世界盃趣事 蘇亞雷斯咬人的科學解析

The most feared jaws in football have again snapped shut on human flesh. Renowned Uruguayan jerk Luis Suárez appeared to chomp the shoulder of Italy's Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup match on Tuesday. The player's latest chomp raises questions about sportsmanship. Namely, what kind of brain decides it is OK, in the course of athletic performance, to seize part of a competitor's body between your teeth like a rabid pit bull?

球場上最可怕的大白鯊又咬人了，高清相機清楚地捕捉到這一幕。週二的世界盃球場上，著名的烏拉圭混蛋路易斯•蘇亞雷斯看起來似乎咬了意大利球員的喬吉奧•基耶利尼。蘇神的咬人事件引起了觀衆對運動員職業道德問題的一片聲討。換而言之，他到底是哪根筋抽風了纔會覺得咬人無罪？從運動員的表現來看，他像發瘋的鬥牛犬一樣去咬了對手的身體。

The psychology of poor sportsmanship is something that generally comes up in the context of child athletes. Acting out on the field can be a sign that a kid doesn't handle competition well, or hasn't yet developed the cortical means to regulate his feelings. By the time you are a grown adult and a professional football player, though, athletic misbehaviour signals something else besides one's presence at a way station on the path to moral maturity.

這個糟糕的運動員心理道德通常與運動員兒時的成長環境有關。蘇亞雷斯在球場上的表現可以看成是小朋友不懂踢足球，或是他連基本的情緒控制方法都不懂。儘管他已經成年併成爲了一個職業足球運動員，但到這之前，在他走向心理成熟的途中，他的不正當舉止也標誌了一些除了個人行爲以外的其他東西。

In adults who aren't world class athletes, poor sportsmanship might indicate an anger issue like intermittent explosive disorder, or any condition-autism, ADHD-that impairs your understanding of social norms. Or you could just be a jerk.

成年人中那些非巨星級的運動員，職業道德的低下可能體現了諸如間歇性爆發混亂症這樣的憤怒問題，或者是任何環境孤僻症，ADHD社會準則意識削弱症等，或者這人本來就是個混蛋。

But according to Dr. Richard D. Ginsburg, a clinical psychologist and sports psychology consultant for Massachusetts General Hospital, the tantrums of professional players are often made of stronger stuff. "You have athletes who are highly driven to win, fiercely competitive, and who must increase their intensity in ways that involve physical contact with others," he says. And because they are doing all this in situations-like a World Cup match-that are highly visible and drenched with meaning, the adrenaline generated is tremendous. "An intense amount of arousal is required," Ginsburg says. "It's the moment. The media exposure. Learning how to harness your aggression in a way that's effective and balanced is an art form for pro athletes. People don't appreciate how hard it is."

但按照Richard D. Ginsburg博士的說法，作爲麻州綜合醫院的一個臨牀心理學家和運動學心理顧問，他認爲職業球員的憤怒是被高壓逼出來的。他說：“運動員們爲了拿下比賽，被迫激烈地拼搶，提高運動強度並且與別人發生肢體接觸。”而且正因爲在這全球矚目並充滿意義的世界盃比賽裏，運動員更是如此，使他們產生了更多的腎上腺素。“他們需要大量的刺激，” Ginsburg說，“在這樣關鍵時刻。在媒體的聚光燈下，學會如何利用自己的憤怒來提高球場上的效率並且保持心理平衡是一個職業球員應掌握的藝術。觀衆不會知道這有多難。”

Ginsburg, who has never met or treated Suárez, told me he was reluctant to make assumptions about the footballer's character in particular. But as a general rule, he says that putting a player with poor impulse control in such a hypercharged context is like sprinkling your fireplace with gunpowder. "It's the situation and it's also who we're dealing with," he says. "These huge emotional outbursts can start to make a kind of sense."

Ginsburg從來沒有見過和治療過蘇亞雷斯，他告訴我他不太願意刻意對該名球員的性格做出任何假設。但按照一般規則來說，這種咬人之舉就像把火藥丟進火爐一樣，體現了蘇神對衝動薄弱的自控力。“這種情況和這樣的人是我們正在研究的對象，”他說：“這些心理大爆發行爲開始有了它們的意義。”

Bad sportsmanship occasionally pays off, as when a player might hypothetically handle the ball off the line in a World Cup match against, say, Ghana. But Ginsburg notes that it would be hard to argue that Suárez's more tooth-focused behaviour was somehow strategic. Though he wasn't penalized for his light Italian snack, FIFA could choose to ban Suárez for the rest of the tournament.

差勁的職業道德偶爾也會有好處，像在世界盃裏對戰加納時，這些職業素質底下的球員可能會經常把球踢出界。有人表示蘇亞雷斯的咬人行爲是戰略安排而不是故意的，但Ginsburg表示這種觀點幾乎站不住腳。雖然蘇亞雷斯在那場比賽上沒有收到裁判的判罰，但是賽後足聯還是判處蘇亞雷斯在剩餘的比賽裏禁賽。

Back in April 2013, when Suárez tenderized the arm of Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic, sports psychologist Dr. Thomas Fawcett echoed this interpretation, speculating that we'd witnessed something "primitive" and "spontaneous." He told the BBC that biting usually signalled frustration and that he suspected Suárez would bite again. Good call, Dr. Fawcett! Give that man a raise.

回到2013年的四月，當蘇亞雷斯咬了切爾西球員伊萬的手臂時，運動心理學家托馬斯福斯特博士就不斷解釋了他的猜想，在蘇亞雷斯身上我們一起見證了“原始的”和“無意識的”的野蠻精神。他那會就告訴BBC咬人這種行爲是蘇神失望的表現，他懷疑蘇亞雷斯會再咬人。太牛了，這個預言果然應驗，福斯特，爲你點個贊。