，铜牌获得者比银牌获得者更快乐。”她解释说，第三名的获得者会抱着积极向上的想法（“至少我得奖了”），这种想法增加了满足感。

与此构成鲜明对比的是，那些获得第二名的人倾向于抱有“要是……就好了”的消极想法，这种想法减少了他们的快乐。

最能说明问题的和运动员相关的研究采用了1992年巴塞罗那夏季奥运会的颁奖典礼的录像带片段。

研究者包括来自美国伊利诺斯州西北大学管理学院的麦维琪教授。他们让参与者根据录像带上运动员的面部表情来评定铜牌和银牌获得者的满意度。

麦维琪说，研究揭示，运动员的表现和满意度之间有落差。

“实际上，那些客观上表现较好的人比那些表现不如他们的人的满意度要差。”

温哥华心理学家索尔．米勒说，来自赞助商、队员和支持者的期待都可能造成运动员的失落感。

Vocabulary:

counterfactual: expressing what has not happened but could, would, or might under differing conditions 表达在条件不同时可能发生但事实上没有发生的情况

footage: part of a film showing a particular event （影片中的）连续镜头，片段