When Being Nice or Being Smart Could Bring You Down: Compensatory Dynamics in Strategic Self-presentation

Lindholm, TorunStockholms universitet,Personlighets-, social- och utvecklingspsykologi (author)

When Being Nice or Being Smart Could Bring You Down : Compensatory Dynamics in Strategic Self-presentation

This research was supported by grant P14-0907:1 from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation to T.L.
Research shows that the two fundamental dimensions of social perception, warmth and competence, are often negatively related in our perceptions of others, the so-called compensation effect. The current experiments investigate people’s use of such compensation when self-presenting strategically to reach a desired goal. In Experiment 1, participants applying for a qualified job emphasized their competence while downplaying their warmth. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants role-playing as crime witnesses similarly attenuated their warmth relative to their competence. In contrast, in Experiment 3, participants in the role of suspects of a severe crime chose to downplay their competence. Results suggest that self-presenters are sensitive to warmth-competence dynamics in social perception as a means to promote the optimal self-image given their specific goals.

Yzerbyt, Vincent (author)
Stockholms universitetPersonlighets-, social- och utvecklingspsykologi (creator_code:org_t)

In:International Review of Social Psychology (IRSP): Ubiquity Press, Ltd.31:12397-85700992-986X

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