实验证明：喝咖啡，保节操

    一项由来自三所大学的教授合作的研究表明，咖啡因或许可以让睡眠不足的人更为诚实。这样看来，大家又多了一个理由再来一杯卡布奇诺。

    “我们的研究显示，缺少睡眠会导致人们对社交影响的敏感程度提高，因此就会更容易做出一些有违道德的行为，比如老板让你去实施某种欺骗行为的时候，”研究的合作者迈克•克里斯蒂安说道，他是北卡罗莱纳大学肯南弗拉格勒商学院（Kenan-Flagler Business School）组织行为学教师。他补充说：“但咖啡因却可在你疲倦不堪的时候，增强你的自控能力和意志力，以抵消这些影响。”

    这项结论对管理者来说非常重要，克里斯蒂安说：“我们倾向于认为，不眠不休、努力工作的员工才是好员工，但是这些人同样也容易干出有违道德的事情。管理者们要特别注意那些长时间工作而又睡眠不足的员工。”

    这项发表在《应用心理学杂志》（Journal of Applied Psychology）三月号上的研究于2011年调查了171位医院护士。研究人员发现，在长时间工作却不睡觉的情况下，这些护士都表现出了更多的“敌意以及包括偷窃在内的欺诈行为，她们的自制力也出现下降”，克里斯蒂安说。

    在这项研究（顺便说一下，这项研究并不是星巴克赞助的）中，志愿者们一夜没睡，随后被分成两组。实验人员要求他们早上嚼口香糖，但其中一组的口香糖中含有冬青草安慰剂，而另一组的口香糖中则含有200克咖啡因，相当于两杯黑咖啡中咖啡因的含量。

    随后，实验参与者们被安排在一个场景中，研究人员“鼓励他们用谎言来赢取更多的钱，”克里斯蒂安说。“我们尝试模拟这样一种场景，也就是，老板或者同事给他们施压，要求他们在工作中违背道德，捞取好处。”

    实验结果显示，在研究人员不断催促他们欺诈的压力下，那些额外摄入了咖啡因的被试验者一致表示拒绝；而那些筋疲力尽、只是嚼了无咖啡因口香糖的实验者们却表现出放弃道德感，愿意实施欺骗的倾向性。

    对于那些力图减少工作中品行不端现象的雇主们来说，应该确保员工不用长时间工作而得不到休息。研究认为，要“避免在截止期限临近、长时间工作不可避免的时候，安排需要极大自制力的工作。另外，研究人员还提出了两个建议：在办公室中设置午休室，也不要不舍得提供免费的咖啡。

    克里斯蒂安说：“我们的实验无法解释人们做出有悖道德之举的全部原因，但是结论的意义十分重大”。他指出，全国睡眠基金会（National Sleep Foundation）的数据显示，大部分美国人每晚平均睡眠时间只有5.5个小时，而低于7小时的睡眠时间都会被临床诊断为“睡眠不足”。

    那么，比起1999年来，如今的我们是否更加“不道德”呢？毕竟在当时，大部分美国人声称自己每晚至少会睡7个小时。答案或许是否定的，因为我们的咖啡因摄入量也在提高。美国咖啡协会（The National Coffee Association）是一个爪哇咖啡生产商和经销商的贸易团体。这个协会上个月发布的年度报告指出，我们消费的卡布奇诺、拿铁以及其他浓缩咖啡的总量比2013年上涨了18%。（财富中文网）

    译者：唐昕昕

    As if you needed another reason to run out for another cappuccino, along comes a new study by three university professors suggesting that caffeine may help make the sleep-deprived more honest.

    "Our research shows that sleep deprivation contributes to unethical behavior at work by making you more susceptible to social influences, such as a boss who tells you to do something deceptive," says Michael Christian, a co-author of the study who teaches organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School. "Caffeine can help you resist by strengthening your self-control and willpower when you're exhausted."

    The findings are important for managers, he adds: "We tend to think of people who work nonstop as the best employees. But they are often the ones making the worst ethical choices. It's the people working the longest hours, and getting the least sleep, that managers need to keep their eye on."

    The research, published in the March issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, built on a 2011 study of 171 hospital nurses who showed "increases in hostility and dishonesty, including theft, and decreases in self-control" after working long shifts without sleep, Christian said.

    For this study -- which, by the way, wasn't sponsored by Starbucks -- volunteers who had been kept awake all night were divided into two groups. All were asked to chew gum in the morning, but one group got a plain wintergreen placebo, while the other chomped on gum laced with 200 milligrams of caffeine, or about the same amount that's in two cups of black coffee.

    The participants were then put in situations where researchers "encouraged them to go along with a lie in order to earn some extra money," Christian says. "We tried to replicate a situation where a boss or a peer was pressuring them to cut ethical corners at work."

    The results: Those who got the extra boost of caffeine consistently balked when researchers urged them to cheat, while those who were just exhausted -- and had chewed the non-caffeinated gum -- showed a marked willingness to cast conscience aside and go along with the deception.

    Employers who want to reduce the likelihood of misbehavior should make sure people aren't putting in too many long hours without a break and "avoid scheduling tasks that require a great deal of self-control when looming deadlines make long hours unavoidable," the study concludes. Two other suggestions: Put in nap rooms at the office and don't skimp on the free coffee.

    "Our experiment doesn't explain all of people's decisions to do unethical things, but it is significant," says Christian. He points to statistics from the National Sleep Foundation that show that most Americans say they sleep, on average, only about five-and-a-half hours per night. The clinical definition of sleep deprivation is anything under seven.

    So are we less ethical than back in 1999, when most of us claimed to get at least seven hours of shuteye? Maybe not: Caffeine consumption is up, too. The National Coffee Association, a trade group of java producers and purveyors, said in its annual report last month that we're gulping 18% more cappuccinos, lattes, and other espresso-based (read: strong) coffee drinks than we did in 2013.