Studies show that when we meet someone new, we check for two traits to decide if we like them. First, we decide whether they have a warm personality. Do they come off as kind, friendly, or accepting? Second, we assess their competence. Are they intelligent, skilled, and do they have basic social skills?
If you pass the warmth/competence round of meeting someone new, another way to make sure that people like you is to make a small blunder. People have already assessed that you’re competent. Making a small mistake and having fun with it will make you more relatable. The psychological phenomenon is known as the Pratfall Effect.
What is the Pratfall Effect?
Psychologist Elliot Aronson first identified the Pratfall Effect in a 1966 experiment in which he had participants listen to an audio recording of someone taking a quiz and doing incredibly well. At the end of the recording, some participants heard the quiz-taker spill coffee on themselves, while others didn’t. Those who heard the coffee spill rated the quiz-taker much higher on likability than those who did not.
The basic reasoning behind the Pratfall Effect is that when someone is seen as competent, a mistake makes them more relatable. A terrific example of this is Jennifer Lawrence tripping at the 2013 Academy Awards. At the moment when she was being awarded for her incredible performance in Silver Linings Playbook, she fell on her face. No doubt this made her all the more likable because everyone watching on TV thought, “Oh, she’s just like me.”
If Lawrence had become angry or cursed the stairs for the fall, people would have thought less of her, but after she fell, she received a standing ovation, and she laughed about it. “You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell, and that’s really embarrassing, thank you,” she opened her speech.
The Pratfall Effect doesn’t work in every situation
Now, the Pratfall Effect will only work to your advantage in a situation where people think that you are competent. If you are really good at your job and you accidentally mispronounce a word in a speech to your coworkers and laugh it off, they will like you more. However, if this is a situation where you are less competent, say, you are learning how to golf, and during a practice swing, you accidentally let go of the club, launching it into the air, people will probably think less of you.
Not everyone has the same reaction to a competent person making a blunder. A follow-up paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that people’s reaction to the mistake will differ depending on their level of self-esteem. People with lower self-esteem will feel greater admiration for their boss who spills coffee on their shirt while driving to work because it levels the playing field. But people with high self-esteem who are more comfortable around their boss won’t care as much if they make a mistake.
Ultimately, being likable isn’t about impressing people; it’s about knowing how to be human. The key is that once you’ve proven to others that you know what you’re doing, you can feel free to trip up every once in a while because it’ll make them like you even more.
