Over-Confident People Deceive Others Better, Study

First Posted: Aug 28, 2014 06:29 AM EDT
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Researchers have found that over-confident people can deceive others into believing that they are more talented than they actually are.

The study, led by researchers at the Newcastle University in collaboration with the University of Exeter, found that it is the self-deceived people who are more likely to get promoted at work and also attain powerful positions in bank and other organizations. Also, these over-confident people misjudge others' abilities and indulge in riskier activities, leading to creating problems for the organizations.

Study author Dr Vivek Nityananda, research associate at the Newcastle University, explains: "These findings suggest that people don't always reward the most accomplished individual but rather the most self-deceived. We think this supports an evolutionary theory of self-deception. It can be beneficial to have others believe you are better than you are and the best way to do this is to deceive yourself that might be what we have evolved to do..."

On the other hand, those who were less confident about their abilities were viewed as less competent. This is the first study that highlights an association between a person's view of their own ability and how others view their abilities. This also helps explain financial downfall and other disasters.

In this study, the researchers looked at 72 students who were asked to rate their own ability as well as the ability of their peers after the first day of the course. They observed that nearly 32 students found themselves as under confident in their ability as compared to their final mark, 29 students rated themselves as overconfident and just 11 percent were found to be accurate in assessing their own ability.

There existed a positive correlation between the students' grades that they predicted for themselves and the grades others predicted for them. Those who predicted higher grades for themselves were predicted to get higher grades by others as well, irrespective of the final score. The over-confident people were over-rated by others.

The findings remained the same, even when the tasks were repeated after six weeks when the students got to know each other better.

"This can cause problems as over confident people may also be more likely to take risks. So if too many people overrate themselves and deceive others about their abilities within organizations then this could lead to disastrous consequences such as airplane crashes or financial collapses," Nityananda said.

The finding was documented in PLOS One.

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