New Study: It is better to brag about yourself than about others

This is one of those studies that produces effects in an experiment, but may be so oversimplified that it doesn't apply to real organizational life. But it is cool. 

As BPS Research reports, a recent pair of experiments by Haifa University Researcher researcher Nurit Tal-Or examined  the impact of bragging about those close to you versus bragging about yourself.  She found that this  "indirect self-promotion, known as 'burnishing' carries all the costs of bragging but none of the gains."  For example, Dr. Nurit Tal-Orng second experiment showed (similar to her first) that "The boasting student, whether done directly or indirectly, was rated by participants as more manipulative than the control version student. And yet only the student who boasted about himself was rated as more able than the control student."

Dr. Tal-Or speculates that these findings happened because "When people boast about the success of other people, this need to bask in the reflected glory of the success of others may be perceived as pathetic and unworthy of respect.'"  Or perhaps because "when people brag about their associates' success, their audience may suspect that they themselves do not have any successes of their own to be proud of."  These interpretations seem possible, and this research does call into question the value of bragging about others at least in situations where people have just met and don't have -- or expect to have -- long-term relationships. But, for me, two critical pieces of the puzzle are missing (although I am not trying to be overly critical, all research is incomplete and no one study can answer every question).  

The first is that this research (apparently) doesn't consider the effect of the bragging on the perceived ability of those who were praised.  So, if other people are saying how great you are, it may not help them much, but it may help you.  The second, related, issue is that in organizational life, friends and allies often have implicit or even explicit "exchange relationships" where they brag about each other -- so they do not come across as arrogant but word still spreads of their successes (although Tal-O's study suggests that bragging about others can make you look manipulative too, so perhaps this method doesn't work as well as many people believe). 

These concerns and questions aside, it is still a surprising study, and, well, I guess that there might be times when you are better-off bragging about yourself than your colleagues, relatives, and so on because it helps you come across as competent (if still manipulative).  I am not wild about the implications, I confess, because these results may encourage people to rave about themselves -- but it appears that this is an evidence-base method for convincing others that you are competent. 

So much for modesty.  Beware, however, that this is essentially a study of what kind of bragging creates the best first impression on strangers who meet for the first time.  Over time, people who constantly brag about themselves may damage their reputations as colleagues tire of their relentless chest-pounding and arrogance -- and come to see them as annoying braggarts.

P.S. The citation is Tal-Or, N. (2010). Direct and indirect self-promotion in the eyes of the perceivers. Social Influence, 5 (2), 87-100

Comments

[Miri McDonald]

This is very interesting to me from a social psychology perspective. It relates to something I heard (I can't remember the source) about using twitter. If someone re-tweets other people's content too much and doesn't have enough of their own original content (through blog posts or "microblog" content on twitter itself) they are seen as not as interesting.

What I take from the study as well as your thoughtful commentary is that while we shouldn't shamefully brag about ourselves, it behooves us to talk intelligently from our own perspective versus speaking intelligently based on other people's thoughts.

[Lily]

Interesting. I wonder to what extent this is cultural, as well. Naturally, that's hard to extract from any research study, but, for example, my experience with the Israeli culture is that self-promotion is less distasteful there than here in the states.

Further, I see a distinction between bragging - in a "My friend played at carnegie hall" sort of way - and true admiration - "I am so excited for Jill - she's going to play at Carnegie hall!" The latter is more the type of behavior that is part of the mutual promotion agreements I've seen in the work world.

Just some thoughts...

[GordonG]

Nearly 50 years ago a cockney friend of mine told me "You have to blow your own trumpet because nobody else knows the tune."

:-)

G

[Bob Sutton]

Elad,

Your memory is spot on. But the two findings are not inconsistent. The research -- see page 94 of Yes! -- describes research (which turns out to be by my friend and co-author Jeff Pfeffer) showing that when an author's agent brags about an author (rather than the author himself), "Participants rated rated the author more favorably on nearly every dimension -- especially likability." But this new study considers a different question -- if you have you want to be seen as competent, is it better to not brag at all, to brag about your association with someone close to you who is accomplished, or to brag about yourself. This study shows that bragging about yourself or others both make you come across as manipulative, but your only get the competence boost when you brag about yourself. Note that the research you discuss in combination with this new study suggests that getting someone to brag about is the best of all worlds for you. That is why I wondered if, in the real world, that people bragging about each other might reflect exchange relationships (I will brag about if you brag about me) that enable both parties to come out best in the end. I love this persuasion stuff, endlessly fascinating.

[Elad Sherf]

This is surprising, especially where there is research about the effectiveness of barging about others as a tool of persuasion as demonstrated in "Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive". I thought that letting other people brag about you is more convincing... or am i getting the results of this research wrong?

[jonathan bolden]

would think this result might vary widely across different cultures / origins as well

[edbatista]

Very interesting stuff, Bob. I'm reminded of some research (wish I had a cite, but I don't) that suggests that even when we know we're being flattered, we still view the flatterer in a positive light. We'd like to think that when we see through flatterers, their effectiveness is undermined, but that may not be the case.

Something similar may be going on with bragging, to which we attach a similar stigma. We'd like to think that we see through bragging and discount it, and clearly bragging has some costs, but (as Tal-Or's work suggests), it may also have some important benefits, too (with the caveats you mention.)

If this is true, it seems like an particularly important finding for women, who, in my experience as an executive coach, are typically more self-effacing and reluctant to brag about themselves and their accomplishments than men. Avoiding the costs of bragging may not be worth missing out on the benefits.