談判前先檢查一下對方的右手

Let's say you recently turned someone down for a raise or a promotion, and he has now retaliated -- for instance, by quitting in a huff and taking a valuable client list with him.
假設你最近拒絕給某人漲工資或者升職，現在他開始實施報復——比如，憤然辭職並且帶走了一份重要的客戶名單。

According to a new study of the role of testosterone in business negotiations, you might have foreseen that, and maybe even prevented it, if you had checked out his right hand before making (or refusing) an offer. Specifically, if someone's ring finger and his index finger are the same length, look out.
一項關於睾丸激素在商業談判中所起作用的最新研究表明，如果你在提出（或者拒絕）一項提議之前，能夠檢查一下對方的右手，你就有可能預料到會發生上述事件，甚至還有可能避免出現這種事。具體說來就是，如果某人右手的無名指和食指一樣長的話，那你就得小心了。

Little or no difference in the size of those digits is an indicator of high prenatal testosterone, which tells you two things. First, this is a person who is preoccupied with preserving his status and saving face. Unless you handle his ego with kid gloves, he will be quick to take offense.
如果這兩隻手指的長度一樣或者非常接近，則說明手的主人出生前體內睾丸激素含量就很高，這又進一步說明兩點。首先，此人會不惜一切保全自己的地位，維護自己的面子。除非你時時照顧他的自尊，否則他很容易懷恨在心。

And second, if you cross him, he will get even.
其次，你跟他作對，他就會實施報復。

That's the conclusion of an intriguing study called "Lex talionis: Testosterone and the law of retaliation," to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
上述是一項名爲《Lex talionis：睾丸激素與報復定律》（Lex talionis: Testosterone and the law of retaliation）的研究得出的結論。該研究將會發布在下一期的《實驗社會心理學雜誌》（Journal of Experimental Social Psychology）上。

Lex talionis is Latin for "retributive justice," and here's how the experiment went down: Researchers from Columbia Business School and the Kellogg School at Northwestern put 48 randomly selected volunteers through two rounds of negotiations. The first bargaining session was rigged so that the test subjects were, in effect, cheated out of $40 they had thought they could win. In the second round, which the subjects were not told about ahead of time, the researchers turned the tables so that, this time, the volunteers controlled the bidding process for a second $40 pot.
Lex talionis是拉丁文，意爲“應報正義”（retributive justice）。該項實驗是這樣進行的：哥倫比亞商學院（Columbia Business School）和西北大學凱洛格商學院（Kellogg School at Northwestern）的研究人員從志願者中隨機抽取48人，讓其參加兩輪議價。首輪談判階段的設計，目的在於要讓測試對象完全上當，拿不到他們以爲自己能贏得的40美元。研究對象事先未被告知有第二輪談判；這一輪，局面被設計成與第一輪相反，志願者得以控制競價過程，以贏取第二份40美元獎勵。

Some people played fair during the second round, swallowing their disappointment at "losing" the first time and making reasonable efforts to reach an evenhanded outcome. Other subjects, however, responded quite differently. They aggressively lowballed the researchers, clearly determined to get payback.
有些人在第二輪中能夠光明磊落，行事公允，他們忍氣吞聲，將“輸掉”首輪的掃興嚥到肚子裏，憑着自己的努力，贏得公平的結果。但是，其他的研究對象反應則完全不同。他們膽大包天，向研究人員虛報低價，很明顯是要藉此挽回首輪失利的損失。

After it was all over, the researchers used a flatbed scanner to measure everyone's right-hand index and ring fingers ("from the ventral proximal crease of the digit to the tip of the finger"). In every case, they found a direct correlation between "digit ratio" and vengefulness: The less of a difference between the two fingers, the greater the urge to get even.
試驗結束之後，研究人員用平板掃描儀測量每個研究對象的右手食指和無名指（從手指內側掌指關節到指尖）。他們發現，“手指比例”與報復心之間存在直接關係，無一例外：上述兩隻手指長度差別越小，報復心越強。

Many other studies have established "digit ratio" as an indicator of prenatal testosterone -- that is, how much testosterone someone was exposed to before birth, often as a result of birth order (older children in a family tend to have more than younger ones) or a mother's genes.
其他許多研究也發現，“手指比例”能顯示出生前睾丸激素含量。出生前睾丸激素含量指的是某人出生前從父母處接受的睾丸激素的多少，往往與出生順序（家庭中年長的孩子的睾丸激素含量通常高於年幼的孩子）或者母親的基因有關。

But until now, the behavioral implications for negotiation strategy have not been clear.
但是，迄今，對談判策略的行爲解釋尚未明朗化。

"Testosterone is a hormone associated with status-seeking and a need to save face," notes Adam Galinsky, the Kellogg professor who co-wrote the study. "It makes a powerful difference in how people respond to situations.
“睾丸激素是與追求地位和挽回面子的需求有關的荷爾蒙。”該研究報告的聯合作者、凱洛格商學院的教授亞當•加林斯基指出。“人們對各種處境的反應方式也因而有天壤之別。”

"People with low testosterone -- that is, with a noticeable difference in the length of their second and fourth digits -- may perceive that they're being treated unfairly, but they're likely to go sulk in a corner."
“睾丸激素少的人，也就是其食指與無名指長度有明顯差異的那些人，雖然也會認識到自己遭受了不公平待遇，但他們很可能只會生悶氣，而不會採取報復行爲。”

However, Galinsky says, "If you're looking across a bargaining table at someone who has a slight difference, or no difference, between the second and fourth digits, be careful." Make an extra effort to mollify that person and stroke his ego, because doing otherwise is "like slapping a sleeping tiger."
但是，加林斯基表示：“如果你放眼望去，看到談判桌對面的人食指與無名指長短差不多或者根本就一樣長，那你就得當心了。”你得多花點心思安撫他，並迎合其自尊心，因爲如果不這樣的話，就“等於去摸老虎的屁股”。