The Best Way To Humblebrag Without Sounding Like A Jerk

The Best Way To Humblebrag Without Sounding Like A Jerk

Being able to boast about your accomplishments or abilities without making everyone around you roll their eyes is an art form. There’s a time and place for it, and according to a recent study, there’s even a right and wrong way to do it.

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The study, led by Carolien Van Damme, and published in the journal Self and Identity, suggests that people will accept your humblebragging less if you compare yourself to someone else. For example, if you’ve been running, you don’t want to say “I’m much faster than Johnny.” You’re better off saying something like “I’ve managed to cut my mile time down an entire minute.”

Better yet, make your humblebrag a story of how you cut your mile time down. It makes you sound passionate and less like a glory hound. If you humblebrag in moderation, shun exaggeration, and avoid putting down others, it can actually be beneficial in the right circumstances.

Why Self-enhancement Provokes Dislike: The Hubris Hypothesis and the Aversiveness of Explicit Self-superiority Claims [Self and Identity via Science of Us]


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