Psychologists have known for a long time that economists are wrong. Most economists—at least, those of the classical persuasion—believe that any financial gain, however small, is worth having. But psychologists know this is not true. They know because of the ultimatum game, the outcome of which is often the rejection of free money.
In this game, one player divides a pot of money between himself and another. The other then chooses whether to accept the offer. If he rejects it, neither player benefits. And despite the instincts of classical economics, a stingy (小气的) offer (one that is less than about a quarter of the total) is, indeed, usually rejected. The question is, why?
One explanation of the rejectionist strategy is that human psychology is adapted for repeated interactions rather than one-off trades. In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game. Rejecting a stingy offer in a one-off game is thus just a single move in a larger strategy. And indeed, when one-off ultimatum games are played by trained economists, who know all this, they do tend to accept stingy offers more often than other people would. But even they have their limits. To throw some light on why those limits exist, Terence Burnham of Harvard University recently gathered a group of students of microeconomics and asked them to play the ultimatum game. All of the students he recruited were men.
Dr. Burnham’s research budget ran to a bunch of $40 games. When there are many rounds in the ultimatum game, players learn to split the money more or less equally. But Dr. Burnham was interested in a game of only one round. In this game, which the players knew in advance was final and could thus not affect future outcomes, proposers could choose only between offering the other player $25 (i.e. more than half the total) or $5. Responders could accept or reject the offer as usual. Those results recorded, Dr. Burnham took saliva (唾液) samples from all the students and compared the testosterone levels assessed from those samples with decisions made in the one-round game.
As he describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the responders who rejected a low final offer had an average testosterone level more than 50% higher than the average of those who accepted. Five of the seven men with the highest testosterone levels in the study rejected a $5 ultimate offer but only one of the 19 others made the same decision.
What Dr. Burnham’s result supports is a much deeper rejection of the tenets of classical economics than one based on a slight mis-evolution of negotiating skills. It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity. They would rather accept less themselves than see a rival get ahead. That is likely to be particularly true in individuals with high testosterone levels, since that hormone is correlated with social dominance in many species.
Economists often refer to this sort of behavior as irrational. In fact, it is not. It is simply, as it were, differently rational. The things that money can buy are merely means to an end—social status—that brings desirable reproductive opportunities. If another route brings that status more directly, money is irrelevant.
1. According to the passage, psychologists are different from economists in that ______.
2. In the third paragraph, the sentence “In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game.” means that ______.
3. The result of Dr. Burnham’s study in the one-round game players shows that ______.
4. The point Dr. Burnham has concluded from his study is that ______.
5. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the behavior of rejecting a low offer mentioned in the passage?
问题1选项
A.they think any financial gain is worthless if it could not guarantee the ultimatum game
B.they understand how economists are wrong by proving trivial financial gain could be ignored
C.they believe that it is necessary to reject some trivial gains to get bigger ones
D.they have known for a long time that from the perspective of psychology, financial gains are not worth pursuing
问题2选项
A.taking an uncompromising attitude at the beginning will lose more in the future rounds of the game
B.people who are not so calculating at the beginning will get good returns in the end
C.people who are selfless will get more in the end
D.taking a tough line at the beginning will pay more cost in the future game
问题3选项
A.men with high testosterone levels are usually more motivated to reject by the low offer
B.the fact testosterone is closely connected with social dominance proves people could hardly see a rival go ahead
C.men with high testosterone are more likely to reject the tenets of classical economics
D.men with high testosterone pay more attention to the relative gains
问题4选项
A.money is irrelevant when people seek for reproductive opportunities
B.people prefer non-financial ways to fulfill their purpose of gaining social status
C.what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity
D.the definition of rationality is different between the fields of economics and psychology
问题5选项
A.This kind of behavior is irrational as matter of fact.
B.This kind of behavior pays more attention to the social status rather than money.
C.This kind of behavior could bring desirable reproductive opportunities.
D.This kind of behavior is rational from a long view.
