You’re out to dinner. The food was delicious and the service was fine. You decide to leave a big fat tip - why? The answer may not be as simple as you think.

當(dāng)你在外面吃飯的時(shí)候，食物可口，服務(wù)周到，于是你決定留下一筆豐盛的小費(fèi)--這是為什么呢?答案也許不像你想得那么簡(jiǎn)單。

Tipping, psychologists have found, is rarely just about service. Instead, studies have shown tipping can be influenced by psychological reactions to an array of factors ranging from the waiter’s choice of words to how they carry themselves while taking orders to the bill’s total. Even how much waiters remind customers of themselves can determine how much change they pocket by the end of the night.

心理學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，給小費(fèi)不僅僅是因?yàn)榉?wù)。研究表明人們給小費(fèi)會(huì)受到對(duì)一系列因素產(chǎn)生的心理反應(yīng)所影響。這些因素包括從服務(wù)員的措辭到結(jié)賬時(shí)他們的舉止。甚至連服務(wù)員能在多大程度上讓顧客想到自己也決定了他一天下來能夠拿到多少小費(fèi)。

"Previous studies have shown that mimicry enhances positive feelings for the mimicker," wrote Rick van Baaren, a social psychology professor at the University of Nikmegen in the Netherlands, in a recent study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. "These studies indicate that people who are being mimicked become more generous toward the person who mimics them."

荷蘭Nikmegen大學(xué)的社會(huì)心理學(xué)教授里克?范?巴倫在《實(shí)驗(yàn)社會(huì)心理學(xué)》雜志上最近發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)研究中寫到："以前的研究已經(jīng)表明模仿能夠增加人們對(duì)模仿者的好感。這些研究表明被模仿者對(duì)模仿自己的人更慷慨大方。"

To detect the benefit of copying the customer, van Baaren and his colleagues surveyed staff in American-styled restaurants in southern Holland. Among a group of 59 waitstaff, van Baaren requested that half respond to diner’s meal orders with a positive phrase such as, "Coming up!"

為了弄清模仿消費(fèi)者的好處，范?巴倫和他的同事們對(duì)荷蘭南部美國(guó)風(fēng)味餐館的員工們進(jìn)行了調(diào)查。在一組總共59名服務(wù)員中，范?巴倫要求他們中的一半跟點(diǎn)餐者說"就來!"等明確的答復(fù)。

Those in the other half were instructed to repeat the orders and preferences back to the customers. Van Baaren then compared their take-home. The results were clear -it pays to imitate your customer. The copycat waiters earned almost double the amount of tip than the other group.

另一半服務(wù)員則被要求把顧客點(diǎn)的餐和喜好重復(fù)一遍。范?巴倫隨后比較了他們所得的小費(fèi)，結(jié)果很清楚--模仿顧客對(duì)服務(wù)員有好處。模仿顧客的服務(wù)員獲得的小費(fèi)差不多是另一組服務(wù)員所得的兩倍。

Leonard Green and Joel Myerson, psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis, found the generosity of a tipper may be limited by their bill. After compiling data from nearly 1,000 tips left for waiters, cab drivers and hair stylists, they found that tip percentages in all three areas dropped as customers’ bills went up.

圣路易斯華盛頓大學(xué)的心理學(xué)家萊昂納德和喬爾?邁爾森發(fā)現(xiàn)，給小費(fèi)者人是否慷慨可能會(huì)受到帳單金額的影響。通過匯總服務(wù)員、出租車司機(jī)和發(fā)型師收到的近1000份小費(fèi)的數(shù)據(jù)，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)這三個(gè)領(lǐng)域中小費(fèi)的比例都隨著顧客帳單金額的上升而下降。