出汗心跳快，谈判更出彩

    我们差不多每天都在谈判。谈判这个词经常让人们想到规模较大的交易，比如购置新居或者买车；但在更多情况下，我们所谈的问题都比较小，内容无外乎工作中的项目截止时间或者家庭责任的分配。

    包括我在内，我们中的许多人都受不了谈判，无论谈判的事项是大是小——而且由于谈判对我们来说是这么不堪忍受，以至于我们很惊讶，为什么别人会殷切期盼谈判的机会。

    无论你属于哪一类，我们中的大多数人在谈判时都会感到心跳加快，手心出汗。这些生理反应被称为心理唤醒，对我们来说它们是有害还是有益呢？

    大多数人（和现有研究结论）都认为出汗是不利因素，而且谈判的关键在于保持平静和镇定。然而，我和贾里德•科尔汉在研究中发现，这种观点会让人们受到误导。最近，我们把这项研究成果发表在了《心理学》（Psychological Science）杂志上。我们的结论是，手心出汗和心跳加快本身并不是什么坏事。它们的影响实际上取决于你对谈判的固有态度以及你把这样的心理活动解释为紧张还是兴奋。

    我们通过两个实验来探索心理唤醒对谈判结果的影响。在第一个实验中，我们首先了解了参与者对谈判的固有态度。几周后，这些参与者参加了这项实验，内容是在跑步机上就一辆二手车讨价还价。我们在参与者不知情的情况下通过调整跑步机的速度来控制参与者的心跳频率。

    在对谈判持消极态度的参与者中，那些在速度较快的跑步机上，或者说心理唤醒较强的人对谈判的满意度较低。他们把心跳加快视为紧张的迹象，而这对他们的谈判体验产生了不好的影响。相反，在速度较慢的跑步机上，这类参与者对谈判的满意度较高。

    在对谈判持积极态度的参与者中，我们的观察结果正好相反。对谈判满意度较高的是跑步机速度较快、而不是速度较慢的那些人。乐于进行谈判的人似乎把心跳加快视为兴奋的信号，较强的心理唤醒因此让他们有了更好的体验。

    在第二项实验中，我们想看看在人们在经济领域的表现是不是也存在同样的规律。这次，我们让部分参与者在打手机时不停地走动，以提高他们的心率，其他参与者则坐着打手机。这两组参与者都通过手机进行了一次模拟面试。

    第二项实验的结果和第一项相同，害怕谈判的人在心理唤醒较强（原因是走动）时的满意度低于他们坐着的时候，此时他们在谈判中获得的经济效益也较少。相反，喜欢谈判的人在边走边谈时感到比较满意，和坐着不动相比，心理唤醒较强时他们在经济方面的表现也较好。

    这两项实验告诉我们，常识并不总是对的。如果害怕谈判，你最好在谈判时保持平静，以尽量减少上述生理反应。相反，如果期待谈判，你可能需要在谈判前主动设法让自己的心跳加快。虽然这两项实验的范围仅限于谈判，但我们值得考虑一下这些实验结论是否适用于其他场合，比如在公开场合发言，参加考试或者竞技性运动项目。我们把自己的心理唤醒解释为紧张还是兴奋可能取决于我们对当前任务的固有态度。如果它让我们感到害怕，那么设法保持镇定就可能有很大价值。

    但是，如果我们喜欢这项任务，那么比较好的做法就可能是给自己打打气。（财富中文网）

    本文作者在麻省理工斯隆商学院攻读博士学位时和贾里德•科尔汉教授共同进行了上述研究。作者目前是斯坦福大学心理系副研究员。

    译者：Charlie

    We negotiate nearly every day. While the term "negotiation" often brings to mind larger-stake deals, such as the purchase of a new home or car, more often these negotiations are smaller and involve project deadlines at work or divvying up of household responsibilities.

    Many of us, myself included, can't stand negotiations whether big or small -- so much so that it comes as a surprise that others actually relish each chance they get to negotiate.

    Regardless of which camp you're in, most of us can relate to the feeling of pounding hearts and sweaty palms when we negotiate. Do these visceral responses -- also known as physiological arousal -- hurt or help us?

    Most people (and existing research) consider sweating it to be detrimental; that the key to negotiating is to stay calm and collected. However, that's misleading, according to what I found in my research with Jared R. Curhan, which was recently published in Psychological Science. We found that sweaty palms and pounding hearts aren't inherently a bad thing. The effect really depends on your preexisting attitudes toward negotiation and whether you interpret these physiological responses as a sign of nervousness or excitement.

    We conducted two studies to explore the effects of arousal on negotiation outcomes: In the first, we measured individuals' prior attitudes toward negotiation. Several weeks later, these same individuals participated in an experiment in which they negotiated over the price of a used car while walking on a treadmill. Unbeknownst to the participants, we manipulated their heart rate through the speed of the treadmill, which was set by an experimenter.

    Among those with negative attitudes toward negotiating, participants who walked at a faster pace -- or experienced high arousal -- reported lower satisfaction with their negotiations. They interpreted their heightened heart rate as an indicator of nervousness, which in turn, harmed their negotiating experience. By contrast, those who walked at a slower pace reported higher satisfaction.

    Yet, we found the reverse among those with positive attitudes toward negotiating. Participants assigned to walk at a faster pace reported greater satisfaction with the negotiation compared to those assigned to walk at a slower pace. Those who enjoy negotiating seem to interpret increased heart rate as an indicator of excitement such that heightened arousal boosts their experience.

    In the second study, we wanted to see if this pattern also extends to economic performance. This time, we let some participants walk continuously while negotiating on their cell phones to increase their heart rate, whereas others stayed seated for their negotiations. Both groups conducted a mock employment negotiation over the phone.

    Consistent with our findings from the first study, individuals who dread negotiating felt less satisfied when they experienced heightened arousal (triggered by walking) compared to when they remained seated. They also achieved lower economic outcomes. In contrast, individuals who enjoy negotiating felt more satisfied with the negotiation when walking throughout, and also performed better when aroused compared to when seated.

    The lesson from these studies is that the conventional wisdom isn't always so wise. If you dread negotiating, you're probably best served trying to stay calm in your negotiations in order to minimize such visceral responses. On the other hand, if you look forward to negotiating, you might want to actively attempt to raise your heart rate beforehand. Although these studies were limited to negotiation, it's worthwhile to consider if the same lessons might apply to other contexts such as public speaking, test performance, or competitive sports. Whether we interpret our physiological arousal as nervousness or excitement might depend on our prior attitudes toward the task at hand. If it's something we dread, then making an effort to maintain our composure might be valuable.

    But if it's a task we enjoy, it might be better to get pumped up!

    Dr. Ashley D. Brown worked on this research as a Ph.D. student at the MIT Sloan School of Management with Prof. Jared R. Curhan. Brown is now a research associate in the Psychology Department at Stanford University.