5.Being Cocky Can Be A Good Thing
5.骄傲也许是一件好事
There are some situations where overconfidence can make you feel better and improve your performance. Being cocky, pretentious, and boastful can actually stave off negative and harmful feelings that might otherwise adversely affect us such as depression, doubt, and self-depreciation.
有时候骄傲自大可以让你自我感觉更加良好并表现得更好。骄傲自负、自吹自擂可以驱散消极有害的情绪，这些情绪有可能会产生低迷、疑虑、自我贬低等不利影响。
Overconfidence also helps change what other people think of you. A study published by the American Psychological Association found that people who overestimated their own abilities were also perceived as more competent by their peers. One such experiment had participants test their knowledge of geography, first alone and then in pairs. Each person secretly rated his or her own abilities along with his or her partner's abilities. The researchers found that those who overrated their own abilities were also more likely to receive higher ratings from their partners. A little cockiness helps us keep our head and remain confident, therefore helping us out when it comes to meeting new people or talking our way through job interviews. Just be careful not to fall into the trap of getting into something that you aren't yet equipped to handle!
骄傲也可以改变别人对你的看法。美国心理学会的一项研究发现，高估自身能力的人会被更多的同伴视为竞争者。实验测试了参与者的地理知识，他们先单独进行测试，然后两两合作再做一次测试。每个人都会秘密评估自己和搭档的能力。研究者发现，对自我评估比较高的人也会在他们的同伴中得到较高评价。小小的自负可以让我们头脑清醒并保持自信，因此可以让我们在新朋友中与众不同，或是在面试中对答如流，但一定不要让自己陷入"自不量力"的窘境！
4.制造争议的销售策略
A risky but well-established marketing tactic is to create controversy in order to gain attention and sell more products. Even bad press is still press, and such fervor over a company or product is essentially free marketing that provides intense (but short-lived) boosts in sales.
制造争议是一种具有风险但行之有效的营销策略，其目的在于吸引眼球，从而卖出更多的商品。即使是负面新闻也还是新闻，公司或产品能拥有如此高的关注度，本身就属于免费营销，会使销售量急剧增加（但只是短期内的增长）。
In 2014, scientist Matt Taylor was interviewed about how he landed a spacecraft on a comet thousands of miles away, a landmark scientific achievement by anyone's standards. Unfortunately, controversy over his bowling shirt led to what became known as "Shirtstorm" or "Shirtgate." The Verge led the charge with one of the most ridiculous article titles ever written: "I don't care if you landed a spacecraft on a comet, your shirt is sexist and ostracizing." Taylor finally apologized to those he had offended, but Elly Prizeman, Taylor's friend who designed the shirt, was the true victor. She was inundated with orders for the now infamous shirt. This incident was not very different than that of the Protein World fiasco. Their "Are You Beach Body Ready?" advertisements managed to prompt outrage from countless people, including outlets such as BuzzFeed and The Guardian. The ad's detractors slammed it as sexist and body-shaming, and some went so far as to start protests, begin a petition to get the ads removed, and even publicly deface the posters. Some of them later posted their vandalism on social media, which obviously wasn't the smartest decision. The brand ended up gaining plenty of new fans, and their 250,000 pounds campaign turned into over 1 million pounds in direct sales revenue. Perhaps the most famous scandal in recent years was the controversy surrounding The Interview. A rather mediocre comedy caught the attention of moviegoers across America because of the furor that erupted simply because the film dared to parody Kim Jong Un. Movie theaters were threatened with violence if they showed the film, and many major movie chains retracted their showing of the film in response. However, Sony eventually decided to release the film, and it instantly became a hit across the nation with over $40 million in digital sales alone. The controversy ended up making everyone talk about the film, and those who originally had little interest in it ended up wanting to see it. This isn't to say that all of the above people are jerks, but rather that being a jerk and offending people can result in sales.
