爲什麼有些人總喜歡遲到呢?大綱

We all have one, don't we? A friend who's always late. The one who turns up for coffee a full half hour after the appointed time. The one who seems to be forever 'stuck in traffic'.

我們每個人都有一個這樣的朋友，總是遲到，是吧？這個人過了約咖啡整整半個小時的時間纔出現，而且似乎老會 “遇到堵車”。

The dear pal who sends a message saying "Sorry, bit delayed", when they're already 20 minutes behind schedule. I mean, what kind of a friend is that?

當這位友人已經錯過約會時間20分鐘了，才發個信息說：“不好意思，有點事兒，晚點兒到。”所以，這樣的朋友到底是什麼樣子呢？

Or just maybe, if you're really honest, this persistently tardy individual is actually you yourself?

如果你誠實點兒，或許，這位次次行動慢半拍的友人就是你自己喲！

Either way, if you're on the receiving end, lateness can be extremely irritating, even infuriating. How on earth can people be so inconsiderate?

無論如何，如果你是那個在等待的人，遲到可能令你極其憤怒，甚至怒不可遏。既然如此，人們究竟爲什麼如此不體諒別人呢？

Well, recent research suggests that there might be more to this than simple rudeness.

最近的研究表明，也許除了認爲這個人行事粗魯不禮貌外，似乎另有隱情。

Psychologists from Washington University believe people perceive time differently. Their study gave participants a specific amount of time in which to complete a task, and even provided them with a clock.

華盛頓大學心理學家認爲，這是因爲人們對時間持有的觀念不同。他們給參與研究者設置一定的時間，讓他們完成一項任務，甚至還給他們提供了時鐘。

Despite this, some people became so engrossed in the activity that they completely lost track of time and forgot to check the clock.

儘管這樣，但有些人是那麼地全神貫注，完全忘卻了時間限制，並且都不記得覈對時間了。

According to psychologist Dr Susan Krauss Whitborne, from University of Masachussetts Amherst, this is like when we scroll through our social media feed and think only five minutes have elapsed, when in fact twenty have slipped by. Does that feel familiar?

據馬薩諸塞阿默斯特大學的心理學家蘇珊·克勞斯·懷特本德博士介紹，這種情況就像我們在刷朋友圈，以爲只用了五分鐘的時間，而實際上已經過去了20分鐘一個道理。這種情形熟悉吧？

She writes in Psychology Today that those who were better at clock-checking were therefore "less reliant on their potentially flawed internal timekeeper." So, what about the reasons beyond our faulty inner clocks?

蘇珊博士在《今日心理學》中這樣寫道，那些擅長把握時間的人，“很少會依賴他們自身潛在的對時間把握的感覺。”。所以，是什麼原因超越了我們出錯的內在生物鐘呢？

Well, our personality also plays a role. Laura Clarke writes for BBC Capital that the less punctual among us often share traits such as "optimism, low levels of self-control, anxiety, or a penchant for thrill-seeking".

是這樣的，我們個人也扮演了一個角色。勞拉·克拉克爲BBC Capital這樣寫道, 我們中缺乏準時的人經常有這些特質，例如：樂觀、自控水平低、焦慮、或者有尋求激情的嗜好。

Why optimism, you ask? Optimists tend to overestimate how much they can achieve and underestimate problems – which means they don't account for the long traffic jam on the way to meet you for that coffee.

或許你會問，爲什麼是樂觀的人呢？原因是樂觀的人傾向於不在乎得失多少，輕視難題，那就是說，他們不在乎與你約咖啡在路上堵車堵了多長時間。

Here's another thought: maybe language is to blame? The English phrase 'to be fashionably late' is used to describe the optimum time to arrive at an event.

還有一種觀點是：也許語言上是種責備語氣吧？英語中這句“流行遲到”經常被認爲是在一件事上，時間是彈性的。

If you're too early, you can appear overly eager, but if you're a bit late you seem cool and sophisticated. The problem is, what one person regards as fashionably late, another may view as plain impolite.

如果到的太早，可能顯得你太着急了，但是如果遲到了一點兒，反而覺得有點酷而且老道。問題是一個人會持有流行遲到這種觀點，而另一個人可能認爲這樣太不禮貌。

So, next time you have coffee, do try to be on time.

因此，下次和盆友約咖啡，儘量準時嘍！