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《一言难尽的高中岁月》
Why You Will Always Be haunted by High School
For better or worse, many of us never forget high school: the unrequited1) romantic crushes, chronic embarrassment, desperate struggles for popularity, sexual awakening, parental pressure and, above all else, competition—social, athletic, academic.
There’s even an entire genre of entertainment that revolves2) around high school. Beverly Hills 90210, Mean Girls, Heathers, The Breakfast Club and Fast Times at Ridgemont High all revisit the conflict and angst of these years.
What is it about this period of our lives that makes it seem more meaningful and memorable than any other?
My research experience as an evolutionary psychologist leads me to believe that many factors interact to make our teenage memories so vivid. But the main driver is the collision between the hardwiring of our brains that took place across several million of years of evolution and the odd social bubble created by high school, which poses an unprecedented social challenge to our prehistoric minds.
In other words, the world that we evolved to be successful in (a small, stable group of interrelated people of various ages) is very different from the holding pen full of teenagers brimming with hormones.
‘The Reminiscence3) Bump’
Some look back on high school as the best time of their life and pine4) for those “good old days.” Whether or not this was actually the case, it turns out there may have been some evolutionary advantages to having a rosy view of the past.
But most of us remember high school with an emotional mixture of longing, regret, joy and embarrassment. And strong emotions equal strong memories; even the music from those years gets imprinted on our brain like nothing that comes later.
Memory researchers have, in fact, identified something called “the reminiscence bump,” which shows that our strongest memories come from things that happened to us between the ages of 10 and 30.
What is it about this time of life that makes it stand out from the rest of our years? Part of it is undoubtedly due to changes in the brain’s sensitivity to certain types of information during adolescence. Emotions signal the brain that important events are happening, and the teen years are chock full of5 important social feedback about one’s skills, attractiveness, status and desirability as a mate.
This is precisely the stuff we need to pay attention to in order to successfully play the cards6) we have been dealt7 and to become socially and reproductively successful.
A Dog-eat-dog World
Memory research may offer hints about why the mental snapshots of our high school years remain so vivid even decades later. But evolutionary psychology can also help explain why so much meaning is attached to these years and why they play such an important role in who we become.
For example, there’s a reason teenagers often strive to be popular.
As far as scientists can tell, our prehistoric forebears8) lived in relatively small groups. Most people would live out their entire life in this group, and one’s social standing within it was determined during adolescence.
How much one was admired as a warrior or hunter, how desirable one was perceived to be as a mate and how much trust and esteem was accorded9) to one by others—all of this was sorted out in young adulthood. A person deemed to be a loser at 18 was unlikely to rise to a position of prominence at 40. Thus, from an evolutionary perspective, the competition of the teen years had lifelong repercussions10).
Of course, today, those who have unsavory11) high school experiences can move to new places after graduation and start over. However, even though we may be consciously aware of this, the psychological buttons that get pushed in the adolescent brain make us become consumed with12 our social lives during this period.
Popularity can become an obsession, since you’ll be ranked against the people in your own age cohort13) for the rest of your life.
After all, your status as an adult primarily depends upon how you stack up14) compared with them, not with others.
Also, strong pressures to conform ensure that you do not stray15) too far from a friend group’s values. Ostracism16) from the group in prehistoric times was tantamount17) to a death sentence.
It all requires forging alliances and demonstrating loyalty to others. The result is a splintering18) of the social world into competing cliques19) that grind each other up in the gears of the social hierarchy.
Mom, Stop Bugging Me!
Back home, conflict with parents is usually inevitable. Parents want their children to succeed, but they usually have a more long-term perspective than that of their teens.
So the things that the parent thinks that the child should be concerned with (preparing for a career and developing important life skills) and the things that the child is emotionally driven to actually be concerned with (being popular and having fun) are often at odds. Parents usually realize where the parent-offspring tension comes from. Kids don’t.
Meanwhile, hormones20) fuel the sort of “showing off” that would have increased one’s attractiveness in early societies. In young men But most of us remember high school with an emotional mixture of longing, regret, joy and embarrassment. And strong emotions equal strong memories; even the music from those years gets imprinted on our brain like nothing that comes later.
Memory researchers have, in fact, identified something called “the reminiscence bump,” which shows that our strongest memories come from things that happened to us between the ages of 10 and 30.