2014年，科学家马特·泰勒在接受采访时被问到，他是如何让宇宙飞船顺利降落到千里之外的彗星上。要知道这可是史无前例的科学成就。不幸的是，他那件颇为争议的保龄球衬衫却引发了"衬衫风暴件"，也可以称作"衬衫门事件"。边缘带头指责马特·泰勒，写了其中一个最滑稽的标题："我不在乎你的飞船是否在彗星上着陆，你的衬衫就是性别歧视和排斥。"最后，泰勒为他的侵犯性行为道歉。但泰勒的朋友艾利·罗伯特，这件衬衫的设计者，却成为此次事件的最佳受益人。因为那件臭名昭著的衬衫给她带来了成堆的订单。类似事件还有"蛋白世界"的减肥产品。"你的身材准备好去沙滩了吗？"这句广告语引起了无数人的愤怒，甚至包括BuzzFeed和《卫报》等媒体。批评者抨击这则广告有明显的性别歧视和身体侮辱等行为，而且他们当中有人提出抗议，要求撤销这则广告。更有甚者，在海报上用涂鸦的方式公开反抗。此外，还有一种非常不明智的做法，有些人利用社交媒体进行网络暴力。可是，这个减肥产品却收获了大量新粉丝。不仅如此，他们仅仅用25万英镑的广告费，就创下了超过一百万英镑的直接销售收入。近几年来最大的丑闻，可能就是饱受争议的电影《采访》了。这部非常普通的喜剧电影因为滑稽地模仿金正恩，引发了强烈不满，但同时又吸引了很多美国的电影发烧友的眼球。如果电影院放映这部电影，他们就会受到暴力威胁。对此，各大连锁影院被迫撤销播映。然而，索尼公司仍然决定发行这部电影，但不幸的是，一经发行就损失了4千多万美元。而这部电影却因为饱受争议成为了人们讨论的热门话题，使原本对此根本没有什么兴趣的人也想观看。这不是要大家都成为混蛋，只是有时候，混蛋做的那些得罪人的事儿却能够提高销售量。
3.愤怒也有积极的一面
Have you ever felt enraged at a perceived injustice, be it something that happened in your personal life or something that you witnessed online? Perhaps you received a ticket for not stopping at a stop sign, or someone chewed you out on social media for no good reason. You might be angry about it, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Nobody enjoys being angry, but there may actually be some surprising benefits to an otherwise negative emotion.
当你感到不公平的时候会很生气吗？在你的生活中发生过类似事件吗？还是说你在网上看到过？你也许因为没将车停在有停车标志的位置而收到罚单，或者有人在社交媒体上毫无理由地嚼你舌根。对此，你可能会很生气，当然，这并没有什么错。没有人喜欢生气，但你要知道，有时候这些负面的情绪却能带来意想不到的好处。
Believe it or not, anger makes people less stressed, according to neuroscientists. Heart rate, testosterone, and blood pressure all momentarily rise, but the stress hormone cortisol decreases, suggesting that anger helps people relax before they try to solve a problem. The left frontal cortex also increases in activity if the anger is used to find a solution for the source of the anger. In fact, anger can serve as a powerful motivator to get people to negotiate and work things out. Research from the University of Amsterdam shows that anger is a good way to get what you want from other people. Two experiments had participants try to negotiate with someone else after receiving information about that person's emotions. As predicted, those with angry opponents made larger concessions and lower demands.
不管你相信与否，据神经学方面的专家研究，在人们还没有解决问题之前，愤怒可以减轻人们的压力，因为这时心率、睾丸酮和血压都会立刻升高，但应激激素皮质醇却有所下降。如果愤怒是用来寻找解决办法的话，左额皮质层就会因愤怒的原因而活跃。其实，在很大程度上，愤怒是可以促进人们协商并解决问题的。阿姆斯特丹大学的研究表明，愤怒可以让你从别人身上获得你想要的信息。两组实验中，参与者在知道对方的情绪问题以后，努力与他们沟通。正如预测一样，这些人在面对生气的对手时，都做出较大的让步，要求更低了。
2.Being A Jerk Inspires Commitment
2.不讲人情的领导可以激发斗志
Jerks know how to put their feet down and demand that something get done. Jerks know how to effectively let everyone know what they want. Jerks know how to tell people not to step out of line. You might be thinking that this all sounds rather Machiavellian, and you'd be right. Being too much of an extreme dictator certainly has its consequences, but just the right amount of jerkiness could pay off.
不讲人情的人知道如何拿定主意和完成要求。他们知道如何高效地发挥每个人的职能，也知道如何告知人们不要太与众不同。可能这样听起来，你觉得他们相当于权谋政治家，没错，就是这样。一个极端的独裁者势必要承担一定的后果，不过，也只有适当严格要求才能取得成功。
Take Steve Blank from LaunchPad. He had sent out a reminder to all the students that anyone who missed the first class wouldn't be able to register for the course. Once the course began, the students formed teams. Unfortunately, about a quarter of all the teams had at least one member who planned on missing the first day with some sort of excuse. Blank decided to put his foot down and clarify that if they missed the first day, regardless of any excuses, they would not be able to participate. About half the students who originally planned on skipping actually did find a way to make it to the first day. Blank also said that the usual 20 percent dropout rate of the course was reduced to zero. That's not to say that you should rule by fear and dictatorship, as those tactics are proven to reduce employee engagement. But good leaders should be at least a little bit of a jerk to make sure that their employees aren't slacking off or putting in half the effort.
