Anne Scherer: Why we're more honest with machines than people | TED

Transcriber:

翻译人员: Accquiro Gu 校对人员: Bruce Wang

Now, a few years back, I was having a barbecue with friends and family.

几周前，我正和我的亲朋好友们共享烧烤

As usual, we talked about the weather, the good food or TV shows to watch.

和以往一样，我们聊了天气、美食 还有要看的电视秀

So nothing out of the ordinary

一切照常进行

until one attendee casually mentioned

直到一位客人随意地提到

that he and his wife hadn't had sex in a long time.

他和他的妻子很长时间 都没有性生活了

As you can imagine, what followed was an awkward silence.

你都能想象到 之后那般尴尬的沉默

Until a six-year-old boy attending the barbecue with his parents

而一位随父母前来参加烧烤的六岁男孩

blurted out that his parents had lots of sex

打破了这种沉默，脱口而出 他的父母性生活十分丰富

and he could hear them all the time.

无时无刻都在过性生活

And then the barbecue continued as if nothing had happened.

接着，烧烤继续 好像无事发生

Now, when I'm not having barbecues,

现在我并没有享受烧烤

I am researching how people interact with each other

我调查人们之间的交互方式

and how that transfers to their interactions with technologies,

以及科技介入后人们交流方式的改变

so not all too surprisingly,

不出所料的是

after this very unique social interaction at the barbecue,

在结束这次独一无二的烧烤聚会后

I was left wondering why we, the audience,

我留下来，思考着 为什么我们和其他客人

were so greatly ignoring what the adult so openly shared with us that evening.

都严重忽略了成年人之间开放性的对话

So why the silence and then the laughter at the boy's comment?

又为什么会导致沉默，会为男孩的言论发笑

Well, both of them were breaking a social rule:

他们都打破了这种社会规则

never talk about sex, money or politics at a dinner table.

也即不在餐桌上谈论性,钱,政治

We assume that an adult knows this rule and sticks to it.

我们假设成年人都知悉并恪守该规则

So when such expectations are broken,

所以当意料之外的事情发生时

we sanction the offender accordingly -- in our case, with ignorance.

我们自然要惩戒规则的破坏者 ——借由沉默的方式

When a child, however, breaks such a rule,

但无论一位孩童如何打破规则

we attribute this to their naive understanding of our social manners

我们把行为归因于他们对社会礼仪的无知

and up to a certain age at least, do not openly sanction them for it.

至少对年幼的人，不会以这种方式 惩戒他们

Clearly, there is no official rule book for socially appropriate behaviors

显然，就什么是正当的社会行为而言 并没有一本官方的规则书籍

or even socially accepted dinner topics.

大众接受的餐桌主体也是如此

In fact, our social norms are usually unwritten codes of conduct,

事实上，我们的社会规范常常是 呈现一种不成文的形式

and they change over time as we as a society change and learn.

并随着我们社交和学习而变化

Less than a year ago, for instance,

举个例子，去年

it was considered impolite not to shake hands

不和别人握手是 一件不礼貌的事情

when introducing yourself to someone.

在你向他人作自我介绍时

A few months and the worldwide spread of the coronavirus later

几个月后，新冠疫情在世界各地爆发

and shaking hands may be something to be frowned upon

那时握手似乎就像是 一件让人厌恶的事情

and maybe even a thing of the past.

太过陈旧迂腐了

The way we learn these social rules then

我们学习社会规则的方式

is mostly by social rewards and social punishments.

基本上是通过社会奖惩习得

Now, as social animals,

而我们作为一种社会动物

we aim for social approval and want to avoid other's disapproval.

希望得到社会奖赏， 避免他人的反对

So we act in a way that is socially accepted

我们也因此以社会可接受的方式行动着

and present ourselves in a socially desirable way to others.

将自己以社会可接受的方式 展现给别人看

So we want to be seen as an individual that is smart, successful,

这也解释了为什么 我们希望别人说自己聪明、成功

sporty and active, creative, empathic and possibly all that at once.

运动细胞发达、活跃、创造力强、富有同情心 所有的这些都让别人一下说完

Now, through social media, our strive for social approval,

而在当今社交媒体的影响下， 我们渴求社会赞同

and with it, our need for self-presentation and perfection

我们对自我展现和完美的需求

has skyrocketed.

急剧扩大

Clearly, there is a flip side to all of this.

而这显而易见的缺点是

In any social interaction, we do not only look for others' approval,

我们在任何的社交场合 都不单只寻求他人的赞同

but we also constantly fear other's disapproval

也常常恐惧别人的反对

when we cannot live up to their expectations.

