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In our daily social lives, we're constantly doing things that — on the surface — don't make much sense.
在日常生活中，我们经常做一些表面上的事，没有多大意义。
We'll pretend we're not interested in someone when we actually have a huge crush on them.
当我们迷恋某些人的时候，我们会假装自己对他们不感兴趣。
Or we'll tell our friends about a job promotion,
或者我们会把升职的事告诉朋友，
but make it sound like no big deal.
但我们会往小去说。
And all the time, people donate to charities anonymously.
一直以来，人们都给慈善机构匿名捐款。
To evolutionary biologists, these behaviors are puzzling because usually,
进化生物学家认为，这些行为令人不解，因为通常来说，
if you do something good, you get rewarded for it with a boost to your reputation.
如果你做了一件好事，就会因此得到回报，从而提升你的声誉。
That may not be why you did it, but you still get a nice thing in return.
也许你做好事不是为了得到回报，但你仍然会得到某些好处作为回报。
And that's important, because it's how so-called prosocial behaviors get reinforced.
这点很重要，因为这就是所谓利他行为的强化方式
But if you hide the fact that you did something good, then, well, all bets are off.
但如果你隐瞒了做好事的事实，那么，好吧，这些好处都没有了。
Same thing with trying to find a partner.
找对象也是这样。
It usually makes zero sense to hide that you like someone —
隐藏你喜欢某人
or to look less attractive by downplaying your strengths.
或者将自己的优势轻描淡写来降低自己的吸引力通常毫无意义。
And yet, humans are expert concealers.
然而，人类是隐藏的高手。
We love playing hard to get, and we strive for modesty.
我们喜欢玩欲擒故纵的游戏，努力保持谦逊。
As natural as these behaviors are, scientists have only recently started to understand them in detail—
尽管这是很自然的事，但直到最近科学家们才细细研究这些行为
and in some cases, they're turning to game theory to figure things out.
某些情况下，他们会求助于博弈论来寻求解决问题的办法。
Now, you might be thinking, well, of course we do all this stuff — we don't want to look like narcissistic jerks!
现在，你可能会想，好吧，我们当然会这样做啦——因为我们不想像自恋狂一样！
In many cultures, you have to be modest to be considered polite.
在许多文化中，只有表现谦逊才被认为是有礼貌。
Numerous studies have even shown that modest people are thought of more positively by others.
许多研究甚至表明，人们会认为谦逊的人更加积极。
Well, there are several ideas about why this is.
原因有几点。
One suggests that being modest is helpful because you come off as non-threatening.
其中一个是，谦逊能让你不具威胁性。
Others suggest that it's all about boosting the self-esteem of the people around you.
其他人则认为，这样是为了提升你周围人的尊严。
By not presenting yourself in the most glowing light,
通过减少自己的光环，
you can let them feel superior, and put them in a jolly mood.
从而让他们有种优越的感觉，心情愉快。
You, in turn, end up getting the equivalent of up-votes.
这样，大家反而更加认可你
So, all in all, modesty is a pretty good tactic in social situations.
所以，总的来说，在社交场合上，谦逊是一个很好的策略。
Still, these ideas don't fully explain things like anonymous donations.
尽管如此，这些想法并不能完全解释诸如匿名捐赠之类的事情。
Or, why we pay big bucks for a brand name handbag that has only a very subtle tag on it.
或者，为什么我们要花大价钱买一个包上只有一个非常细小的标签的名牌手提包。
That's where the game theory comes in.
这就是博弈论的作用所在。
This year, researchers at Harvard and the Institute of Science and Technology Austria used evolutionary game theory to make sense of these conundrums.
今年，哈佛大学和奥地利科学技术研究所的研究人员利用进化博弈论来解释这些难题。
Classical game theory tries to model and understand how people in competition with others make rational decisions.
经典博弈论试图模拟和了解人们在与他人竞争时如何做出理性的决策。
Think war strategy, like figuring out whether to drop a bomb, given what you think your opponent will do in return.
想想战争策略，就像弄清楚是否要扔炸弹一样，想想你的对手会怎么做。
Evolutionary game theory is similar, but it doesn't require someone to be making an active decision.
进化博弈论与之类似，但不需要有人主动决策。
For that reason, it's useful in biology,
鉴于此，进化博弈论在生物学中很有用，
because scientists can use it to identify tactics that work well for populations— like why peacocks would have evolved such elaborate and showy feathers.
因为科学家可以用它来找出适合人群的策略——比如为什么孔雀会进化出如此精致和艳丽的羽毛。
But it doesn't have to necessarily be about biological evolution.
但这并不一定与生物进化有关。
Social scientists use it, too, to understand how certain behaviors become entrenched.
社会科学家也用它来理解某些行为是如何变得根深蒂固的。
Like our odd habit of hiding information.