第1题:C
第2题:D
第3题:D
第4题:C
第5题:D
第1题:
推理判断题。由题干可以定位到文章第一段第二、三句Most economists—at least, those of the classical persuasion—believe that any financial gain, however small, is worth having. But psychologists know this is not true.（大多数经济学家——至少是那些持传统观点的经济学家——相信任何经济收益，无论多么小，都值得拥有。但心理学家知道这不是真的。），说明心理学家和经济学家的分歧在于心理学家看到的是最终的结果，而经济学家注重的是切实的利润，心理学家认为并不是所有的小利益都要去追求，可以舍小取大。因此C选项“他们认为有必要拒绝一些小收益以获得更大的收益”正确。A选项“他们认为任何经济利润如果不能保证最后获胜就是没有用的”，原文没有说不能保证最后获胜的经济利润是没用的，所以A错误。B选项“通过证明小的经济利润可以被忽略，他们认为经济学家们是错误的”，小的经济利润可以被忽略这一点没有被证明，所以B错误。D选项“他们知道长久以来，从心理学的角度来看，经济利润是不值得去追求的”，由原文可知，不值得追求的是小收益，而不是经济利润，所以D错误。
第2题:
推理判断题。由题干可以定位到文章第三段第二、三句In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game. Rejecting a stingy offer in a one-off game is thus just a single move in a larger strategy.（在这种情况下，在一开始采取如果是自我牺牲的强硬的路线会在未来的游戏中获得好处。因此，在一次性游戏中，拒绝吝啬的报价只是大战略中的一步棋。），说明如果拒绝吝啬的出价会是更大策略中的一步，也就是说一开始不要贪得所有的大小利益，而是要有长远的眼光，这样才能取得更大的收益。因此D选项“一开始就采取强硬态度的人在未来的游戏中会付出更多的代价”正确。A选项“从一开始就采取强硬的态度会在未来几轮的游戏中失去得更多”，B选项“那些从一开始就不是很计较的人最后可以获得好的收益”，C选项“无私的人最终会得到更多”在文中均没有提及，所以A、B、C错误。
第3题:
推理判断题。由题干可以定位到文章第五段第一句As he describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the responders who rejected a low final offer had an average testosterone level more than 50% higher than the average of those who accepted.（正如他在《英国皇家学会学报》上所描述的那样，拒绝较低最终报价的应答者的睾丸激素水平比接受报价的应答者的平均水平高出50%以上。），说明睾丸激素水平较高的人更注重相对利润而不是眼前的利益。因此D选项“睾丸激素水平高的人更关注相对收益”正确。A选项“睾丸激素高的人更加有拒绝低报酬的动机”，B选项“睾丸激素和社会优势有着密切的联系，这一事实证明了人们很难看到对手领先”，C选项“有较高睾丸激素的人更趋向于拒绝传统经济法则”在文中均没有提及，所以A、B、C错误。
第4题:
客观细节题。由题干可以定位到文章第六段第一、二句What Dr. Burnham’s result supports is a much deeper rejection of the tenets of classical economics than one based on a slight mis-evolution of negotiating skills. It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity.（伯纳姆博士的结果所支持的，是对古典经济学原理的更深程度的拒绝，而不是基于谈判技巧的轻微错误进化。它支持了人们真正追求的是相对繁荣而不是绝对繁荣的观点。），说明伯纳姆博士最终支持的结论是更深的对传统经济原则的拒绝，人们真正追求的是相对的财富而不是绝对的财富。因此C选项“人们真正追求的是相对繁荣而不是绝对繁荣”正确。A选项“当人们寻求再生机会时，金钱就是无关紧要的了”，B选项“人们更倾向于用非金钱的方式来实现他们取得社会地位的目标”，原文说的是如果另外一条路可以更为直接地导致这种情形，金钱就是不相关的，所以A、B错误。D选项“经济学和心理学对于理性的定义是不一样的”，原文没有明确指出理性的定义在两个学科中是完全不同的，所以D错误。
第5题:
推理判断题。由题干可以定位到文章最后一段Economists often refer to this sort of behavior as irrational. In fact, it is not. It is simply, as it were, differently rational. The things that money can buy are merely means to an end—social status—that brings desirable reproductive opportunities. If another route brings that status more directly, money is irrelevant.（经济学家经常认为这种行动是不理智的。实际上这是理智的，只是不同的理智而已。金钱可以买到的只是达到某个目的的方法而已，如社会地位，达到目的便给人们带来他们想要的不断再生的机会。如果有另外一条路可以更为直接地达到目的，金钱就是不相关的。），说明经济学家认为这种行为是不理智的，而实际上是一种理智的行为，心理学家从更高更深的层面来看，金钱只是达到目的的一种手段，而为了达到一定的目的拒绝眼前小的利益是理智的行为。因此D选项“从长远来看，这种行为是理性的”正确。A选项“这种行为在事实上是不理性的”，B选项“这种行为更注重社会地位而不是金钱”，C选项“这种行为可以带来期望的再产出机会”均不符合题意，所以A、B、C错误。
