问题 The Question

我在为一项研究工作面试候选人，并有了一份非常好的入围名单。两位候选人都非常优秀——他们看起来聪明、热情而且勤奋。其中一位容貌出众；另一位则过于难看——比较胖，而且皮肤不好。招聘的职位不是面向客户的，因此长相并不重要。不过我发现自己倾向于聘用那个看起来更讨人喜欢的家伙——这有失公平，因为长相难看的人肯定也需要机会。我该怎么办呢？
I've been interviewing candidates for a research job and have had a very good shortlist. The two frontrunners are both excellent - they seem bright and keen and hardworking. One is reasonably good-looking; the other is exceedingly plain - obese and with bad skin. The role is not client- facing so looks should not matter. Yet I find myself inclined to hire the person who looks more prepossessing - which is unfair as the plain one surely needs a break. What should I do?

经理，女性，38岁 Manager, female, 38

露西的回答 Lucy's Answer

你应该聘用那个脸上长满粉刺的胖子。这不是因为你觉得他（或她？）应该得到这个机会——扮演社会工程师不是你的职责。而只是因为他几乎肯定会比那个更养眼的家伙干得更好。
You should hire the fat and spotty one. This is not because you feel he (or she?) deserves a break - it isn't your job to play social engineer. It is because he is almost certainly better at the job than the one who is easier on the eye.

你说两个人都同样有才能和勤勉。如果你说的是真的，你应该聘请那个容貌出众的，因为容貌出众的人更可能经验丰富。但我认为你说的不是真的。
You claim that the two are equally skilled and industrious. If you are right, you should hire the looker as lookers are easier to have around. But I don't think you are right.

如果你看到过有关研究，就会知道，漂亮的比丑陋的人更容易获得成功。他们的薪水会高出15%，而且升迁的速度更快。这或许会让人倾向于选择那个讨人喜欢的候选人。
If you read the research, it will tell you that beautiful people are more successful than ugly ones. They are paid up to 15 per cent more and they advance more quickly. This might make one inclined to choose the cute one.

然而，如果你考虑一下造成这种差距的原因，机会就会转向那个胖子。美女胜过野兽，主要是因为我们预计他们会表现出众。如果你让人们看求职者的相片，他们会认为长得好看的比难看的人更值得信任、更聪明且更勤奋。胖人获得的评价尤其不好。美国的一项研究发现，人们认为胖人笨拙、懒惰、缺乏团队精神，而且工作不认真尽职。
However, if you consider the reason for this discrepancy, the odds shift towards the fatty. Beauties outperform beasts mainly because we expect them to do so. If you show people pictures of job candidates, they rate the beautiful as more trustworthy, more intelligent and more diligent than the plain. Fat people score particularly badly. One US study had people rate the obese as awkward, lazy, uncooperative and unconscientious.

以貌取人的观点根深蒂固，甚至渗透到了体育领域——人们或许认为，在这一领域成绩代表着一切。我的同事西蒙•库珀(Simon Kuper)写了一本关于足球的新书，书中提到，魁梧高大的男子更容易进入顶级球队，因为球探们认为这种人适合踢足球。
Lookist perceptions run so deep they even affect sport, where one might have thought performance would speak for itself. According to my colleague Simon Kuper's new book about football, hunks get picked more often for top teams as scouts are impressed by players who look the part.

因此，你那位长相难看的候选人能够走到这一步，说明他远胜于另一个人。你应该立即聘用他——实际上，我希望你在几周前就已经聘用了他。拒绝聘用他的唯一理由是，如果你觉得一个满脸痘痘的胖子看起来让人感觉不舒服，会让你躲着他。如果是这样，降低标准，聘用那个养眼的人吧。
Thus, for your plain candidate to have got so far suggests he is far better than the other one. You should hire him at once - indeed, I hope you did so weeks ago. The only reason for not doing so is if you feel the heavy, spotty one looks so dreadful that you physically shrink from him. Then mark yourself down and hire the looker.