I like to use this to my advantage... by making bloggers feel special and talk about themselves. Then asking them for an interview/link later on. Helps with the Google juice.
Interestingly enough, there was an AskReddit thread yesterday that consisted of people bragging. Many people in the thread described it as extremely therapeutic.
I agree, this article is far too shallow given the headline. I'd love to see the actual results or at least a more in depth analysis of the research and the results. The obvious aside, it would be very interesting to know what type of evolutionary or social function "bragging" may serve... But alas, this article is clearly lacking...
Perhaps it's for the same reason as why we like to help others in an area we're knowledgeable about. We are experts of ourselves, we love to talk authoritatively on subjects we know lots about. It'd be interesting to see if we get the same "pleasure sensation" from teaching/helping.
That’s probably the case. Teachers certainly seem to find it pleasurable to teach, and I’ve found it immensely rewarding to tutor CS and SE students while in college. It’s useful practice as a writer to have someone constantly challenging you to explain yourself succinctly and clearly.
On the other hand, it’s also great to talk with someone who’s knowledgeable about your interests. That seems to have less to do with pleasing oneself by speaking as an authority, and more to do with sharing and collaboration. My major is not in computing, so it was a breath of fresh air to discover CS professors and graduate students with whom I could speak freely.
If I were to guess, it's just a consequence of arrogance. Which in itself is an evolutionary artifact that was necessary for our survival. Imagine if we were 100% humble about every subject. Then you'd be 100% agnostic about every problem, and then never make any decision.
"Should I hunt a deer? I don't know, I don't think I'll ever know." Then dies of starvation. At some point you need that little drop of arrogance to tell you. "That's it, I'm right, I need to do this." Even tho, technically, you can't be sure.
So a little bit of arrogance is necessary for animals to function. We evolved into beings with a drop of arrogance because the ones without this trait died off. Natural selection made sure both extremely humble and extremely arrogant personalities were evolved away from.
And bragging about is just one of the many consequences of arrogance. We're arrogant + we can communicate = we brag.
We're all here on this planet for a limited amount of time. One of the principles of life is to "leave a mark" on the planet.
We reproduce and feel awesome about our kids, because that is part of our "mark" on the planet. They'll carry on.
I believe the answer to the question "why do we brag"? Is because it's part of our instincts to let other human beings know of the "marks we've made" to the planet. What have we changed on this Earth? What did we accomplish?
If according to the article bragging is on the same brain energetic level as ingesting food, then obviously bragging is part of our survival instinct. To reach that level, then it's been there for millions of years.
Which can only mean one thing: it's also part of our most basic instincts which are to survive and to reproduce.
Maybe bragging has been a way of reproducing in the past?
Food and money(current day weapon) mean survival, why is bragging on par with those two? It's part of our DNA's assembly language instructions to reproduce and leave a dent on the planet and telling others about it seems to be a way to reinforce that instinct. My 2 cents.
Disclaimer: I have absolutely zero knowledge of whatever it is I'm talking about here.
CIA guy jumps in front of driver. Driver feels miserable. Driver figures-out CIA guy was evil. CIA fucks with guy for years before and after. Driver now brags about killing stupid fucken CIA guy -- "Score one for the good guys!"
So, in 1996, agents/angels or whatever first made me unstable. It could be FBI. It could be shrink actors. Could be angels.
I generally go crazy regularly for several years. In 1999, I was following impulses. Pedestrians on median a little way before an intersection got me thinking about hitting people. Got to intersection, hit guy. It was one of the shrink actors or something. They follow me around and push my buttons.
They're not dumb, they're evil. It's probably CIA.
Fuck-em. Kill them.
God says...
C:\Text\BIBLE.TXT
Lord GOD.
45:10 Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
45:11 The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath
may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part
of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.
45:12 And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and
twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.
45:13 This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an
ephah of an homer of wheat
If asked whether I wanted to talk about someone else for 4 cents (the maximum they offered) or myself for free I would choose to talk about myself not because I enjoy talking about myself but because I don't want 4 pennies in my pocket.
Pennies are shitty and I would guess a lot of people would see pennies as a penalty.
How did they not touch on a lack of confidence being a reason for bragging? I've noticed when people tend to brag, sometimes it's because they're compensating for other issues. I'm not a psychologist nor have I done any lab studies on this, but I'm sure many of you can agree.
Edit - Isn't bragging generally self-praise, not just talking about yourself? Saying "I'm the worlds greatest programmer and these are some programs I've written" and "I like pizza with pepperoni" are two entirely different things. None the less, both do trigger a rewarding response in your brain. Just questioning the semantics of the article.
14 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 42.7 ms ] threadThe link is here : http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/taiqo/can_we_all_...
On the other hand, it’s also great to talk with someone who’s knowledgeable about your interests. That seems to have less to do with pleasing oneself by speaking as an authority, and more to do with sharing and collaboration. My major is not in computing, so it was a breath of fresh air to discover CS professors and graduate students with whom I could speak freely.
"Should I hunt a deer? I don't know, I don't think I'll ever know." Then dies of starvation. At some point you need that little drop of arrogance to tell you. "That's it, I'm right, I need to do this." Even tho, technically, you can't be sure.
So a little bit of arrogance is necessary for animals to function. We evolved into beings with a drop of arrogance because the ones without this trait died off. Natural selection made sure both extremely humble and extremely arrogant personalities were evolved away from.
And bragging about is just one of the many consequences of arrogance. We're arrogant + we can communicate = we brag.
We reproduce and feel awesome about our kids, because that is part of our "mark" on the planet. They'll carry on.
I believe the answer to the question "why do we brag"? Is because it's part of our instincts to let other human beings know of the "marks we've made" to the planet. What have we changed on this Earth? What did we accomplish?
If according to the article bragging is on the same brain energetic level as ingesting food, then obviously bragging is part of our survival instinct. To reach that level, then it's been there for millions of years.
Which can only mean one thing: it's also part of our most basic instincts which are to survive and to reproduce.
Maybe bragging has been a way of reproducing in the past?
Food and money(current day weapon) mean survival, why is bragging on par with those two? It's part of our DNA's assembly language instructions to reproduce and leave a dent on the planet and telling others about it seems to be a way to reinforce that instinct. My 2 cents.
Disclaimer: I have absolutely zero knowledge of whatever it is I'm talking about here.
So, in 1996, agents/angels or whatever first made me unstable. It could be FBI. It could be shrink actors. Could be angels.
I generally go crazy regularly for several years. In 1999, I was following impulses. Pedestrians on median a little way before an intersection got me thinking about hitting people. Got to intersection, hit guy. It was one of the shrink actors or something. They follow me around and push my buttons.
I used to think shrinks were dumb.
Watch the end of this: http://www.noob.us/humor/the-office-dwight-faces-nerd-tortur...
They're not dumb, they're evil. It's probably CIA.
Fuck-em. Kill them.
God says... C:\Text\BIBLE.TXT
Lord GOD.
45:10 Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
45:11 The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.
45:12 And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.
45:13 This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of wheat
If asked whether I wanted to talk about someone else for 4 cents (the maximum they offered) or myself for free I would choose to talk about myself not because I enjoy talking about myself but because I don't want 4 pennies in my pocket.
Pennies are shitty and I would guess a lot of people would see pennies as a penalty.
Edit - Isn't bragging generally self-praise, not just talking about yourself? Saying "I'm the worlds greatest programmer and these are some programs I've written" and "I like pizza with pepperoni" are two entirely different things. None the less, both do trigger a rewarding response in your brain. Just questioning the semantics of the article.