因为我们让他们失望了

Just consider an adult with incontinence problems

试想一下 如果一位成年人尿失禁

or a drug addiction.

又或者是吸毒上瘾

If he or she had to talk to a health care professional,

而他又不得不和医生交谈

what would you expect to find?

你觉得他会说什么

Or if a soldier returned from combat

再者，一位刚从战场脱离的士兵

and had to talk about their fears or problems,

要和战友倾诉自己的恐惧

do you think they would open up easily?

你认为他们会轻易开口吗

A team of USC researchers examined just that.

南加州大学的研究团队就此展开测试

So they looked at the data from the US Army.

他们分析自美国军队获得的数据

Traditionally, soldiers had to be interviewed

照常一般，医生询问

by a human health care professional when returning from combat

刚从战争中脱离的士兵

to check if everything is OK.

一切是否正常

Now, interestingly,

有趣的是

the researchers found that soldiers hardly reported any problems

研究者发现士兵基本上

after their returns.

回来后就几乎闭口不言

Surely many of them were truly fine,

虽然他们大体上一切良好

but the researchers also suspected

但研究者们也怀疑

that many soldiers did not dare to share their problems openly.

很多士兵并不敢开口 分析遇到的问题

After all, soldiers are trained to be strong and brave individuals

毕竟士兵受训就是为了变强、勇敢

that learn not to show any weaknesses.

不展露任何弱点

So openly admitting to have health problems,

所以开口说出健康问题

to have trouble sleeping or to have nightmares

像失眠、梦魇等等

is not something easy to do for soldiers.

对他们而言并不简单

The question then ultimately becomes

这个问题最终变成了

how can we help individuals open up more easily

我们怎样做才可以让个人 更加坦率

and worry less about the judgment of others?

少顾虑别人的评价

Well, remember what I said earlier.

记得我之前说的话吗

We expect social evaluation in any social interaction.

我们在任何社交场合 当中都需要社会评价

So how about we remove the social from the interaction?

那要是我们在交往中忽略评价呢

This is exactly what the team in the US did.

这正是这队美国研究者 所做的事情

In fact, they developed a virtual interviewer called SimSensei.

事实上，他们发明了 一台名叫SimSensei的虚拟采访人员

So SimSensei is a digital avatar that has a humanlike appearance

SimSensei一个有着常人一般外表的虚拟用户

and can interact with clients through natural conversations.

能与客户正常交流

Now, when returning from combat,

那么，当士兵从战场中回归时

soldiers were now interviewed by the digital avatar

再被这位虚拟人员采访

instead of that human health care professional.

而不是医生采访时

And what happened? Well, once SimSensei was introduced,

那会发生什么？ 在引入SimSensei后

soldiers reported more health problems,

士兵说出了更多的健康问题

like having nightmares or trouble sleeping.

像梦魇，失眠等等

So machines can help remove the social from the equation

所以机器可以帮助移除社交脱离这个桎梏

and help people open up more easily.

让人们更简单地开口交谈

But careful, not all machines are created equal.

但要注意的是， 并非所有的机器都可以做到

Considering the tremendous advancements in technologies like computer graphics

计算机图形等自然语言处理的科技

or natural language processing,

具备的好处多多

machines have become increasingly humanlike.

机器越来越人性化

The question then ultimately becomes,

于是这个问题最终变为了

which rules do we apply in these interactions?

我们要在社交中遵循什么规则

Do we still apply social rules when we interact with humanlike machines?

我们和人一样的机器交流时 也套用社交规则吗

So do we start to worry about social judgment again?

所以我们又开始担忧别人的社会评价吗

This is exactly what I examine in my research.

这正是我研究中所探讨的事情

Together with colleagues, we have developed a series of chatbots.

我和同事一起， 发明了一系列的聊天机器人

These chatbots were programmed to simulate text-based conversations

通过编程让他们模仿文本对话

and they were designed to be either very social and humanlike

将机器人设计的极具社会性 像常人一样

or very functional and machine-like.

又或者极具功能性， 更像一个机器人

So, for instance,

比方说

our humanlike bots use so-called speed disfluencies

人性化的机器人会运用 所谓的不流畅语流

and social language cues,

以及社会语言提示

like these "ohos", "ahas", "hmms" we humans love to use in our conversations

就像“哦”，“哈”，“唔”这些 我们很喜欢在对话中使用的词语

to signal our presence to conversation partners.

表示我们正听着对方说话

In contrast, our machine-like bots

而与之相对， 我们真正的机器人

lacked such social cues and simply kept to the talking points.

