Wanting to appear smart
Hypercriticism as an indirect impression management strategy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15411684 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bryan Gibson (0000-0003-4747-6383, Central Michigan University, corresponding author), E Oberländer (Michigan State University) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 380-392 |
| Publication date | 2008-05-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Self and Identity (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1529-8868 • E-ISSN: 1529-8876 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/15298860701668986 |
| OpenAlex | W2061480119 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 19 |
Two experiments explored hypercriticism as a strategy used by people attempting to appear smart. People wanting to appear smart were more critical than either those wanting to be liked, or those in a no-goal control group. Further, more people in the "appear smart" condition selected a disliked topic in order to facilitate hypercritical evaluations. We also found that trying to appear smart led to a drop in the intelligence ratings of an interaction partner. These two studies extend previous work (Amabile & Glazebrook, Citation1982) by ruling out potential alternative explanations for the hypercriticism effect, by identifying other targets relevant to the hypercritical strategy, and by demonstrating the proactive nature of hypercriticism. Keywords: Impression managementHypercriticismIntelligenceSelf-presentationSocial interaction Acknowledgments Portions of these data were presented at the 4th annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Los Angeles, CA, and at the 76th annual convention of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL. We wish to thank Bill Jellison and Harry Wallace for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Notes 1. Raters were asked to attend to statements specifically directed toward the film, and to evaluate the general positivity or negativity of the statements. Examples of positive statements (e.g., "I would have to say that I am a 'huge' action fan. So I really enjoyed the clip and I thought it was a better than average clip in all of the categories.") and negative statements (e.g., "I didn't really like the clip. I think it lacked substance. Five minutes is a hard time frame to work with but I have seen better.") were provided to the raters as examples of the types of statements they should look for. Raters were trained by evaluating 5 sample responses from participants who completed a pilot test version of this study. They made an overall rating of these 5 responses, and then discussed any discrepancies that existed
Action (physics · Convention · Impression management · Negativity effect · Order (exchange · Personality · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Law · Media Influence and Health · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,21 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2024 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |