2/23/2009

講座看人性

我的工作性質一直都是需要面對人,演講的機會非常的多。做了許多年大大小小的講座,這之中的所學得的人性不少。

有人說台上三分鐘,台下十年功,一點都沒有錯,而且越短的演講越難準備,聽的人越少也越難準備。不信?我們可以從另一個角度去看:

演講發現的人性第一條-人越多,人越笨。

通常您會注意到,大概是人多氧氣不足的關係,不管你是早上十點還是下午五點,一定有人會哈欠連連,甚至直接睡著。有人可能會說,一定是演講得太無聊,不夠生動。並不是,大腦缺氧就是缺氧,台上做什麼沒有關係。我自己的經驗就有一位,遲到三十分鐘進來,還敢自豪的跟其他人說,我每次都有來聽,坐下後,不到三分鐘就陣亡了。

缺氧的另一個後遺症就是腦的反應會降低,人越多,情況越糟糕。每個人都應該有這經驗,演講的重點可能反覆重複三四次,台下還是會有人問同一個問題,"所以...一加一是多少?",天阿,你之前沒聽見我重覆幾次嗎?還是我應該要配搖滾饒舌歌,你比較好記?

所以為什麼,人越多的演講,東西要準備的越簡單,每個人接受的速度不同,再加上大腦缺氧,更多分心的東西,你說能不簡單嗎? 人少,觀眾覺得演講者注意得到,就比較不敢造次。

演講發現的人性第二條-人越多,人越矜持。

人群有個奇怪的想法,如果演講的人的呼籲,對自己沒關係。我試過不只一次,在詢問觀眾時,沒有任何反應,每個人都睜大眼睛看著我,好像我問得是火星話,還是我剛剛在相聲表演,不用反應。有一次,在一個下雨的日子,面對幾百位觀眾,我拿著麥克風,呼籲大家稍微擠一下,可以多坐一些人,猜猜有幾個人移動自己的屁股?完全沒人,好像都很矜持,怕丟臉。重覆大概四次,才有人慢慢的移動。

所以,從一個人群,我們可以看出人性,人越多,人群的反應就越慢,越愚蠢。從股市,恐怖組織的崛起,戰爭,選舉...都可以看到活生生的例子。在世界走上國際村的同時,我很擔心人類的未來。

2 comments:

Kiki said...

Probably, what is happening is the diffusion of responsibility: the more people are around, the more one tends to think, "he must not mean me," or, "someone else surely will do it." Which is why, in the case of an emergency, the more bystanders there are, it's actually more probable that no one will call the police/ambulance. (Go see the Kitty Genovese case on Wikipedia, it explains this with a concrete case study.)
Thus, in the future, instead of giving any ambiguity as to whom you mean, you can do what is done in emergencies: single people out, like, "You! In the red shirt! Move your ass into another seat!", or, er, perhaps, "May I ask the first row to please all move toward the centre."

Yes, it's true that people do "get dumber" in crowds. You feel anonymous, and thus not responsible for your actions... like riots and mob mentality. It's kind of scary what ugly things can happen when people feel anonymous and urged on by others.

I'm typing this while sitting in one of the densest cities in the world in terms of population. :P

lambofsilence said...

I can totally feel that frustration, Kitty's case reminds me of a story by 侯文詠, his college friend shared a story where he was threatened by a gangster, he had to beg for his life, but a few months later, he found himself folding his arms on his balcony like all his neighbours when he witnessed that gangster been chased and shot by other gangster on the street. It is a cruel and cold world out there. Take good care of yourself, ms. noodle.