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Article published In: Pragmatics & Cognition
Vol. 31:1 (2024) ► pp.27–48

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When do people dislike self-enhancers?

When they claim to be superior

 | Institut Jean Nicod
 | Institut Jean Nicod | Département d’études cognitives, ENS, PSL University | EHESS
Published online: 11 October 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.00039.web
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.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Overview of experiments
  • 3.Experiment 1
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Design
    • 3.3Materials
    • 3.4Results and discussion
  • 4.Experiment 2
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Design
    • 4.3Materials
    • 4.4Results and discussion
  • 5.Experiment 3
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Design
    • 5.3Materials
    • 5.4Results and discussion
  • 6.Meta-analysis of Experiments 1, 2 and 3
  • 7.General discussion
  • 8.Conclusion
  • References
References (51)
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