文/埃里克·韋納 譯/劉小娟 審訂/馬士奎

移民多天才之奧秘

文/埃里克·韋納 譯/劉小娟 審訂/馬士奎

Having your world turned upside down sparks creative thinking.

Scan the roster of history’s intellectual and artistic giants, and you quickly notice something remarkable:Many were immigrants or refugees,from Victor Hugo, W.H. Auden and Vladimir Nabokov to Nikolas Tesla,Marie Curie and Sigmund Freud. At the top of this pantheon sits the genius’s genius: Einstein. His “miracle year” of 1905, when he published no fewer than four groundbreaking scientific papers,occurred after he had emigrated from Germany to Switzerland.

[2] Lost in today’s immigration debate is this unavoidable fact: An awful lot of brilliant minds blossomed in alien soil. That is especially true of the U.S.,a nation de fi ned by the creative zeal1zeal熱情。of the newcomer. Today, foreign-born residents account for only 13% of the U.S.population but hold nearly a third of all patents and a quarter of all Nobel prizes awarded to Americans.

[3] But why? What is it about the act of relocating to distant shores—voluntarily or not—that sparks creative genius?

[4] When pressed to explain, we usually turn to a tidy2tidy清清楚楚的。narrative: Scruffy3scruffy邋遢的；不整齊的。but determined immigrant, hungry for success, arrives on distant shores. Immigrant works hard. Immigrant is bolstered4bolster援助,支持。by a supportive family, as well as a wider network from the old country.

[5] It is an inspiring narrative—but it is also misleading. That fierce drive might explain why immigrants and refugees succeed in their chosen fi elds, but it fails to explain their exceptional creativity. It fails to explain their genius.

[6] Recent research points to an intriguing5intriguing有趣的。explanation. Several studies have shed light on the role of “schema6schema（計(jì)劃或理論的）提要，綱要。violations7violation違反，違背?！?in intellectual development. A schema violation occurs when our world is turned upside-down, when temporal8temporal時(shí)間的。and spatial9spatial空間的。cues are offkilter100 off-kilter異乎尋常的；離奇的。.

[7] In a study led by the Dutch psychologist Simone Ritter and published in theJournal of ExperimentalSocial Psychology, researchers asked some subjects to make breakfast in the“wrong” order and others to perform the task in the conventional manner. Those in the fi rst group—the ones engaged in a schema violation—consistently demonstrated more “cognitive fl exibility,” a prerequisite for creative thinking.

[8] This suggests that it isn’t the immigrant’s ambition that explains his creativity but his marginality11marginality邊際；邊緣。. Many immigrants possess what the psychologist Nigel Barber calls “oblique12oblique傾斜的。perspective.” Uprooted13uproot（使）離開家園（或熟悉的地方等）。from the familiar, they see the world at an angle,and this fresh perspective enables them to surpass the merely talented. To paraphrase the philosopher Schopenhauer: Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.

[9] Freud is a classic case. As a little boy, he and his family joined a fl ood of immigrants from the fringes14fringe邊緣。of the Austro-Hungarian empire to Vienna, a city where, by 1913, less than half the population was native-born. Freud tried to fit in. He wore lederhosen15lederhosen（阿爾卑斯山民的）皮短褲。and played a local card game called tarock, but as a Jew and an immigrant, he was never fully accepted. He was an insider-outsider,residing far enough beyond the mainstream to see the world through fresh eyes yet close enough to propagate16propagate宣傳。his ideas.

[10] Marie Curie, born and raised in Poland, was frustrated by the lack of academic opportunities in her homeland. In 1891, at age 24,she immigrated to Paris. Life was difficult at first; she studied during the day and tutored in the evenings. Two years later, though, she earned a degree in physics, launching a stellar17stellar杰出的；優(yōu)秀的。career that culminated18culminate達(dá)到高潮。with two Nobel prizes.

[11] Exceptionally creative people such as Curie and Freud possess many traits, of course, but their “openness to experience”19經(jīng)驗(yàn)開放性是西方國(guó)家廣泛應(yīng)用于人才測(cè)評(píng)以及職場(chǎng)招聘中的五因素人格理論模式（Five Factor Model)所描述的一種人格特質(zhì)，指一個(gè)人喜歡嘗試新點(diǎn)子和新活動(dòng)的程度。is the most important,says the cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman of the University of Pennsylvania. That seems to hold for entire societies as well.

[12] Consider a country like Japan,which has historically been among the world’s most closed societies. Examining the long stretch20stretch（連續(xù)的）一段時(shí)間。of time from 580 to 1939, Dean Simonton of the University of California compared Japan’s “extra cultural influx” (from immigration,travel abroad, etc.) in different eras with its output in such fields as medicine,philosophy, painting and literature. Dr.Simonton found a consistent correlation21correlation相互關(guān)系 （尤指互有因果關(guān)系）。: the greater Japan’s openness, the greater its achievements.

[13] It isn’t necessarily new ideas from the outside that directly drive innovation, Dr. Simonton argues. It’s simply their presence as a goad22goad刺激；鼓勵(lì)。. Some people start to see the arbitrary nature of many of their own cultural habits and open their minds to new possibilities.Once you recognize that there is another way of doing X or thinking about Y, all sorts of new channels open to you, he says. “The awareness of cultural variety helps set the mind free,” he concludes.

[14] History bears this out. In ancient Athens, foreigners known as metics233 metic（古希臘城邦中）享有部分公民權(quán)的外僑。(today we’d call them resident aliens24resident alien〈美英〉外僑。)contributed mightily to the city-state’s brilliance. Renaissance Florence recruited the best and brightest from the crumbling25crumbling破碎的。Byzantine Empire. Even when the “extra cultural in fl ux” arrives uninvited, as it did in India during the British Raj26Raj英國(guó)統(tǒng)治印度的時(shí)期。, creativity sometimes results. The intermingling27intermingle混合。of cultures sparked the “Bengal Renaissance” of the late 19th century.

[15] In a 2014 study published in theCreativity Research Journal, Dr. Ritter and her colleagues found that people did not need to participate directly in a schema violation in order to boost their own creative thinking. Merely watching an actor perform an “upside-down” task did the trick28do the trick達(dá)到目的；達(dá)到（預(yù)期的）效果。, provided that the participants identi fi ed with the actor. This suggests that even non-immigrants bene fi t from the otherness29otherness相異；他物。of the newcomer.

[16] Not all cultural collisions end happily, of course, and not all immigrants become geniuses. The diversity that spurs30spur促進(jìn)，激發(fā)。some to greatness sends others into despair. But as we wrestle with31wrestle with全力對(duì)付，設(shè)法解決。our own immigration and refugee policies, we would be wise to view the welcome mat322 welcome mat門前的擦鞋墊。主要用于短語(yǔ)put out the welcome mat，因而引申為“熱烈歡迎，盛情招待”。not as charity but, rather,as enlightened33enlightened開明的；擺脫偏見的。self-interest. Once creativity is in the air34in the air正在發(fā)生；即將到來(lái)。, we all breathe a more stimulating air. ■

顛覆原有世界，激發(fā)創(chuàng)新思維。

縱觀史上知識(shí)界和藝術(shù)界巨人名錄，很快就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)非同尋常之處：許多人都是移民或難民。從維克多·雨果、W. H.奧登和弗拉基米爾·納博科夫，到尼古拉·特斯拉、居里夫人和西格蒙德·弗洛伊德，概莫如是。端坐這一巨人殿堂首席的是天才中的天才：愛因斯坦。1905年是愛因斯坦的“奇跡之年”，這一年，他先后發(fā)表了至少四篇具有突破意義的科學(xué)論文，這恰恰發(fā)生在他從德國(guó)移居瑞士之后。

[2]時(shí)下有關(guān)移民問題的論辯湮沒了一個(gè)無(wú)法回避的事實(shí)：很多才華橫溢的人曾在異國(guó)他鄉(xiāng)大放光彩。在美國(guó)尤其如此，新移民的創(chuàng)新熱情成為這一國(guó)度的顯著特征。如今，外國(guó)出生的居民僅占美國(guó)人口的13%，卻擁有全美近三分之一的專利，在獲諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)的美國(guó)人中，他們也占據(jù)了四分之一。

[3]原因何在？遠(yuǎn)渡重洋——且不說是否出于自愿——何以造就創(chuàng)新天才？

[4]如果非要加以解釋，我們通常會(huì)說得頭頭是道：移民們踏上遙遠(yuǎn)的陸地時(shí)，雖然衣著寒酸，但是意志堅(jiān)定，渴求成功。他們勤奮刻苦，有家人的支持，更為廣泛的來(lái)自家鄉(xiāng)的人脈也是他們的后盾。

[5]這種說法的確鼓舞人心，不過也會(huì)產(chǎn)生誤導(dǎo)。強(qiáng)大的動(dòng)力或許可以說明移民和難民為何在自己選擇的專業(yè)領(lǐng)域取得成功，卻無(wú)法解釋他們的非凡創(chuàng)造力和過人天賦。

[6]最近的研究提出一種有趣的解釋。幾項(xiàng)研究都證明了“違反常規(guī)”在智力發(fā)展中的作用。如果我們的世界發(fā)生翻天覆地的變化，時(shí)空信息紊亂，便會(huì)出現(xiàn)違反常規(guī)的情形。

[7]荷蘭心理學(xué)家西蒙娜·里特領(lǐng)銜進(jìn)行了一項(xiàng)研究，論文發(fā)表在《實(shí)驗(yàn)社會(huì)心理學(xué)雜志》上。研究人員要求部分受試者做早餐時(shí)“不按”慣常順序，其余人則采用常規(guī)方式。結(jié)果前一組違反常規(guī)的人總是展現(xiàn)出更高的“認(rèn)知靈活性”，而這正是創(chuàng)造性思維的先決條件。

