Why Jerks Get Ahead
As much as we’d rather not admit it, jerksoften get ahead in our world — usually at the expense of a lot of other peoplealong the way. Psychological research over the past few years is revealing why.As it turns out, acting like a jerk isn’t the secret to reaping the rewards ofjerkiness. The real secret is simply letting others place you on a pedestal.
The most recent study illustrating thispoint was covered in the Wall Street Journal in a piece entitled, “Why Are WeOverconfident?” The study wanted to uncover what adaptive advantageoverconfidence could possibly convey, since it so often leads to errors thatdon’t benefit us. The short answer is that even if overconfidence producessubpar results, others still perceive it positively. Quoting from the article:
In one of several related experiments,researchers had people take a geography quiz —first alone, then in pairs. Thetask involved placing cities on a map of North America unmarked by state ornational borders. The participants rated themselves on their own abilities andrated each other, secretly, on a number of qualities.
As expected, most people rated their owngeographic knowledge far higher than actual performance would justify. In theinteresting new twist, however, the people most prone to overrate themselvesgot higher marks from their partners on whether they “deserved respect andadmiration, had influence over the decisions, led the decision-making process,and contributed to the decisions.”
In other words, overconfident people areperceived as having more social status, and social status is golden.
A study last year highlighted a similarresult, but this time with respect to another jerk-marquis trait: rudeness.Being rude is a categorically negative behavior by most standards, and tosuggest otherwise–that is, to mount a defense of rudeness–would be a reallystrange thing to do. But psychology research is often at its best when itendorses positions that at first glance seem awfully strange.
And so it is with rudeness, because whilemost of us deplore it, research suggests that we also see it as a sign ofpower. A study published in the journal Social Psychological and PersonalityScience indicated that the ruder someone acts, the more convinced observersbecome that he or she is powerful, and therefore does not have to respect thesame rules the rest of us bow to.
In one of the experiments, studyparticipants read about a visitor to an office who marched in and pouredhimself a cup of “employee only” coffee without asking. In another case theyread about a bookkeeper that flagrantly bent accounting rules. Participantsrated the rule breakers as more in control and powerful compared to people whodidn’t steal the coffee or break accounting rules.
In another experiment participants watcheda video of a man at a sidewalk café put his feet on another chair, tapcigarette ashes on the ground and rudely order a meal. Participants rated theman as more likely to “get to make decisions” and able to “get people to listento what he says” than participants who saw a video of the same man behavingpolitely.
What this study appears to indicate is thatviolating norms is viewed by others as a sign of power, even if the observerswould otherwise judge those violations as rude or flatly wrong. Consideringmany of the openly rude jerks we venerate, these findings make a lot of sense.(Though I would like to see a follow on study that examines observerperceptions when the rude rule breakers are caught. Perhaps it’s less therudeness and corruption we admire, and more the ability to get away with itthat intrigues us. Maybe we’re just a little smitten with the charisma ofvillainy.)
Taken together with the results of thestudy on overconfidence, it would seem that jerks are inherently quite good atputting one over on us. In fact, they don’t even have to try. They just need towork their trade and earn the praise of their peers.
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