摘要： 阅读理解Talking about co-workers or bosses while they are not around can be immoral, but new research suggests that gossip also can have positive effects on gr
Talking about co-workers or bosses while they are not around can be immoral, but new research suggests that gossip also can have positive effects on group behavior and cooperation at work.
Psychological scientist Wu and his colleagues compared the effects of gossip and punishment on group behavior in a computer-based experiment. According to Wu, knowing that their reputation is on the line tends to make people more cooperative. By allowing study participants to gossip and punish each other in a group task, the researchers enabled a “system of indirect interaction” by which a cooperative reputation can yield a greater chance of receiving future benefits.
In the study, 265 participants performed two tasks: a public goods task that involved four people playing a game four times, and a trust task in which two people played a different game twice.
After analyzing the data, Wu and colleagues found that participants who had the option to gossip moderately increased their contributions during each round of the public goods game compared to the group that didn’t gossip. But those who were given the option of both gossiping and punishing didn’t show leanings (倾斜) one way or the other in the contributions they made. Additionally, participants in the gossip-only condition later trusted their new partner more in the following trust game, whereas the punishment-and-gossip condition and the punishment-alone condition had no significant effects on trust.
Based on these findings, the researchers conclude that gossip can increase cooperation, prevent selfish behavior, and serve as an effective, low-cost form of punishment. “The present findings uncovered that gossip by itself may be as a powerful ‘tool’ to promote trust and cooperation,” Wu and colleagues write. “In small communities, punishment requires costly and time-consuming monitoring of others’ behavior, whereas gossip can help to monitor others’ behavior at a lower cost,” they conclude.
1. According to Wu, why does gossip have positive effects on cooperation?
A. Because gossip can serve as a kind of encouragement for them.
B. Because they consider gossip as a kind of punishment.
C. Because they see that gossip puts their reputation at risk.
D. Because they want to maintain good relationship.
2. Based on the researchers’ findings, some small communities may .
A. abandon punishment and allow gossip B. combine gossip and punishment
C. forbid both gossip and punishment D. carry on punishment but forbid gossip
3. How did scientists do the new research?
A. By conducting a survey. B. By performing a computer-based experiment.
C. By observing the real world. D. By comparing personal behavior.
4. The passage is intended to .
A. advocate gossip B. prove a fact C. support an argument D. report a research
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参考答案：
阅读理解： CABD DBC
