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social dynamics
Competence is more likeable when it is slightly flawed.
The pratfall effect is the tendency for a mistake to increase the attractiveness of an already highly competent person, while a mistake by an average or incompetent person tends to make them less attractive.
The original study, Aronson, Willerman, and Floyd, was published in 1966, not 1968.
Flawlessness is not the trait that keeps people close to you.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Aronson, Willerman, and Floyd, 1966, The Pratfall Effect
- What the check found
- The effect is not universal; it is highly dependent on the subject's baseline competence. A blunder does not inherently make people more attractive.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.