聽別人講了半天，最後發現其實他是在瞎掰，你在生活中遇到過這種事嗎？

一項研究顯示，男人比女人更愛不懂裝懂，而且這還是一項“實用技能”，幫助他們拿到了更高的薪水。而在與權威人士交談時，有錢男人不懂裝懂的可能性最高。研究人員稱之爲“胡扯”的技巧。

據《華盛頓郵報》報道，英國倫敦大學學院的專家與澳大利亞天主教大學的研究人員合作，一起研究胡扯這一特性在不同人羣中到底有多普遍。

研究人員要求參與者按照1至5分評價自己對16個不同數學話題的瞭解水平，1分是“從來沒聽說過”，5分是“非常瞭解，理解這個概念”。

這個調查的機關在於，其中三個數學話題是完全虛構的：“固數”、“虛擬縮放”和“說明性分數”。如果參與者表示熟悉或很瞭解這些虛構的話題，他們就會被列爲“胡扯的人”。

研究表明，胡扯的人更有可能“展現出對自己的學術水平和解決問題能力的過度自信”。換句話說，人們應該提防這些吹牛大王——他們最可能有名無實。

研究人員使用了蒐集自9個主要說英語國家的數據，他們發現，與其他地區的人相比，北美地區的人胡扯的可能性更高——加拿大人比美國人更喜歡胡扯。相比而言，在歐洲，胡扯這一特性在男性和富人中出現的可能性要高得多。

這項研究使用了國際學生評估計劃的數據，接受評估的是世界各地的數萬名15歲青少年。相關數據包含參與學生的人口統計信息，還有他們對不同學科的喜好程度，其中就包括虛假的數學知識。

男孩比女孩更傾向於假裝瞭解虛構的數學話題——在數據來源的9個國家都是如此。

研究合著者之一尼基-舒爾告訴《華盛頓郵報》說，對男性來說，這“可以幫助他們掙到更多薪水，也可以部分解釋男女之間工資差距的原因。這對工作面試和評價工作表現也帶來重要啓示。”不過，美國男性和女性在胡扯方面的差距最小，說明在這方面兩性相對比較平等。

研究人員還發現了不同社會階層之間的明顯差異，生活在富豪家庭的人們更喜歡不懂裝懂，而來自最貧窮階層的人們最不愛胡扯。不過，這種差距在美國也最小。

研究還發現，胡扯有時能表現爲一種實用的生活技能，比如在參加工作面試和申請大學入學時。

英文原文

Men are more likely than women to fake expertise they don't have – and rich men are the worst culprits when it comes to speaking with authority on topics they have no idea about, according to a new study.

Researchers call this the art of 'BS.'

Experts at the University College of London partnered with the Australian Catholic University to measure how pervasive the BS trait is among different demographic groups, according to The Washington Post.

They asked study participants to give an assessment of how well they knew 16 different math topics on a scale of 1-5 – with answers ranging from, 'never heard of it' to 'know it well, understand the concept.'

The tricky thing is, three of those topics were completely made up: 'proper numbers,' 'subjunctive scaling' and 'declarative fractions.'

Anyone who said they were familiar or well-versed in the faux specialties was labelled a 'BSer.'

While shooting travel vlogs in Malta, the couple takes photos of themselves using a single-lens reflex camera and a tripod. [Photo by LIU HONGJIA/PEI CAI/FOR CHINA DAILY]

A BSer is more likely to 'display overconfidence in their academic prowess and problem-solving skills,' the study said.

In other words: be wary of braggarts – they're least likely to live up to the reputation they've built for themselves.

Using data from nine predominately English-speaking countries, researchers found that North Americans were more likely to BS than people in other parts of the world – and Canadians are worse than Americans.

By comparison, in Europe the BS trait was much more specific to men and the rich.

The study used data from the Program for International Student Assessment, which is taken by tens of thousands of 15-year-olds around the globe. The dataset included students' demographic information and preferences for different subjects they were studying – including the fake math knowledge questions.

Boys were more likely than girls to pretend they knew what the fabricated math subjects are – a finding that was consistent across all nine countries.

For men, this 'could help them earn higher wages and explain some of the gender wage gap,' study co-author Nikki Shure told The Post. 'This has important implications for thinking about tasks in job interviews and how to evaluate performance.'

However, the gap between men and women was smallest in the United States, suggesting that gender equality is a little more balanced here when it comes to BS.

Researchers also found a major difference between socioeconomic classes, with the people living in richest households more likely to overstate their expertise – and the poorest least likely to indulge in BS.

However, again, the gap was smallest in the US.

The study also suggests that BS could sometimes manifest as a useful life skill, for example during job interviews and college applications.

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