We all have come across someone who can’t seem to stop trying to impress others. Braggers seem to always try to make themselves look good by putting a positive spin on everything they believe can show them favorably. There are many reasons why people do this, from making themselves feel better to doing things to impress others, or simply enjoying talking about oneself.
But in reality, the habit of bragging or boasting can be rather problematic. Not only do braggers paint an inaccurate or even distorted picture of their lives, they monopolize conversations. No wonder, for their audience, this is often super annoying as their self-worth seems to be all over the place.
New York-based novelist Henya Drescher claims that braggers wear masks. “People who brag a lot sacrifice their true identity — or at least a part of it — on the altar of appearances,” she explains in a piece on Medium. “They boast their qualities, achievements, and successes to attain the admiration and respect of those around them. And if necessary, they also resort to exaggerations and lies.”
You may ask why, despite its negative connotations, so many people still brag like there was no yesterday. Well, interestingly, bragging may work because the audience does not have enough information (yet) to evaluate the braggart objectively, Joachim I. Krueger, a Professor of Psychology at Brown University suggests.
“Braggarts may try to anticipate—and manage—the audience’s reaction to their exuberant self-presentation, and here desire encroaches on reality,” the professor argues.
Moreover, it’s suggested that braggarts have empathy gaps they are unaware of. Krueger explains: “They project the positive feelings stirred up within themselves by their own bragging onto others without realizing that these others do not care as much about them as they themselves do.” This way, their pay is a reputational cost since they don’t have perspective talking.
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Meanwhile, flexing has an even more annoying connotation. This internet slang refers to showing off or exaggerating accomplishments and conveys arrogance or insecurity. Having sprung up in the 2010s through hip-hop songs like Rich Homie Quan’s 2015 smash “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh),” the term broke out in 2018 with the meme “weird flex but OK” for something odd to brag about.
