有人说，男人总是“没心没肺”。西班牙一项研究似乎为这一说法提供了佐证。研究人员发现，虽然时代的发展、社会文化的变化使负罪感对人们的约束力降低，但女性对罪恶的感知程度仍较高。造成这一结果的原因并不是女性对罪恶过于敏感，而是男性太“麻木”(numb)。

　　“我们最初的假设是：不论未成年人还是成年人，女性对罪恶的感知都更强烈，她们对人际关系的敏感程度也更高。”研究负责人、西班牙巴斯克地区大学研究员伊西娅尔－埃切瓦利亚说。

　　“Our initial hypothesis was that feelings of guilt are more intense among females, not only among adolescents but also among young and adult women, and they also show the highest scores for interpersonal sensitivity,”says Itziar Etxebarria, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)。

　　该研究刊登在西班牙《西班牙心理学杂志》上。研究人员对三个年龄群的360名人展开调查(156名青少年，96名年轻人和108名成人)，询问他们在什么情况下最有负罪感。每组被调查人员的男女人数均等。同时，研究人员还用“戴维斯同情关怀表”测试调查对象的人际关系敏感度，并专门编制一套问卷来测试调查对象在人际间感知负罪感的能力。

　　The research, published in the Spanish Journal of Psychology, was carried out using a sample from three age groups (156 teenagers, 96 young people and 108 adults) equally divided between males and females. The team of psychologists asked them what situations most often caused them to feel guilt. They also carried out interpersonal sensitivity tests -- the Davis Empathetic Concern Scale, and a questionnaire on Interpersonal Guilt, created purposely for this study。

　　研究人员在对比男性和女性对某种行为负罪感强度高低时发现，各年龄组女性得分均大大高于男性。“这一现象在40岁至50岁年龄组里尤其突出，”埃切瓦利亚说。

　　When it came to comparing the measurements of intensity of habitual guilt of these groups, the researchers saw that this score was significantly higher for women, in all three age groups. “This difference is particularly stark in the 40-50-year-old age group,”points out Etxebarria。

　　数据显示，青少年及年轻女性普遍比同年龄男性得分高。“这和某些教育实践有直接关系。这些实践对女性要求偏多，尽管与大众信仰相违背，这些实践仍被应用。”科学家称。  

　　The data also suggest that female teenagers and young women have higher scores than males of the same age. “This is caused by certain educational practices, which demand more of females, and which are sometimes still in use despite belief to the contrary,” claims the scientist。

　　与此同时，研究人员们还发现了性别差异--与行为负罪感相似--在两组人际关系敏感度数据中，在40－50岁年龄组中男性的敏感度接近女性。

　　The authors also found gender differences -- similar to those noted for habitual guilt -- in the two indices of interpersonal sensitivity, although in the 40-50 age bracket the men’s levels came closer to women’s。

　　男性的人际关系敏感度(尤其是25－33岁的男性)“相对较低”。

　　The interpersonal sensitivity of men (especially those aged between 25-33) is “comparatively low.”

　　负罪感的种类

　　Types of guilt

　　最常见的负罪感多因为自己的行为对他人造成了伤害。因此，人们对那些被自己伤害的人产生移情作用也实属正常，而这也就让我们在认识到自己为他人带来痛苦时产生负罪感。

　　The most common forms of guilt are related to situations where we cause harm to others. Stemming from this, it is normal that this arouses feelings of empathy for the people we may have harmed, which tend to turn into feelings of guilt when we recognize that we are responsible for their suffering。

　　伊西娅尔－埃切瓦利亚此前的一个调查分析了人们负罪感的经历，主要区分以下两种情形--深有同感的一方(在某种程度上为被自己伤害的人感到抱歉)，另一种就是焦虑不安、咄咄逼人的(不安、侵略型)。

　　A previous study, also headed by Itziar Etxebarria, analyses people’s experiences of guilt, differentiating two components -- one of these being empathetic (sorrow for the person we have harmed in some way) and the other anxious-aggressive (unease and contained aggression)。

　　对那些成长环境中充满责备，以及言行举止受到严格规范、特别是侵害的人们来说，后一种负罪感更常见。“很明显，这种负罪感在女性中更为强烈，尤其是年长的女性。” 埃切瓦利亚表示。

　　The anxious-aggressive kind of guilt is more common in people who have been raised in a more blame-imposing environment, and who are governed by stricter rules about behavior in general and aggression in particular. “It seems obvious that this component will be more intense among women, and especially in older women,”says Etxebarria。

　　在四五十岁群体中，这种负罪感的增多解释了该年龄群行为负罪感强度的明显区别。“而这个年龄段恰恰是男性人际关系敏感度接近女性的阶段。”她解释说。

　　The greater presence of this component among women, above all those aged between 40 and 50, explains the marked differences in the intensity of habitual guilt in this age group, “just at the age when males move towards females in the two indices of interpersonal sensitivity analysed,”she explains。

　　“必须通过教育和一系列社交途径降低女性负罪感太重的焦虑情绪，同时提高男性对人际关系的敏感程度。”埃切瓦利亚说。

　　“Educational practices and a whole range of socialising agents must be used to reduce the trend towards anxious-aggressive guilt among women and to strengthen interpersonal sensitivity among men,” concludes the researcher。