提醒：点这里加小编微信（领取免费资料、获取最新资讯、解决考教师一切疑问！）
Over the past year, visitors to the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City have been revealing their deepest fears and wishes. As part of a special exhibition, museum-goers were invited to write down their secrets on small pieces of vellum paper and hang the entries on a wall for everyone to see. On one side, people posted their anxieties; on the other side, their hopes. Thousands of visitors contributed lines like,"I'm anxious because I'm afraid I'll die alone,""I'm anxious because I might miss my chance to become a mom," and "I'm hopeful
because life is beautiful and I will feel happy soon.”
This exhibition, A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful was a catalog of anonymous confessions, a place where people willingly exposed their weakness and flaws. More than 50,000 entries expressed thoughts that many people wouldn't otherwise share publicly due to fear of rejection and shame.
But psychological research suggests that such fear can be overblown in people's minds. Often, there's a mismatch between how people perceive their vulnerabilities and how others interpret them. We tend to think showing vulnerability makes us seem weak, inadequate, and flawed—a mess. But when others see our vulnerability, they might perceive something quite different, something alluring. A recent set of studies calls this phenomenon "the beautiful mess effect".
The researcher s—Anna Bruk, Sabine G. Scholl, and Herbert Bless of the University of Mannheim in Germany—found evidence for the beautiful mess effect across six studies involving hundreds of participants. Bruk and her colleagues define vulnerability as the willingness to expose yourself emotionally to another person despite being afraid and despite the risks. In their studies, the team asked participants to imagine themselves in a variety of vulnerable situations—such as confessing romantic feelings to your best friend, being the first to apologize to your romantic partner after a big fight, and admitting that you made a serious mistake to your team at work. When people imagined themselves in those situations, they tended to believe that showing vulnerability would make them appear weak and inadequate. But when people imagined someone else in those situations, they were more likely to describe showing vulnerability as "desirable"and"good".
To find out why the difference exists, Bruk and her team tested a theory about how the human mind processes information. They found that when we think about our own vulnerability, it's more concrete and real, because we are so close to it. Under that magnified perspective, our imperfections are clearer, and it's easier to identify everything that might go wrong. But when we think about another person's vulnerability, it's more distant and abstract.
We can take a wider perspective that allows us to see not just the bad, but the good as well.
Research beyond Bruk's generally supports the notion that people tend to admire vulnerability in others. When people show vulnerability at school or work, such as by asking for advice and help, they appear more competent to their advisers and supervisors — and opening up in personal relationships can even make people fall in love with each other. But there are times when being vulnerable can backfire—when it comes across less as beauty and
more as straight-up mess.
38.Why does the author mention "Rubin Museum of Art" at the beginning of the passage?
A.To attract more people to visit New York.
B.To share some special exhibitions of the museum.
C. To raise readers' interest in revealing people's fear and wishes
D.To show the increasingly expressive personality of modern people.
39. What does the phenomenon"the beautiful mess effect"suggest?
A.Everyone should be less afraid of opening up—at least in certain cases.
B.People love seeing openness in themselves rather than in others.
C. We should show vulnerability at school and work.
D. Being vulnerable doesn't cause positive results.
40.What did Bruk and her team ask the participants do in their studies?
A. Use their imagination. B. From two different groups.
C. See the good instead of the bad. D. Raise questions about vulnerability.
41.What does Paragraph 5 mainly talk about?
A. The importance of vulnerability in others.
B.The solutions to making people less vulnerable.
C. The background of participants in Bruk's psychological research.
D.The reason for the difference between how people perceive and interpret vulnerabilities.
提醒：点这里加小编微信（领取免费资料、获取最新资讯、解决考教师一切疑问！）
