It is a familiar scene these days: employees taking newly laid-off coworkers out for a comfort drink. But which side deserves sympathy more, the jobless or the still employed?【F1】 Researchers at the University of Cambridge heard data suggesting it"s the latter compared with people who are straight-up laid off, those who keep their job but are under a constant threat of losing it suffer agreater decline in mental well-being. 【F2】 Brendan Burchell, a Cambridge sociologist who presented his analysis based on various surveys conducted across Europe argues that policymakers and employers should prepare for the consequence from the stress and anxiety that the existing workforce is currently suffering. Burchell"s study wasn"t designed to offer direct explanations of the data, but there are established psychological patterns that may suggest them. For example, psychologists have documented an "impact bias in affective forecasting," which is the tendency for people to overestimate how strongly they will react to emotional events. Also pertinent is the theory—backed by so-called positive psychologists—that human beings have an inherited base level of happiness that fluctuates only during periods of change.【F3】 Evolutionary psychologists support this theory by arguing that human beings feel more stress during times of insecurity because they sense an immediate but hard-to-discern threat—the modern-day equivalent of an unseen predator roaring in the trees. It"s better to get the bad news and start doing something about it rather than languish in silence. When the uncertainty is prolonged, people stay in a sustained "fight or flight" response, which leads to damaging stress. But not every employee in insecure industries has such a gloomy view, Burchell says. Entrepreneurs seem to thrive. In general, women fare better too.【F4】 While reporting higher levels of anxiety than men when directly questioned, women scored lower in stress, even when they had a job they felt insecure about losing. As Burchell explains, "For women, most studies show that any job—it doesn"t matter whether it is secure or insecure—gives psychological improvement over unemployment." Burchell hypothesizes that the difference in men is that they tend to feel pressure not only to be employed, but also to be the primary breadwinner, and that more of a man"s self-worth depends on his job. So what kind of advice can Burchell offer to those lucky millions across the globe who are still employed but are worried about losing their job?【F5】 After examining in detail the surveys in search of the key to an even mental health, Burchell came up with, "Nothing. Certainly some individuals cope better, but we don"t know why."

问答题 【F1】

问答题 【F2】

问答题 【F3】

问答题 【F4】

问答题 【F5】