弗洛伊德

[8]這表明，移民的創(chuàng)新能力并非源于其雄心壯志，而是其邊緣地位。很多移民具有心理學(xué)家奈杰爾·巴伯所謂的“傾斜視角”。他們背井離鄉(xiāng)，得以用全新視角觀察世界，這使他們超越了那些僅僅天賦異秉的人。套用哲學(xué)家叔本華的話說：能者達(dá)人所不達(dá)，天才達(dá)人所未見。

[9]弗洛伊德就是一個(gè)典型例子。小時(shí)候，他和家人加入難民潮，從奧匈帝國(guó)邊陲來(lái)到維也納。到1913年，維也納土生土長(zhǎng)的當(dāng)?shù)厝诉€不到該城總?cè)丝诘囊话?。弗洛伊德穿皮短褲，玩?dāng)?shù)氐乃_克牌，試圖融入其中。然而，作為猶太移民，他始終沒有被完全接受。他是一個(gè)局內(nèi)的局外人，站在離主流社會(huì)足夠遠(yuǎn)的地方，能用全新的眼光審視這個(gè)世界，同時(shí)又離得足夠近，得以宣傳自己的思想。

[10]居里夫人在波蘭出生和長(zhǎng)大，苦于在自己的祖國(guó)缺少求學(xué)機(jī)會(huì)，1891年，24歲的她移居巴黎。起初，生活非常艱難，她只好白天學(xué)習(xí)，晚上做家教。不過兩年后，她獲得物理學(xué)碩士學(xué)位，由此投入科研事業(yè)，成就斐然，曾兩次榮獲諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)，達(dá)到事業(yè)的頂峰。

[11]賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)認(rèn)知心理學(xué)家斯科特·巴里·考夫曼說, 毋庸置疑，像居里夫人和弗洛伊德這樣具有超凡創(chuàng)造力的人當(dāng)然擁有許多特質(zhì)，然而最為重要的是他們都具有“經(jīng)驗(yàn)開放性”。這一點(diǎn)似乎同樣適用于整個(gè)社會(huì)的發(fā)展。

居里夫人

[12]以日本為例，它歷史上曾是世界上最封閉的社會(huì)之一。加利福尼亞大學(xué)的迪恩·西蒙頓考察了日本自580年至1939年這段漫長(zhǎng)的歷史，對(duì)日本不同時(shí)期的“外來(lái)文化輸入”（通過移民、出國(guó)旅游等方式）與醫(yī)藥、哲學(xué)、繪畫和文學(xué)等領(lǐng)域的產(chǎn)出做了比較。西蒙頓博士發(fā)現(xiàn)二者始終是相互影響的：日本越開放，成就越大。

[13]西蒙頓博士認(rèn)為，泊來(lái)的新思想未必直接帶來(lái)創(chuàng)新。它們的存在不過是一種刺激因素。一些人開始認(rèn)識(shí)到許多自身文化習(xí)慣的隨意性，故而對(duì)新的可能性持開放心態(tài)。他說，一旦人們意識(shí)到還有另外一種做事或思考的方式，就會(huì)找到各種各樣的新出路。西蒙頓由是得出結(jié)論：“認(rèn)識(shí)文化多樣性有助于解放心智?！?/p>

[14]歷史證明了這一點(diǎn)。在古雅典，人稱“外邦人”的外國(guó)人（今天我們會(huì)稱其為外僑）為整個(gè)城邦的輝煌做出了卓越貢獻(xiàn)。文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期的佛羅倫薩就從搖搖欲墜的拜占庭帝國(guó)招募了最杰出的人才。即使“外來(lái)文化輸入”系不請(qǐng)自來(lái)，正如英國(guó)殖民統(tǒng)治下的印度所處的局面，有時(shí)也會(huì)激發(fā)創(chuàng)新。19世紀(jì)晚期的“孟加拉文藝復(fù)興”即是文化融合的產(chǎn)物。

[15]里特博士及其同事的一項(xiàng)研究成果2014年發(fā)表于《創(chuàng)造力研究雜志》。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，人們不必通過直接參與違反常規(guī)的活動(dòng)來(lái)提升創(chuàng)新思維能力。僅僅旁觀“違反常規(guī)”之舉就可以有所收獲，只要你能認(rèn)同這種做法。這就表明，即使非移民也能從新移民的不同之處獲益。

[16]當(dāng)然，并非所有文化碰撞都有美滿結(jié)局。同樣，也并非所有移民都能成為天才。文化多樣性造就一些偉人，同時(shí)也讓另一些人深陷絕望。不過，在斟酌移民和難民政策時(shí)，我們應(yīng)該明智地認(rèn)識(shí)到，歡迎移民并非慈善之舉，而是出于對(duì)自身利益的開明考慮。一旦創(chuàng)新之風(fēng)興起，人人都會(huì)感受到更強(qiáng)的激勵(lì)。 □

The Secret of Immigrant Genius

ByEric Weiner

（譯者單位：中央民族大學(xué)外國(guó)語(yǔ)學(xué)院）