The shallower the brook, the more it babbles.
As that Indonesian proverb illustrates, people don’t like braggers. And, although we don’t have a clever maxim to illustrate it (yet), it appears as if people really don’t like
If you’re not quite sure how a humblebrag is defined, we’ll allow Stephen Fry to demonstrate.
Oh dear. Don’t know what to do at the airport. Huge crowd, but I’ll miss my plane if I stop and do photos … oh dear don’t want to disappoint
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) March 14, 2013
That insight comes to us via a new study on self-presentation that was undertaken by researchers at Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the findings indicate that not only do most people recognize a humblebrag for what it is — a barely veiled effort to impress others — they also dislike a humblebrag more than a regular brag because it seems disingenuous.
“You think, as the humblebragger, that it’s the best of both worlds, but what we show is that sincerity is actually the key ingredient,” study author Ovul Sezer told New Scientist. “If you want to announce something, go with the brag and at least own your self-promotion and reap the rewards of being sincere, rather than losing in all dimensions.”
So there you have it. Now try not to sound like a jerk when discussing this topic with others.
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