并没有这些社会提示词， 只是简单的说重点

Since we were interested in how much people would open up

因为我们对人们在不同对话场景中

in these different conversations,

有多大意愿开口很感兴趣

we ask participants a number of questions,

我们会询问参加者一些问题

which gradually grew more and more personal,

问题会随着时间变得 越来越个人化

up to the point where we would ask participants

达到一定程度后， 我们会请求参加者

to share possibly very delicate information about themselves.

分享一些对他们而言 可能很敏感的问题

Now, considering the findings from prior research,

现在，回想一下之前研究的结果

such as the one from the US Army before,

就像之前的美国军队一样

we expected that people would apply more social rules

我们希望人们可以在社交对话中

in their interactions with these humanlike bots

对机器人运用上更多的社会规则

and act accordingly.

并照着行动

So what did we find?

那我们发现什么结果了呢

Well, exactly that.

嗯，其实

So participants interacting with our humanlike bots

和人性化机器人对话的参加者们

were more concerned about social evaluation

更关注社会评价

and as a result of this social apprehension,

及其带来的社会焦虑

they also gave more socially desirable responses.

他们会展现出更多符合社会期待的反应

Let me give you an example.

举个例子

One of the most delicate questions that we asked participants

我们问参加者最敏感的问题之一

was the number of prior sex partners they had had.

是他们拥有过性伴侣的数量

When interacting with our humanlike bot,

与真正的机器人相比

men reported to have significantly more prior sex partners

在和人性化的机器人交流时

and women reported to have significantly less

男性回答的性伴侣数量更多

than those men and women interacting with our mechanistic bot.

女性就显然更少一点

So what does this all tell us?

这个结果表明什么呢？

Well, first, men want to look good by having more prior sex partners

首先，男性想要借拥有更多的性伴侣 彰显自己的优秀

and women by having less.

女性则是越少越好

Clearly, this already says a lot

显然，这个结果已经 说明了很多东西

about what the different sexes consider socially desirable

不同性别会对社会期望反应不同

and how our expectations in society still differ across genders.

我们对社会的期望依然会因为 性别而有所不同

But this opens up a whole new topic

但这也开启了一个 全新的主题

that I will better leave for other experts to discuss.

这让其他专家研究可能更好

Second, and maybe more importantly, from a consumer psychology perspective.

第二，也很可能是最重要的一点， 在消费者心理学的视角看来

People open up more easily when they interact with machines

人们和机器对话时会更轻易开口

that are apparently just that -- machines.

但这说的却并不是简单的机器

Today, a lot of sweat, money and tears

如今，大量的精力、财力和泪水

is put into making machines basically indistinguishable from us.

都灌注到如何能让机器更像我们

Now, this research can show

而现在这项研究表明

that sometimes letting a machine be a machine is actually a good thing.

让机器仅仅只是一个机器 其实也不错

Which brings me to my third point.

这也给我启发了第三点

These machine interactions have been highly criticized at times.

与机器交流有时很可能 会被他人大力抨击

So you may have heard that Siri, Alexa or others

你可能也听过Siri，Alexa等等机器人

make your kids rude or impolite.

让你的孩子变得粗鲁或不礼貌

Hopefully, this research can show you

这项研究有希望让你

a great upside of these machine interactions.

对机器交流有一个 正面看法

In times of social media and our constant hunt for the next “like,”

在社交媒体上，我们不断地寻求更多的赞同

machines can give us grownups --

而机器能让我们成年人

help us find that inner child again

再次回归到心中的童年

and give our constant need for self-presentation and perfection

持续不断地满足我们 对自我展现和尽善尽美的要求

a time-out.

给予我们一次休憩的机会

For once, we do not need to worry

我们可以又一次地

if the number of prior sex partners is too high or too low,

放下前述六个性伴侣是否 过多或过少的担忧

and instead it is OK to simply be who we are.

不挂在心上， 只是简单地做我们自己

Ultimately, then, I think that these machines can remind us

而最后，我认为机器 可以点醒我们

of a central element of what makes a good conversation partner:

关注成为上好沟通者的核心要素

being nonjudgmental.

就是不做评判

so the next time you might encounter

所以，当你下一次碰上

a unique social situation like mine at the barbecue,

像我烧烤时那般独特的社交场合时

try to be less judgmental

试着不抱成见地

when another person openly shares

看待他人分享的事情

their thoughts, feelings and problems with you.

他们的思想，感觉以及和你谈及的问题

Many machines do this already, and maybe so should we.

很多机器都做到了， 我们也应该如此

Thank you very much.

谢谢大家