要想瞬间能力现，七种窍门不能少

People form impressions of your personality in a matter of seconds.

人们只需几秒钟就能形成你的个性印象。

It's not necessarily fair, but it's reality.

这不一定公平，可却是事实。

Especially in a professional setting, one thing you'll want to immediately appear is competent: knowledgeable, skilled, and capable.

尤其是在一个专业背景下，你想要立刻显现的是你的能力：知识渊博，技巧娴熟，并且能干。

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).

幸运的是，在你一遇到面试官，同事，顾客或者老板时（有时甚至是他们一看到你的照片时），有一些方法可以让你自己看起来有能力。

Here are seven easy, sneaky strategies for appearing as competent as possible:

下面这七种容易的、不够光明正大的策略会让你尽可能显得有能力：

1.Speak quickly

1.说话语速快点

If you've got something to say, say it fast.

如果你有话要说，请说得快点。

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.

在一项研究中，杨百翰大学的研究人员让28名大学生去听6个人的录音，他们的声音经控制后听起来比正常语速更慢或者更快些。

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.

当加快语速时，学生志愿者们认为该说话者最有能力；当放慢语速时，他们认为该说话者最无能。

2.If you’re a woman, consider wearing makeup

2.如果你是一名女性，请考虑化妆。

Research suggests that wearing makeup can make women seem more competent.

研究显示，化妆可以让女性显得更有能力。

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，哈佛大学的南茜·埃特考夫率领做了一项研究，她让250多名成年人去看25张化了不同类型妆容的女性的照片。这些照片中四分之一的人没有化妆，其他四分之一的人化得看起来“很自然”（化了一点妆）；另外四分之一的人化得看起来“很专业”（比“自然的”那组化妆更多点）；最后四分之一的人化得看起来“光彩照人”（化妆最多）。

As it turns out, judges rated the "glamorous" women the most competent and the barefaced women the least competent.

事实证明，评判员们评价那些“光彩照人”的女性最有能力，评价那些不化妆的女性最无能。

3.Ask for advice...

3.征求意见

You might fear that asking for help will make you look stupid.

你可能会担心寻求帮助会让你看起来很愚蠢。

But recent research from Harvard Business School suggests that asking for advice can instead make you seem more competent.

但哈佛商学院的最近一次调查显示，相反的，征求意见可以让你看起来更有能力。

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?"

在一项实验中，170位大学生致力于一系列的计算机任务，同时他们还配有一个搭档来完成同样的任务。（这个搭档是一个真正的计算机模拟。）当他们已经完成任务时，“他们的搭档”不是说“我希望它进展顺利”，就是说“我希望它进展顺利，你有什么建议吗?”。

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.

事实证明，对向他们征求了意见的“搭档们”，学生们评价其更有能力些，而没有得到“搭档们”意见征求的学生们则不然。

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.

研究人员对此解释说，当你在征求意见时，表示你认可他们的智慧和经验，所以转而他们对你的感觉也会很好。

4....unless you're a man in a leadership position

4.除非你是一个有领导地位的人

While soliciting advice can generally help you look more competent, a 2017 study found that asking for help might make male leaders in particular seem less competent.

虽然一般而言，征求意见可以使你看起来更有能力，但是2017年的一项研究发现，特别地，征求意见或许会让男性领导者显得不那么有能力。

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.”

研究人员招募了65个商科学生来回答有关他们在“冒险活动领导”中的经验问题，在这个活动中他们参加类似南极洲登山运动，厄瓜多尔火山爬行的挑战。学生们轮流做那天的领导者。

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.

研究人员要求学生反映领导者那天的行为：一些学生回答说领导者多久寻求帮助，而其他学生回答说上述的领导者显得很有能力。

As it turns out, male leaders who reportedly asked for help a lot were rated less competent than male leaders who asked less often.

事实证明，报道评价经常寻求帮助的男性领导者比很少寻求帮助的男性领导者的能力差。

5.Act a little cold

5.行为冷酷点

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?

当我们第一次见面时，我们常常从两个主要特征来评价别人：热情和能力。但是在这两方面会评价很高吗？

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，一项由比利时和美国心理学家共同带领开展的研究显示，较热情的一群人的评价是不那么有能力。

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.

在美国一所大学里，大约80个在校本科生阅读了两组不同的说明。每一组属于4种类别中的一种：能力高热情高，能力高热情低，能力低热情高，或者能力低热情低。

The participants weren't told that the groups were competent or warm — instead they received descriptions of each group that implied these traits.

研究人员不会告诉参与者哪组人是有能力的或者热情的，相反，他们会收到表明这些特征的每一组说明。

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.

然后研究人员让参与者们就许多特征来评价每一组。结果显示，能力高热情低的那组人被认为更有能力。

6.Post a profile photo taken from a distance

6.贴出一张远距离的照片

If you're choosing a Facebook or LinkedIn pic, consider selecting one where you're standing a few feet from the camera.

如果你正在选择一张用于脸书或领英的照片，请考虑选择一张你距离摄像头几英尺远的照片。

In multiple experiments with hundreds of participants, conducted in 2017, 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2017年进行的一项由数百人参与的多组实验中，研究人员发现，拍照距离4.5英尺远的18位白人被认为更有才能，更值得信赖和更具吸引力，而不是距离大约1.5英尺远。

7.Make your face look slightly wider

7.让你的脸看起来稍宽一点

Research from New York University and the University of Connecticut published in 2017 suggests that it's not so easy to make yourself look more competent.

2017年，由纽约大学和康涅狄格大学公布的调查显示，让你自己看起来更有能力并不是很容易。

That's because perceptions of competence — at least when it comes to physical ability — depend largely on your facial structure.

这是因为能力的认知——至少当提到身体能力时，很大程度上取决于你的面部结构。

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，参与者观看那些被数码修改过的男性面孔，用数码修改是为了让一些人的脸看起来比其他人的稍宽些。研究人员让他们选出他们认为能赢得举重比赛的男性。（很可能他们会基于身体能力或才能来选择。）

Sure enough, men with wider faces were considered more likely to win the weightlifting competition.

果然，脸稍宽的男性被认为更可能赢得举重比赛。

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.

然而你不可能肉体上改变你的面部结构（不做整容手术），你只可能使用一点PS的魔力来让你的脸看起来比真正的稍宽些。