要想瞬間能力現，七種竅門不能少

People form impressions of your personality in a matter of seconds.
人們只需幾秒鐘就能形成你的個性印象。

It's not necessarily fair, but it's reality.
這不一定公平，可卻是事實。

Especially in a professional setting, one thing you'll want to immediately appear is competent: knowledgeable, skilled, and capable.
尤其是在一個專業背景下，你想要立刻顯現的是你的能力：知識淵博，技巧嫺熟，並且能幹。

Fortunately, there are ways to make yourself seem competent as soon as you meet an interviewer, coworker, client, or boss (and sometimes even as soon as they see your photograph).
幸運的是，在你一遇到面試官，同事，顧客或者老闆時（有時甚至是他們一看到你的照片時），有一些方法可以讓你自己看起來有能力。

Here are seven easy, sneaky strategies for appearing as competent as possible:
下面這七種容易的、不夠光明正大的策略會讓你儘可能顯得有能力：

k quickly
1.說話語速快點

If you've got something to say, say it fast.
如果你有話要說，請說得快點。

In one study, Brigham Young University researchers had 28 university students listen to recordings of six people whose voices had been manipulated to sound slower or faster than normal.
在一項研究中，楊百翰大學的研究人員讓28名大學生去聽6個人的錄音，他們的聲音經控制後聽起來比正常語速更慢或者更快些。

The student volunteers rated the speakers most competent when their voices had been sped up and least competent when their voices had been slowed down.
當加快語速時，學生志願者們認爲該說話者最有能力；當放慢語速時，他們認爲該說話者最無能。

you’re a woman, consider wearing makeup
2.如果你是一名女性，請考慮化妝。

Research suggests that wearing makeup can make women seem more competent.
研究顯示，化妝可以讓女性顯得更有能力。

In 2011, Nancy Etcoff at Harvard University led a study in which more than 250 adults looked at photographs of 25 women with different types of makeup. One-quarter of them wore no makeup; one quarter were made to look "natural" (some makeup); one quarter were made to look "professional" (a bit more makeup than the "natural" group); and one quarter were made look "glamorous" (the most makeup).
在2011年，哈佛大學的南茜·埃特考夫率領做了一項研究，她讓250多名成年人去看25張化了不同類型妝容的女性的照片。這些照片中四分之一的人沒有化妝，其他四分之一的人化得看起來“很自然”（化了一點妝）；另外四分之一的人化得看起來“很專業”（比“自然的”那組化妝更多點）；最後四分之一的人化得看起來“光彩照人”（化妝最多）。

As it turns out, judges rated the "glamorous" women the most competent and the barefaced women the least competent.
事實證明，評判員們評價那些“光彩照人”的女性最有能力，評價那些不化妝的女性最無能。

for advice...
3.徵求意見

You might fear that asking for help will make you look stupid.
你可能會擔心尋求幫助會讓你看起來很愚蠢。

But recent research from Harvard Business School suggests that asking for advice can instead make you seem more competent.
但哈佛商學院的最近一次調查顯示，相反的，徵求意見可以讓你看起來更有能力。

In one experiment, 170 university students worked on a series of computer tasks and were told they'd be matched with a partner who would complete the same tasks. (The partner was really a computer simulation.) When they'd finished the tasks, the "partner" either said, "I hope it went well" or "I hope it went well. Do you have any advice?"
在一項實驗中，170位大學生致力於一系列的計算機任務，同時他們還配有一個搭檔來完成同樣的任務。（這個搭檔是一個真正的計算機模擬。）當他們已經完成任務時，“他們的搭檔”不是說“我希望它進展順利”，就是說“我希望它進展順利，你有什麼建議嗎?”。

As it turns out, students who'd been asked for advice rated their "partner" more competent than those who hadn't been asked for advice.
事實證明，對向他們徵求了意見的“搭檔們”，學生們評價其更有能力些，而沒有得到“搭檔們”意見徵求的學生們則不然。

The researchers explain that when you ask for advice, you're validating the person's intelligence and experience, so they feel good about you in turn.
研究人員對此解釋說，當你在徵求意見時，表示你認可他們的智慧和經驗，所以轉而他們對你的感覺也會很好。

ss you're a man in a leadership position
4.除非你是一個有領導地位的人

While soliciting advice can generally help you look more competent, a 2015 study found that asking for help might make male leaders in particular seem less competent.
雖然一般而言，徵求意見可以使你看起來更有能力，但是2015年的一項研究發現，特別地，徵求意見或許會讓男性領導者顯得不那麼有能力。

