Imagine this: You're interviewing two people for a job. They're equally competent, capable, and qualified—but you can see that one is wearing an outfit from H&M and the other's clothes are clearly from Louis Vuitton. Which candidate will you hire?
想象一下，你正在面試兩個能力、資歷相當且都非常適合這項工作的人，但是一個人穿著H&M的服裝，另一個穿了路易·威登（Louis Vuitton）的服裝。你會雇傭哪一個呢？

A new study in the Journal of Business Research suggests you're more likely to choose the latter. Surveying students at a large urban university in Seoul, South Korea, researchers from Yonsei University and Coastal Carolina University examined how we react to others depending on the brands they're wearing. To do so, they tested several scenarios of someone wearing a luxury brand logo, a logo from a non-luxury brand, or no logo. They found that in nearly every situation, people gave preferential treatment to the person wearing the luxury logo.
《商業研究雜志》（The Journal of Business Research）近期一項新研究表明，你更可能會選擇后者。來自韓國延世大學（Yonsei University）和卡羅萊納海岸大學（Coastal Carolina University）的研究者們，對韓國首爾市區大學學生進行了“我們對他人所穿著的不同品牌服裝有何不同反應”的調查。為了做這項研究，他們測試了幾種方案，觀察人們對著名牌、著普通品牌和著無牌服飾的人的反應。他們發現幾乎在所有情況下，人們都會對穿著名牌服飾的人給予特殊照顧。

The researchers call this effect an example of costly signaling theory, which says that people show off to “signal” to others that they can afford to do so. In the case of luxury brands, the theory predicts that people wear expensive clothing to flaunt that they can afford it, thereby increasing their status in the eyes of others.
研究者把這種效應稱作高成本信號理論（costly signaling theory），也就是說人們通過炫耀自己的外表將“自己有錢這樣做”的信號傳遞給他人。在名牌的影響下，這個理論預測人們穿著昂貴的服飾是為了炫耀自己買得起奢侈品，從而能夠提高他們在別人眼中的地位。

In the study's first scenario, 180 observers were shown a picture of a woman wearing a white polo shirt and asked to rate her wealth, status, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and other characteristics. Three versions of the picture were used, identical except for the shirt's visible brand logo (luxury, non-luxury, or none). The observers of the luxury logo rated the woman significantly higher on wealth and status than did the observers of the non-luxury logo or no logo.
在第一種方案中，180名觀察者的面前放了一張一位女士穿著白色POLO衫的照片，根據圖片，他們要評價其財富程度、社會地位、吸引力、可信度和其他品質。總共使用了三個版本的照片，除了T恤衫上的品牌商標（奢侈品、普通品牌、無牌）不同之外，其他均相同。調查結果顯示，觀察者認為穿著奢侈品牌服飾的她在財富程度和社會地位上明顯高于著另外兩種服飾的她。

In the second scenario, 150 observers watched a video of a woman being interviewed for an internship. Three versions of the video were used, again identical except for the logo on the woman's shirt. The observers rated the woman on a number of characteristics, but this time they also judged her suitability for the job and the pay she should receive. Observers of the luxury logo rated the woman most suitable for the job, again with significantly higher status and wealth ratings. The luxury observers also thought she deserved the highest compensation. Asked to choose her hourly pay from five ranges, over half of luxury observers chose one of the top two ranges—far greater than the 12% of non-luxury observers and 10% of no-logo observers who did the same.
第二個方案中，有150個人觀看了一位女士應聘實習崗位的視頻。同樣有三種版本，同樣是除T恤衫商標不同之外其他均相同。這次，觀察者要對她的個人品質進行排序，還要判斷她是否適合這項工作和她應得的薪資。觀察者再一次認為著奢侈品牌服飾的她更適合這項工作，且社會地位和財富值更高。他們還認為她應得到最高的薪資待遇。之后，他們在5個范圍內選擇她的時薪，超過一半的奢侈品觀察者選擇了最高的兩種時薪，而普通品牌觀察者選擇最高時薪的只有12%， 無牌觀察者只有10%做出了同樣的選擇。

But this doesn't necessarily mean you should rush out and splurge on Gucci shoes before your next job interview. The researchers caution that several additional factors are at work.
但這并不意味著在下次面試前沖到商場隨意揮霍，買一雙Gucci的鞋子。研究人員提到說還有其他的因素在起作用。

For one, the observer must recognize the brand logo without assistance. If the wearer has to point out what she's wearing, the effect is destroyed. And, of course, the observer must know the brand to recognize it in the first place.
第一，觀察者必須在沒有提示的情況下認出此品牌。如果穿戴者自己指出穿的是什么，這個效應就不成立了。當然，觀察者一定要知道這個品牌才會在第一時間認出來。

For another, how someone wears the brand matters. The researchers say that a gaudy outfit will probably backfire with wealthy observers. Wealthy people tend to value subtlety in showing one's social standing, viewing “loud” displays of clothing as being in bad taste. Cheaper designer items cater to the opposite impulse, often featuring large logos that allow their purchasers to conspicuously show off the brand.
另外，如何穿才最重要。研究人員說，本身很富有的觀察者若看到俗麗的服裝效果反而會適得其反。有錢人更喜歡他人用微妙的方式來炫耀社會地位，而浮夸的服裝則被視作低級趣味不能入眼。這時，廉價設計師的服裝正好迎合相反的品味，衣服經常帶有大大的品牌標志以便讓其購買者大肆炫耀自己的品牌。

The hiring process is known to be fraught with biases—now it seems we can add fashion to the list too.
應聘是一個含有偏見與歧視的過程，現在我們可以將時尚納入其中了。

Vocabulary
splurge: 揮霍
gaudy: 俗麗的
backfire: 產生出乎意料及事與愿違的結果

（譯者：bistu楊諾1204 編輯：陳丹妮）