--- title: Humblebragging Makes People Dislike You, According to Science description: Beware the humble brag: a new study from UNC and Harvard found that humblebragging makes you seem less likable and competent. canonical: https://time.com/5095144/humblebrag-bragging/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-10T13:00:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:48:43.639Z article:section: Health og:title: Humblebragging Makes People Dislike You, According to Science og:description: You're better off bragging outright og:url: https://time.com/5095144/humblebrag-bragging/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60cd1901686ad90d/69887b49524fc05e9fdf6859/confusion-mental-health-self-betterment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2500 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: confusion-mental-health-self-betterment-motto-stock og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Humblebragging Makes People Dislike You, According to Science twitter:description: You're better off bragging outright twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60cd1901686ad90d/69887b49524fc05e9fdf6859/confusion-mental-health-self-betterment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Humblebragging Makes People Dislike You, According to Science > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 10, 2018 1:00 PM UTC  Peechaya Burroughs for TIME  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 10, 2018 1:00 PM UTC Your false modesty isn’t fooling anyone, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Humblebragging — defined as “bragging masked by a complaint or humility” — actually makes people like you less than straight-up self-promotion, the research says. The [findings](http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-40996-001) were published recently in the _Journal of Personality and Social Psychology._ “It’s such a common phenomenon. All of us know some people in our lives, whether in social media or in the workplace, who do this annoying thing,” says study author Ovul Sezer, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. “You think, as the humblebragger, that it’s the best of both worlds, but what we show is that sincerity is actually the key ingredient.” Sezer and her team conducted a series of experiments to determine how common humblebragging is and how others perceive it. They found that humblebragging is everywhere: Out of 646 people surveyed, 70% could recall a humblebrag they’d heard recently. Next, they established that there are two distinct types of humblebrags. The first falls back on a complaint (“I hate that I look so young; even a 19-year-old hit on me!”) while the second relies on humility (“Why do I always get asked to work on the most important assignment?”). About 60% of the humblebrags people remembered fell into the complaint category. The researchers then carried out experiments to see how people responded to humblebrags, with a particular focus on the bragger’s perceived likability and competence. They found that regular bragging was better on both counts, because it at least comes off as genuine, Sezer says. Even complainers were more likable and seemed more competent than humblebraggers of any type. “If you want to announce something, go with the brag and at least own your self-promotion and reap the rewards of being sincere, rather than losing in all dimensions,” Sezer says. Better yet, she says, get somebody else to “wingman” your boasting. “If someone brags for you, that’s the best thing that can happen to you, because then you don’t seem like you’re bragging,” Sezer says. And if you can, cut humblebraggers a little slack — because you may be doing it yourself without realizing it. “We all do it, to some extent,” Sezer says. “I hope I don’t sound like I’m humblebragging when I talk about this research.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5095144/humblebrag-bragging/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5095144/humblebrag-bragging/"},"headline":"Humblebragging Makes People Dislike You, According to Science","datePublished":"2018-01-10T13:00:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:48:43.639Z","description":"You're better off bragging outright","url":"https://time.com/5095144/humblebrag-bragging/","keywords":["Mental Health/Psychology","Psychology","personality","onetime","healthytime","Evergreen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60cd1901686ad90d/69887b49524fc05e9fdf6859/confusion-mental-health-self-betterment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt60cd1901686ad90d/69887b49524fc05e9fdf6859/confusion-mental-health-self-betterment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"confusion-mental-health-self-betterment-motto-stock","caption":"confusion mental health self betterment motto stock","creditText":"Peechaya Burroughs for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mental-healthpsychology/","name":"Mental Health/Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5095144/humblebrag-bragging/","name":"Humblebragging Makes People Dislike You, According to Science"}}]}] ```