Researchers recruited 65 business students to answer questions about their experiences in “leadership ventures,” in which they participated in challenges like mountaineering in Antarctica and climbing a volcano in Ecuador. Students took turns acting as the “leader of the day.”
研究人員招募了65個商科學生來回答有關他們在“冒險活動領導”中的經驗問題，在這個活動中他們參加類似南極洲登山運動，厄瓜多爾火山爬行的挑戰。學生們輪流做那天的領導者。

The researchers asked students to reflect on the behavior of the leader of the day: Some students answered questions about how often the leader sought help, while others answered questions about how competent that same leader seemed.
研究人員要求學生反映領導者那天的行爲：一些學生回答說領導者多久尋求幫助，而其他學生回答說上述的領導者顯得很有能力。

As it turns out, male leaders who reportedly asked for help a lot were rated less competent than male leaders who asked less often.
事實證明，報道評價經常尋求幫助的男性領導者比很少尋求幫助的男性領導者的能力差。

a little cold
5.行爲冷酷點

We tend to judge people on two main traits when we first meet them: warmth and competence. But is it possible to be rated highly on both?
當我們第一次見面時，我們常常從兩個主要特徵來評價別人：熱情和能力。但是在這兩方面會評價很高嗎？

A 2009 study led by Belgian and American psychologists suggests that groups of people who are warmer are also judged as less competent.
在2009年，一項由比利時和美國心理學家共同帶領開展的研究顯示，較熱情的一羣人的評價是不那麼有能力。

About 80 undergrads at an American university read descriptions of two different groups. Each group fell into one of four categories: high on competence and high on warmth; high on competence and low on warmth; low on competence and high on warmth; or low on competence and low on warmth.
在美國一所大學裏，大約80個在校本科生閱讀了兩組不同的說明。每一組屬於4種類別中的一種：能力高熱情高，能力高熱情低，能力低熱情高，或者能力低熱情低。

The participants weren't told that the groups were competent or warm — instead they received descriptions of each group that implied these traits.
研究人員不會告訴參與者哪組人是有能力的或者熱情的，相反，他們會收到表明這些特徵的每一組說明。

Participants were then asked to rate each group on a number of traits. Results showed that high-competence groups were seen as more competent if they were also low on warmth.
然後研究人員讓參與者們就許多特徵來評價每一組。結果顯示，能力高熱情低的那組人被認爲更有能力。

a profile photo taken from a distance
6.貼出一張遠距離的照片

If you're choosing a Facebook or LinkedIn pic, consider selecting one where you're standing a few feet from the camera.
如果你正在選擇一張用於臉書或領英的照片，請考慮選擇一張你距離攝像頭幾英尺遠的照片。

In multiple experiments with hundreds of participants, conducted in 2012, researchers found that 18 white men were considered more competent, trustworthy, and attractive when they were photographed from about 4.5 feet away, as opposed to about 1.5 feet away.
在2012年進行的一項由數百人蔘與的多組實驗中，研究人員發現，拍照距離4.5英尺遠的18位白人被認爲更有才能，更值得信賴和更具吸引力，而不是距離大約1.5英尺遠。

your face look slightly wider
7.讓你的臉看起來稍寬一點

Research from New York University and the University of Connecticut published in 2015 suggests that it's not so easy to make yourself look more competent.
2015年，由紐約大學和康涅狄格大學公佈的調查顯示，讓你自己看起來更有能力並不是很容易。

That's because perceptions of competence — at least when it comes to physical ability — depend largely on your facial structure.
這是因爲能力的認知——至少當提到身體能力時，很大程度上取決於你的面部結構。

In the study, participants looked at male faces whose proportions had been digitally altered, so that some looked wider than others. They were asked to choose which man they thought would win a weightlifting competition. (Presumably, they were choosing based on physical ability, or competence.)
在研究中，參與者觀看那些被數碼修改過的男性面孔，用數碼修改是爲了讓一些人的臉看起來比其他人的稍寬些。研究人員讓他們選出他們認爲能贏得舉重比賽的男性。（很可能他們會基於身體能力或才能來選擇。）

Sure enough, men with wider faces were considered more likely to win the weightlifting competition.
果然，臉稍寬的男性被認爲更可能贏得舉重比賽。

While you can't physically alter your facial structure (without getting cosmetic surgery), you can probably work a little Photoshop magic to make your face look slightly wider than it really is.
然而你不可能肉體上改變你的面部結構（不做整容手術），你只可能使用一點PS的魔力來讓你的臉看起來比真正的稍寬些。