比如我们隐藏信息的奇怪习惯。
In this experiment, the team created what they call a signal-burying game to identify scenarios in which concealment becomes a somewhat common strategy.
在这个实验中，研究小组创造了一种称之为“信号埋没"的游戏来识别隐藏策略经常使用的场景。
The game didn't involve any actual people— it was all just a computer simulation.
没有任何人参与这个游戏，只是电脑模拟。
But it did provide good insights.
但这种方法确实给我们提供了好的见解。
In it, two virtual people are paired up for an economic interaction.
在这个游戏中，两个虚拟人配对，进行经济互助。
Some are senders, meaning they can send a signal to the other party, if they so choose—
一些人是发件人，他们可以向另一方发送一个信号，如果他们选择
a sort of memo announcing how strong of a potential business partner they are.
一份备忘录，这显示了他们作为潜在商业伙伴的实力。
The other people are receivers, who have varying levels of pickiness in terms of whom they'll partner with.
另一些人是收件人，他们在与谁合作方面有着不同程度的挑剔。
There were a bunch of other details to this,
还有很多其他细节，
and whether or not a receiver decided to work with a sender ultimately depended on formulas programmed into the game.
无论收件人是否决定与发件人合作，最终都取决于游戏中设定的公式。
But the detail that really matters is that the sender didn't have to send an obvious signal about their status.
但真正重要的细节是发件人不需要发出关于他们状态的明显信号。
They also had the option to send a hidden or buried one,
他们也可以选择发送一个隐藏的信号，
which had some chance of being discovered by the receiver— kind of like"accidentally" leaving their resume in the break room.
这个信号有可能被收件人发现——有点像“不小心”把简历留在休息室。
And if it was discovered, the receiver knew it was meant to be a secret.
收件人如果发现了，就知道这是机密。
Running the simulation under a variety of conditions, the team learned that signal-burying does appear to be a good strategy in some cases.
各种条件下的模拟使得团队成员了解到，在某些情况下“信号埋没”确实是一个很好的策略。
Specifically, if there was a good chance that the hidden signal would eventually be noticed,
具体来说，如果机会好的话，隐藏的信号终究会被发现，
or, if the sender only cared about the picky receivers, it made sense to keep things on the D-L.
或者，如果发件人只关心他选择的收件人的话，那么在D-L上保留东西是有意义的。
Essentially, that's because the scientists found that hiding information is itself a signal to others.
从本质上说，这是因为科学家发现，隐藏信息本身就是给其它人发出的信号。
It can help you come across as more modest,
它会让你看起来更谦逊，
or it can send a message that you aren't interested in what the public thinks — just high-profile individuals.
或者它会传递出这样一个信息：你对公众的想法不感兴趣——只对知名人士感兴趣。
Take those anonymous donations, for instance.
以那些匿名捐赠为例，
If someone learns through the grapevine who made that huge charity contribution,
如果有人通过小道消息得知是谁做出了如此巨大的慈善贡献，
the fact that it wasn't meant to be public makes it seem that much more noble.
不公开会让捐赠看起来更加高尚。
Of course, not announcing your donation does mean that far fewer people will know about it.
当然，不公开捐赠意味着知道这件事的人更少。
But maybe it's better for just a handful of powerful people — like the charity, or your closest friends — to know, and to think extra highly of you.
但也许对少数有权势的人来说，比如慈善机构，或者你最亲密的朋友，公开出来会更好，你的评价会更高。
Signal-burying might not win you the widespread benefits that usually come with positive behavior—
信号埋没可能不会为你积极的行为带来很多利益，
but they might snag you some favor among a select few you especially care about.
但可能会让你在特别关心的少数人当中赢得一些好感。
And that's likely why we keep doing it.
这就是一直以来我们这样做的原因。
Now, all of this doesn't mean that your choice to downplay your success or conceal a generous donation is always a conscious, plotted-out thing.
现在，所有这些并不意味着你选择将你的成功轻描淡写或隐瞒慷慨的捐赠都是有意识、计划出来的。
It could be, but because the researchers used evolutionary game theory,
可能是这样，但因为研究人员使用了进化博弈论，
what this really tells us is that hiding stuff has proven to be beneficial, which is why it's spread through society.
我们从中真正了解到，藏东西实际上是有益的，这就是它在社会上传播的原因。
So, don't feel bad if you naturally do it.
所以，如果你这样不自觉的做了，不要有不好的感觉。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢收看心理科学秀节目。
People do all kinds of weird and fascinating stuff, and if you'd like to learn more,
人们会做各种各样古怪有趣的事情，如果你想了解更多，
you can check out our episode about self-handicapping — or why you keep sabotaging yourself before that big test.
可以看看我们的节目——自我设限，或者为什么在参加大的测试之前一直在自我破坏。
And as always, you can go to youtube.com/scishowpsych and subscribe.
和以往一样，你可以登陆youtube.com/scishowpsych订阅我们的节目。
