In these gloomy, uncertain times, the ability to have a good laugh — especially at your own expense — may be essential for survival. But are people really capable of having a sense of humor about themselves?

　　在低迷猶豫的時候，沒有什麼能比具有開懷大笑的能力更能幫助人恢複元氣的了，特別是敢於自嘲的魄力。但人們真的能夠對於自己也充滿幽默麼？

　　In the first-ever study of its kind, Ursula Beermann of the University of California, Berkeley, and Willibald Ruch of the University of Zurich studied 70 psychology students to gauge their ability to laugh at themselves. The findings support what has long been believed: that being able to laugh at oneself is not only a distinct trait, but is also linked with having an upbeat personality and good mood and may be the foundation for a good sense of humor.

　　在目前破天荒的首次相關研究中，美國加州大學的Ursula Beermann與蘇黎世大學的Willibald Ruch研究了70為心理學學生的子超能力。結果證實了長期以來的一種看法：能有自嘲的人不僅具有鮮明的個性品質，同時還有更加積極向上的心態，這都是使得他們具有良好幽默感的基礎條件。

　　Participants in the study were asked to rate their ability to see the humor in their own plight. They also designated one or two friends to rate them on the same characteristic.

　　參加這項測試的學生被要求對自己的逆境中所表現出來的幽默感進行評分，他們還指定了一到兩個朋友，並對他們在相同方面的個性進行評分。

　　While the students were filling out these questionnaires on a computer, its camera surreptitiously photographed their faces. The pictures were then altered using Mac Photo Booth software to make them look like distorted, funhouse-mirror images.

　　儘管學生們是通過電腦回答調查問卷的，但電腦的攝像頭同時記錄下了他們的遍佈表情。圖像會經過軟體的加工，呈現出類似于遊樂場哈哈鏡的效果。

　　Afterward, the study participants were asked to rate distorted photos of people they didn't know. Their own stretched-out images were randomly inserted into the sequence — and that's where the experiment really started. Participants were videotaped as they viewed the images to see whether they laughed or smiled at themselves. The videos were analyzed, using a well-studied rating system of emotional expression, to see how genuine the participants' expressions of humor were.

　　隨後，受測者們還被要求對於這些素不相識的人們的“哈哈鏡”照進行打分。他們自己的扭曲的圖像會被打亂之後隨即的插入，而這時實驗才真正的開始。攝像頭記錄下了他們在看到自己的圖像時會否開懷大笑或未向。然後，這段錄影會被通過一種專門研究情感表情的系統進行評級，以便研究受測者表情上所體現出的幽默感。

　　Eighty percent of participants genuinely smiled or laughed at least once when seeing their own silly image. However, those who claimed to have the ability to laugh at themselves — and whose friends' assessments matched their own — genuinely laughed and smiled more often and more intensely than the others.

　　有百分之八的受測者在看到自己滑稽的圖像時至少一次的微笑與大小。而這些被認為是有“敢笑”的魄力的人對於自己的評估，與他的朋友們的評價結果是基本吻合的，這種發自內心的笑會比其他人更加頻繁，更加的強烈。

　　Interestingly, however, people's sense of their own ability to laugh at themselves was only somewhat correlated with their friends' ratings, suggesting that people either think they're better at it than they actually are or that they want to present themselves this way.

　　有趣的是，人們對於自嘲能力的自我認定只打到了其朋友們的評價的一部分而已，這說明大家認為自己要比實際情況中更具有幽默感，冰鞋希望通過這樣一種方式來展示自己。

　　The study found that people's ability to laugh at themselves had no bearing on how much they laughed or smiled in response to the distorted images of others — that suggests that the phenomenon is a distinct characteristic, one linked with your own mood and personality, rather than the tendency to simply find silly images funny. The finding also underscores the link between humor and humility.

　　這項實驗這些敢於自嘲的人在看到別人扭曲的照片時同樣也會笑得十分開心，說明這是一種平直，與一個人的心情與個性性格有關，而並不是僅僅因為圖片真的很好笑。這項研究同樣強調了幽默與謙遜之間的聯繫。

　　Participants who were able to laugh at themselves more also tended to be more cheerful and less serious overall, and were in better moods on the day of the experiment, the study found.

　　能夠自嘲的受測者總體表現得更加的開朗，同時更加不拘小節。在參與實驗的這一天中往往具有更好的心情。

　　Although studying people's sense of humor may seem like a trivial pursuit, it has important implications for health. Laughter, smiling and optimism are linked to better overall health. And "getting" certain types of jokes requires important social skills that can be impaired in conditions like autism and schizophrenia. Understanding the mechanics of humor may shed light on what goes wrong in those cases.

　　儘管研究人們的幽默感看起來似乎平淡無奇，但其對於健康的影響則相當重要。歡笑、微笑和樂觀的態度都與整體的健康息息相關。要聽懂某些笑話好需要有重要的社交技巧，這有助於避免自閉症與精神分裂症。了解幽默的“規則”有望幫助探尋在上述的情況中所出現了那些不好的苗頭。

　　And sometimes, we just need a reminder to take everything — including ourselves — less seriously.

　　有的時候，我們需要常常提醒自己，在對待任何事物時，包括自己，都應該更加的放輕鬆些。

（編譯：宴欣）