What is it about this time of life that makes it stand out from the rest of our years? Part of it is undoubtedly due to changes in the brain’s sensitivity to certain types of information during adolescence. Emotions signal the brain that important events are happening, and the teen years are chock full of5 important social feedback about one’s skills, attractiveness, status and desirability as a mate.
This is precisely the stuff we need to pay attention to in order to successfully play the cards6) we have been dealt7 and to become socially and reproductively successful.
无论是好是坏，很多人永远忘不了高中时代：无果的暗恋，极度的难堪，人气的激烈争夺，性意识的觉醒，父母施加的压力以及最最重要的，竞争——社交、运动和学业方面的竞争。
甚至有一整个类型的娱乐节目是围绕高中展开的。《飞跃比佛利》《贱女孩》《希德姊妹帮》《早餐俱乐部》和《开放的美国学府》无不是对高中那些年的苦恼与忧虑的再现。
是什么让我们人生中的这个阶段看起来比其他阶段更富内涵、更加难忘呢？
作为一名进化心理学家，我的研究经验使我相信，青少年时期的记忆之所以格外鲜活，是因为多种因素的相互作用，但主要的驱动因素是经过几百万年进化形成的我们大脑的先天构造和高中催生的奇特社交关系之间存在冲突，这种冲突给我们史前形成的头脑带来了前所未有的社会意义上的挑战。
换句话说，我们通过进化在其中求得功成名就的世界与高中那监狱一般的世界迥然不同。前者为不同年龄、相互关联的人们组成的稳定的小群体，而后者则集聚着浑身涌动着荷尔蒙的少男少女。
“记忆隆起”
在有些人的记忆里，高中是他们人生最美的年华，他们怀念那些“流金岁月”。不论事实是否真的如此，研究表明，从进化的角度来看，乐观地看待过去存在一些好处。
不过，我们大多数人忆起高中生活时，心中还是五味杂陈，怀念、遗憾、喜悦和难堪兼而有之。强烈的情感等同于深刻的记忆，就连高中时听过的音乐都深深刻在脑海里，无后来者能及。
事实上，记忆研究人员发现了一个叫做“记忆隆起”的现象，该现象表明，我们对于10~30岁这个年龄段发生的事情记忆最为深刻。
究竟是什么似的人生的这个阶段比其他阶段更突出呢？部分原因无疑是青少年时期大脑对于某些信息的敏感度有所变化。情感提示大脑重要事情正在发生，而青少年时代充斥着各种主要的社会反馈，设计一个人的技能、魅力、地位以及作为伴侣的受欢迎度。而这恰恰是我们为了精明处事、有效社交、成功安家所需要关注的东西。
你争我夺的世界
记忆方面的研究或许可以提供一些线索，揭示为什么几十年之后高中的日子仍能在我们脑海里留下如此生动的画面。但进化心理学还能解释为什么高中那些年会被赋予如此多的意义，以及为什么高中会在我们成长为什么样的人方面扮演着如此重要的角色。
例如，青少年常力争获得好人缘有其原因。
就科学家们所知道的，远古时期我们的以相对较小的群体聚居。大多数人一辈子都会待在这个群体里，而个人在此群体中的地位在青少年时期就已确定。一个人战斗或狩猎的本领有多令人艳羡？一个人对异性的吸引力有多强？一个人能从别人那里获得多少信任和尊重？所有这些都会在青年时期决出分晓。一个在18岁的时候被认为是失败者的人不太可能会在40岁的时候出人头地。因此，从进化的角度来看，青少年时期的竞争会对一个人产生终身影响。
当然，现如今，高中有过不愉快经历的人可以在毕业之后换个地方，从头来过。但是，即便我们清楚地认识到这一点，在青春期，我们大脑中按下的那个心理按钮仍会使我们在这段时间沉迷于社交生活。
受不受欢迎这个问题会让人着迷，因为你在余生都会被拿来跟你同龄的那群人对比。毕竟，你成年之后的地位主要取决于你跟这群同龄人相比干得如何，而非其他人。
此外，合群的巨大压力会确保你的观念不会与你朋友圈的观念偏离太远。远古时代，一个人若是遭到群体的排挤无异于被判死刑。
种种这些无不要求人们结成同盟并向盟友展示忠诚。结果就是社交世界人类社会分裂成彼此竞争的团伙，在社会等级的齿轮上，他们相互碾压。
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文章摘自：《新东方英语》杂志2017年6月号
