Study: Humblebragging is more irritating than boasting

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Have you ever rolled your eyes on these kind of “complaints”: “My Tokyo trip is getting boring, Paris trip last month was much better,”; “I just rolled out of bed from a nap with no make-up, but guys are still hitting on me at the bar, really?”

A recent study led by Ovul Sezer, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, has proved that using humblebragging as a self-promotion strategy is worse than simple bragging. The study is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Defined as “bragging masked by a complaint,” researchers said that humblebragging is a distinct and, given the rise of social media, increasingly ubiquitous form of self-promotion.

Participants' attitudes on humblebrag, brag and complain. /Photo via Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard

A total of 302 participants were tested on their attitudes toward humblebrag, brag and complain.

Participants were tasked to evaluate another person through one of the three conditions.

Those in the humblebrag condition viewed the statement “I am so bored of people mistaking me for a model.” from the target. Participants in the brag condition viewed the brag portion of the humblebrag, “People mistake me for a model,” while participants in the complaint condition viewed the complaint portion, “I am so bored.”

Through the experiment, researchers found out that humblebrag is the most disliked because the other two are at least seen as sincere. Perceived sincerity was assessed as a meditator of the relationship between humblebragging and liking.

"Sincerity is a very important dimension and we value this character trait," Sezer told CNBC Make It in an interview.