你怎么那么聪明?

You may have heard people say that hard work is more important than the intelligence you are born with. Recently, researchers noted changes in the brains of individuals immediately after they were told this.

你可能听说过人们常说努力工作比天生聪明更为重要。最近，研究人员注意到当人们听到这句话后，大脑里即刻的变化。

Hans Schroder led a study at Michigan State University. Mr. Schroder is a student at the university. As he noted, whether or not what people were told was true, “giving people messages that encourage learning and motivation may promote more efficient performance.”

汉斯·施罗德领导了密歇根州立大学的一项研究，施罗德先生是这所大学的一名学生。正如他所说，无论人们所听到的是否是真的，只要是对人们的学习和动机给予鼓励的信息，就可能促进人们更高效的表现。

In the study, two groups read different stories about intelligence. One story said intelligence levels are a product of our genetic material and cannot be changed. The researchers called this, the “fixed mindset.” The other story discussed how difficult living environments probably made individuals like Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein highly intelligent. Researchers called this the “growth mindset.”

在这项研究中，研究人员让两组人阅读了关于智力的不同故事。一个故事是说，智力水平是遗传基因的产物，是无法改变的。研究人员称其为“固定心态”另一个故事讨论了是如何艰苦的生活环境成就了像列奥纳多·达·芬奇和爱因斯坦这样的高智商天才。研究人员将其称为“增长心态”。

Later, the researchers tested the groups’ members on what they had just read. Mr. Schroeder and his team watched their brain activity as they answered questions about the main subjects in the story.

后来，研究人员对刚读完故事的组成员进行了测试，施德罗先生和他的研究团队在他们回答所读故事的主题时，观察了他们的大脑活动。

The researchers say they found that small messages about our abilities can have a big effect on our beliefs about what we are able to do.

研究人员称，他们发现关于我们能力的小的信息，可以对我们能够做什么的信仰产生很大的影响。

The people who read that intelligence comes from genes worked to answer the questions correctly. But their test results did not improve on later exams.

那些读了智力是来源于基因故事的人们正确的回答了问题。但是他们的测试结果在后续的测试中并没有提高。

But the opposite was true among those who read that intelligence can come from hard work. They showed what the researchers called a more efficient brain response after they were told their answer was wrong. This suggests they thought they could give the correct answer on the next test. And the more these individuals thought about their mistakes, the faster they answered the questions on the next test.

相反那些读了智力可以来自努力工作的人们，在被告知他们的回答是错误的之后，却显示了研究人员所说的那种更为有效地大脑反应。这就表明，他们认为在接下来的测试中，他们可以给出正确的答案。这些人对他们前面所犯的错误想的越多，在接下来的测试中就回答的越快。

The researchers say the study showed that those who had a growth mindset made efforts to improve and adapt. They say even a small amount of time spent on changing the mindset, or beliefs, of individuals can affect how their brain operates. In their words, “messages about how much our abilities can change affect learning, achievement, and performance.”

研究人员称，该研究表明，那些有“增长心态”的人们会去努力的改善提高和适应。他们称即使是人们花费少量的时间去改变心态和信念，也可以影响他们大脑的运作。用他们的话说就是“关于我们的多少能力可以改变的信息，可以影响我们的学习、成就和表现。”

The study was published in the journal Biological Psychology. I’m Christopher Cruise.

该研究被发表在《生物心理学》杂志上，我是克里斯多夫·克鲁斯。

You may have heard people say that hard work is more important than the intelligence you are born with. Recently, researchers noted changes in the brains of individuals immediately after they were told this.

Hans Schroder led a study at Michigan State University. Mr. Schroder is a student at the university. As he noted, whether or not what people were told was true, “giving people messages that encourage learning and motivation may promote more efficient performance.”

In the study, two groups read different stories about intelligence. One story said intelligence levels are a product of our genetic material and cannot be changed. The researchers called this, the “fixed mindset.” The other story discussed how difficult living environments probably made individuals like Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein highly intelligent. Researchers called this the “growth mindset.”

Later, the researchers tested the groups’ members on what they had just read. Mr. Schroeder and his team watched their brain activity as they answered questions about the main subjects in the story.

The researchers say they found that small messages about our abilities can have a big effect on our beliefs about what we are able to do.

The people who read that intelligence comes from genes worked to answer the questions correctly. But their test results did not improve on later exams.

But the opposite was true among those who read that intelligence can come from hard work. They showed what the researchers called a more efficient brain response after they were told their answer was wrong. This suggests they thought they could give the correct answer on the next test. And the more these individuals thought about their mistakes, the faster they answered the questions on the next test.

The researchers say the study showed that those who had a growth mindset made efforts to improve and adapt. They say even a small amount of time spent on changing the mindset, or beliefs, of individuals can affect how their brain operates. In their words, “messages about how much our abilities can change affect learning, achievement, and performance.”

The study was published in the journal Biological Psychology.

I’m Christopher Cruise.

VOA correspondent Faith Lapidus reported this story from Washington. Christopher Cruise wrote it for Learning English. George Grow edited it.

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Words in This Story

intelligence/intelligent - adj., quick to understand or learn

study - v., to make an effort to gain knowledge by using the mind; to examine carefully

different - adj., not the same

effect - n., the result or change caused by something -- “The storm had a serious effect on the economy.”

correct - adj., true; free from mistakes; v., to change to what is right