Work

When do people dislike self-enhancers?

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Self-enhancing statements can provide useful information. Why do we resent those who make them? We suggest that the resentment comes from a broader claim of superiority that self-enhancing statements can imply. In three experiments, we compared one condition, designed such that the self-enhancing claim would be perceived as a claim of superiority, to three conditions providing different contextual reasons for why the self-enhancing claim might not be a claim of superiority. In those conditions the self-enhancing claim is either called for, addressed to someone who performs better than the self-enhancer, or addressed to someone who doesn’t compete in the domain mentioned of the self-enhancing claim. The results show that participants disliked the self-enhancer more and were more likely to deem the self-enhancing claim to be a brag when the self-enhancing claim was manipulated to be a claim of superiority.

Source: Pragmatics & Cognition

DOI: 10.1075/pc.00039.web

Authors: Valentin Weber, Hugo Mercier

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, École Normale Supérieure - PSL, Institut Jean Nicod, École des hautes études en sciences sociales

Language: English

Topic: Emotions and Moral Behavior

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Agence Nationale de la Recherche

Awards: Paris Sciences et Lettres, Frontières en cognition