原文刊登於《Scientific American》（2018.05.15）
原文賞析
1. Your perspective on yourself is distorted.
①Your “self” lies before you like an open book. ②Just peer inside and read: who you are, your likes and dislikes, your hopes and fears; they are all there, ready to be understood. ③This notion is popular but is probably completely false! ④Psychological research shows that we do not have privileged access to who we are. ⑤When we try to assess ourselves accurately, we are really poking around in a fog.
⑥Princeton University psychologist Emily Pronin, who specializes in human self-perception and decision making, calls the mistaken belief in privileged access the “introspection illusion .” ⑦The way we view ourselves is distorted, but we do not realize it. ⑧As a result, our self-image has surprisingly little to do with our actions. ⑨For example, we may be absolutely convinced that we are empathetic and generous but still walk right past a homeless person on a cold day.
單詞實記
notion 概念，觀點
privilege 特權，優勢，有幸
introspection 內省
illusion 幻覺，錯覺
distort 扭曲
empathetic 同情的
熟詞僻義
peer 常見意思是“同齡人”；此處為動詞，意思是“凝視，細看”；
like 動詞表示“喜歡”；介詞表示“像”；此處為名詞，意為“喜歡的東西”；
poke 通常表示“捅，干涉”；這裡意思是“摸索”；
難句剖析
1.Princeton University psychologist Emily Pronin, who specializes in human self-perception and decision making, calls the mistaken belief in privileged access the “introspection illusion.”
此句主幹為“Emily Pronin calls the belief the ‘introspection illusion’.”主幹是“s-v-o-oc”結構。中間有一個定語從句作插入語“who specializes in…” ;在賓語“belief”與補語“introspection illusion”被定語“in privileged access”割裂開來。
全文翻譯
解讀“自己”就像解讀一本打開的書。細細讀之，便可發現：你的身份，你的好惡，你的希冀與恐懼，盡在其中，極易理解。此種觀點甚囂塵上，卻可能是完全錯誤的！心理研究表明，我們並不見得更瞭解自己。我們極力想要準確地評價自我，卻發現這就像霧裡探花般艱難。
普林斯頓大學心理學家Emily Pronin的研究方向是人類自我認知與決策。他把這種本來更有條件接觸到自我，卻最終犯下認知錯誤的現象叫做“自省錯覺”。我們看待自己的方式是扭曲的，但是我們自己意識不到。結果，令人驚奇的是，我們的自我形象其實和自己的所作所為幾乎毫無關聯。比如說，我們可能深信自己心懷憐憫，慷慨大方，但我們還是會在大冷天對無家可歸的人視而不見。
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