拿史蒂夫·布兰克来说，他提醒所有学生，任何人错过第一节课都不能注册该课程。一旦课程开始，学生们也分好组。不幸的是，大约有1/4的组至少有一个成员是打算以某个借口不上第一堂课的。因此，布兰克下定决心，告诉他们如果第一天的课不在，不管什么理由都不能参加该课程。这样一来，原先计划逃课的人大约有一半都想尽办法出席第一天的课。布兰克表示，这门课中途退课率由平常的20%减少到0。这并不代表你就要用恐惧和独裁来制定规则，因为这些策略被证明会降低员工的敬业度。但优秀的领导者至少应该都有点不讲人情，以便确保他的员工不会偷懒或不尽全力。
1.Jerks Are More Likely To Be Leaders
1."自恋狂"更可能成为领导者
Any well-known and well-established leader usually doesn't keep his or her own ego in check. Plenty of the world's leaders can easily be described as narcissists, and rightly so. Anyone with that much fame and power is likely to develop an inflated ego. Science proves this, too. A study from the University of Surrey found that more high-level executives had traits of narcissistic personality disorder than criminals at the Broadmoor Hospital. Researchers Board and Fritzon described the executives as "successful psychopaths," while the criminals were labeled "unsuccessful psychopaths."
很多知名的领导者通常不会控制自我，很多世界级领导者容易被人描述为"自恋狂"，而事实也是如此。任何有一定名望和权力的人都可能会自我膨胀，科学证明的确如此。萨里大学有一项研究发现，高级主管们比起布罗德莫精神病院的罪犯更具有自恋人格障碍倾向。研究员柏德和弗里森把领导人描述为"成功的精神病患者"，而罪犯自然就被冠以"不成功的精神病患者"。
In fact, many people with dark personality traits tend to have certain advantages when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder. Manipulators excel in convincing others of their ideas. This should come as no surprise considering that manipulators are, by the very definition, excellent at getting others to do what they want. Those with antisocial personality disorder tend to be good at thinking outside the box and pushing boundaries. Narcissists are great at making a good first impression, according to a 2014 study of 140 people cited in the Wall Street Journal. Narcissists also seem to make better CEOs according to a study led by researchers from Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Santa Clara University. It turns out that narcissistic CEOs tend to keep their jobs longer and make more money than their more selfless counterparts. It should also come as no surprise that those in power—or those who at least feel like they're in power—are the most likely to be corrupt. Dr. Lammers from Tilburg University and Dr. Galinsky at Northwestern University tested this hypothesis for themselves. The researchers asked their 61 participants to remember a time in their life when they were either in high power or low power. Those two groups were then divided by high power and low power and asked to roll two 10-sided dice—one for tens and one for ones—in a private cube and then report their scores. The higher the score, the more tickets they got for a lottery they would participate in after the study. Both groups were asked to evaluate the morality of other people taking the test, and the high power people were far more likely to hold higher moral standards for other people. However, the average self-reported score from the high power group was 72 while the average score from the low power group was 59. It can be inferred that the high power group cheated more, as the average score should have been 50 for each group. That's not to say that there haven't been virtuous or selfless leaders, but the ugly truth still remains. Plenty of today's leaders are narcissists with self-inflated egos, and some of the most reprehensible people we can think of have made their way up the corporate and political ladders.
事实上，在职场升职中，具有黑暗的人格特征的人有一定优势。操纵者都擅长"洗脑"，这一点也不惊讶，因为操纵者从定义上来说，就是擅长让他人做想做的事情。而那些具有反社会人格障碍的人则擅长跳出固有思维模式，拓宽边界。2014年，《华尔街日报》对140个人进行调查，结果显示，自恋者擅长制造好的第一印象。由斯坦福大学、加州大学伯克利分校和圣塔克拉拉大学的研究员进行的一项研究显示，自恋者在CEO行业里做得更出色。事实证明，自恋的CEO比无私的同行就职更久，工资更高。那些有权力或自认为有权利的人最有可能贪污，这点不足为奇。荷兰蒂尔煲大学的拉梅尔博士和美国西北大学的格林斯基博士亲自测试该设想。研究员要求61名测试者回忆一生中，权力大或权力小的时刻，然后按照结果分成权力大和权力小两组，要求每组成员丢两个十面的骰子（一个作为十位数，另一个则作为个位数），在一个秘密的空间完成后自报分数。分数越多，他们就能在接下来的研究中得到更多奖券。两组成员都要评估其他测试者的道德品行，权力大的人对其他人道德标准很高。然而权力大的组自报平均分为72分，权力小的却只有59分。所以，我们就能推测权力大的组更擅长欺骗，因为每一组真实平均分都只有50分。但这并不代表没有正直无私的领导者，只是丑恶的事实依然存在。如今大多数领导人都是自我膨胀的自恋者，甚至某些我们认为最应该受斥责的人却成功地成为了企业和政治领导人。
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