1 KU Leuven-University of Leuven, Belgium.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2017 Jul;43(7):1008-1019. doi: 10.1177/0146167217703951. Epub 2017 May 7.
We tested the prediction, derived from the hubris hypothesis, that bragging might serve as a verbal provocation and thus enhance aggression. Experiments 1 and 2 were vignette studies where participants could express hypothetical aggression; Experiment 3 was an actual decision task where participants could make aggressive and/or prosocial choices. Observers disliked an explicit braggart (who claimed to be "better than others") or a competence braggart as compared with an implicit braggart (who claimed to be "good") or a warmth braggart, respectively. Showing that explicit and competence bragging function as verbal provocations, observers responded more aggressively to the explicit and competence braggart than to the implicit and warmth braggart, respectively. They did so because they inferred that an explicit and a competence braggart viewed other people and them negatively, and therefore disliked the braggart. Rather than praising the self, braggarts are sometimes viewed as insulting others.
我们验证了源于傲慢假设的预测，即吹嘘可能是一种言语挑衅，从而增强攻击性。实验 1 和实验 2 是情景研究，参与者可以表达假设的攻击性；实验 3 是一个实际的决策任务，参与者可以做出攻击性和/或亲社会的选择。与含蓄的吹嘘者（自称“比别人好”）或热情的吹嘘者相比，观察者分别不喜欢直言不讳的吹嘘者（自称“比别人好”）或有能力的吹嘘者。这表明，明确的和有能力的吹嘘是言语挑衅，观察者对直言不讳的和有能力的吹嘘者的反应比对含蓄的和热情的吹嘘者更具攻击性。他们这样做是因为他们推断出，一个直言不讳和有能力的吹嘘者对他人和他们自己持负面看法，因此不喜欢吹嘘者。吹嘘者不是在自我赞美，而是有时被视为在侮辱他人。
