Tiffany Watt Smith: The history of human emotions
蒂芬妮.瓦特.史密斯: 人類情緒的歷史
Tiffany Watt Smith investigates the hidden cultural forces which shape our emotions. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
with a little experiment.
if you would close your eyes
to tell anyone or anything.
or perhaps hard you find it
要指出自己的感受是什麼
10 seconds to do this.
a little bit under pressure,
of the person next to you.
have their eyes closed?
strange, distant worry
奇怪又遙遠的擔心,
you've got planned for this evening.
要做的事感到興奮。
that comes when we get together
這麼一大群人聚集在一起時
「hwyl(熾熱感情)」,
which wash the world in a single color,
單一顏色來洗滌世界,
crowd and jostle together
會聚集緊貼在一起,
to tell them apart.
you'd hardly even notice them,
你幾乎不會注意到,
that will make you reach out
in the supermarket.
that we hurry away from,
to search a loved one's pockets.
你愛人的口袋中有什麼。
which are so peculiar,
a little tingle of a desire
你會有小小的慾望,
French sociologist called "ilinx,"
稱為「ilinx」的情緒刺激,
with minor acts of chaos.
所產生的興奮感。
and emptied the contents of your bag
掏出你包包中的所有東西,
untranslatable emotions
無法解譯的情緒,
English equivalent.
the Dutch called "gezelligheid,"
「gezelligheid」的感受,
when it's cold and damp outside.
內在因為朋友而感到舒服和溫暖。
is an extremely important commodity,
是極重要且有用的東西,
to explain many things,
of being able to recognize and name
以及他人的情緒,
and those of other people,
is taught in our schools and businesses
所以在我們的學校和企業中都會教,
都會鼓勵要有情緒智慧。
is becoming impoverished.
是否變得沒創意了。
what an emotion even is.
can be boiled down
about 2,000 years old,
一些演化心理學家指出,
have suggested that these six emotions --
disgust, anger, surprise --
反感、生氣、驚訝──
in exactly the same way,
這些情緒的方式完全一樣,
the building blocks
your heart rate quickens,
you run very, very fast.
然後你就會跑得非常非常快。
what an emotion is.
is extremely important,
why we feel the way we do
我們有任何感覺時,
that in the 12th century,
or boredom like we do today,
和我們現今認知不同,
of the deepest love?
brave men -- knights --
勇敢的人、騎士,
who lived in the desert
who mainly came out at lunchtime
都會在午餐時間出來,
they called "accidie,"
所謂「accidie」的情緒,
that was sometimes so intense
as we know and love it today,
by the Victorians,
才會感覺到它,
about leisure time and self-improvement?
和自我改善的新點子所做出的反應。
untranslatable words for emotions
might feel an emotion more intensely
某種情緒的感受更強一些,
to name and talk about it,
把那情緒命名,然後去談論它?
in cognitive science show
最近期的發展顯示,
that we've inherited
but by our thoughts,
觀念、語言形塑出來。
has become very interested
很感興趣。
between words and emotions.
a new word for an emotion,
一種情緒的一個新單字時,
that as language changes,
一直猜想,隨著語言的改變,
to see that emotions have changed,
很容易看到情緒的改變,
and religious beliefs,
and economic ideologies.
starting to understand.
to learn new words for emotions,
對我們來說是有益的,
emotionally intelligent,
where those words have come from,
we ought to live and behave
關於我們該如何過生活、
in the late 17th century,
living some 60 miles away from home.
他離家六十英哩。
and they find him dejected and feverish,
發現他很沮喪且在發燒,
that prayers are said for him
這位年輕人送回家,
to return this young man home
onto the stretcher,
to the gates of his hometown,
from a very powerful form of homesickness.
一種非常強大的思鄉病。
that it might have killed him.
Johannes Hofer,
叫做約翰尼斯.霍費爾,
以及其他相似案例,
in medical circles around Europe.
歐洲的醫療圈傳開。
they were probably immune
做過這麼多旅行等等。
in the empire and so on.
cropping up in Britain, too.
during the First World War in France.
一次大戰時在法國作戰。
that you could die from nostalgia
mean something different --
有不同的意義──
rather than a lost place --
而非失去的地方,感到煩惱──
is seen as less serious,
也不那麼被認真看待了,
you could die from
your kid might be suffering from
你的孩子在朋友家過夜時
in the early 20th century.
二十世紀初發生的。
or the expansion of the railways?
and travel and progress
transformation in values,
feel homesickness today
influence our emotions
會影響我們的情緒,
how we feel about how we feel.
我們對自己感受的感受。
to make us better workers
most of those things.
self-help books from that period
自助書籍的內容,
to be disappointed.
you could cultivate sadness as a skill,
培養悲傷這項技能,
would make you more resilient
你的恢復力就會較佳。
as invariably it would.
impatient, even a little ashamed.
無法忍受,甚至有點羞恥。
and you might feel a little bit smug.
你可能會覺得有點沾沾自喜。
don't just change across time,
speak of "awumbuk,"
會說「awumbuk」,
when a houseguest finally leaves.
會突然出現的一種沒精打采感。
to shed a sort of heaviness
會落下一種沉重感,
and causes this awumbuk.
造成主人的這種 awumbuk。
a bowl of water out overnight
一碗水放在外面整夜,
they wake up and have a ceremony
and geographical realities combining
is a Japanese word, "amae."
是一個日本字「amae」。
hard to translate.
the pleasure that you get
hand over responsibility for your life
might have been named and celebrated
traditionally collectivist culture,
有種集體主義文化,
amongst English speakers,
認為是令人憂慮的,
self-sufficiency and individualism.
自給自足及個人主義。
tell us not just about what we feel,
告訴我們的,不只是我們的感受,
to pay attention to our well-being
要注意我們的幸福,
of naming our emotions.
名稱說出來的重要性。
values and expectations,
about who we think we are.
我們是什麼人的想法。
for emotions will help attune us
紋理更細密的面向。
aspects of our inner lives.
words are worth caring about,
這些字詞是值得在乎的,
how powerful the connection is
requires that we understand
the cultural forces
to believe about our emotions
我們相信我們擁有的情緒,
or hatred or love or anger
快樂、恨、愛或生氣
tell us how important they are,
情緒有多重要時能夠傾聽,
truly speak to us now.
真正在對我們說話。
that you feel in an unfamiliar place.
會產生的暈眩迷失方向感。
of being a historian
I've completely taken for granted,
just a little glimpse of it right now.
一點點這樣子的感受。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Tiffany Watt Smith - Cultural historianTiffany Watt Smith investigates the hidden cultural forces which shape our emotions.
Why you should listen
Tiffany Watt Smith is the author of The Book of Human Emotions, which tells the stories of 154 feelings from around the world. It has been published in 9 countries so far. She is currently a Wellcome Trust research fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary University of London, and she was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and London. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, the BBC News Magazine and The New Scientist. In 2014, she was named a BBC New Generation Thinker. In her previous career, she was a theatre director.
Tiffany Watt Smith | Speaker | TED.com