People who suffer from repetitive behaviors are more likely to bite their nails or pull their hair when frustrated—which is a sign of perfectionism(完美主义).

Biting your nails or pulling your hair has long been thought to be a sign of nervousness and anxiety. But new research has found that the unpleasant habit could in fact be a sign of perfectionism.

Experts also found that the behavior was not a sign of anxiety. In tests, participants were more likely to start nibbling when frustrated and bored—both feelings commonly associated with perfectionists.

The so-called body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRB) included nail-biting, hair-pulling and skin-picking. “We believe that individuals with these repetitive behaviors maybe perfectionistic, meaning that they are unable to relax and to perform tasks at a ‘normal’ pace,” said author Professor Kieron O’Connor from the University of Montreal. “They are therefore easy to have frustration, impatience, and dissatisfaction when they do not reach their goals. They also experience greater levels of boredom.” He said that although these behaviors can lead to serious distress, they also seem to satisfy an urge and deliver some form of reward.

Professor O’Connor and his colleagues studied 48 participants—half suffered from repetitive behaviors and the other half didn’t, and acted as a control group. Each participant took part in four sessions designed to cause either feelings of stress, relaxation, frustration, or boredom.

The stress session involved watching a video of a plane crash, while the video in the relaxation section showed waves on a beach. “These results partially support our hypothesis that participants were more likely to engage in repetitive behaviors when they felt bored, frustrated, and dissatisfied than when they felt relaxed,” said study author Sarah Robert. “Moreover, they do engage in these behaviors when they are under stress. This means that condition is not simply due to ‘nervous’ habits. The findings suggest that individuals suffering from these behaviors could benefit from treatments designed to reduce frustration and boredom and to modify perfectionist beliefs.”

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1.What did researchers use to think about people pulling their hair?

A They felt nervous and anxious.

B They felt relaxed and satisfied.

C They felt relaxed and satisfied.

D They felt impatient and bored.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据第二段“Biting your nails or pulling your hair has long been thought to be a sign of nervousness and anxiety”可知，这些不良习惯一 直被认为是紧张和焦虑的表现。故选 A。

2.What does the individual’s habit of picking skin actually mean?

A He is suffering from boredom repetitively.

B He is unable to perform his task in a normal way.

C He is a perfectionist in the work he is doing.

D He doesn’t feel comfort in some part of his body.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题 。根据第四段“We believe that individuals with these repetitive behaviors maybe perfectionistic, meaning that they are unable to relax…”可知，重复这些行为的人其实是完美主义者，因为担心达不到目标, 他们无法放松下来，才有这些被人们认为不好的动作。故选 C。

3.Why were participants asked to watch a video of a plane crash?

A To support the researchers’ hypothesis.

B To observe their nervousness and anxiety.

C To see if it could cause frustration.

D To cause their feelings of stress.

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。根据第六段“The stress session involved watching a video of a plane crash”可知， 让被测试者观看坠机事件的视频是为了观察被 测试者产生的紧张情绪。故选 D。

4.What can be concluded from the passage?

A It’s stress that leads to individual’s suffering from repetitive behaviors.

B If one is no longer a perfectionist, he would stop feeling stressed.

C The unpleasant habits can be removed with frustration reduced.

D One is likely to bite nails or pick his skin when he is relaxed.

解析：选C。C 推理判断题。根据第六段“The findings suggest that individuals suffering from these behaviors could benefit from treatments designed to reduce frustration and boredom…”可以判断，如果减少沮 丧和无聊的话，他们将不会产生紧张情绪，咬手 指或揪头发的不良习惯将得到改变。故选 C。

5.Which column of a newspaper does this article belong to?

A World.

B Lifestyle.

C Culture.

D Science.

解析：选D。D 推理判断题。本文对人们在紧张状态下出现的咬手指、揪头发、撕皮肤等不良习惯进行了心理原因的分析，因此属于“科学”主题。故选D。