Competence and transcendence in interpersonal attraction

Abstract

A number of studies have determined that a small blunder committed by an otherwise competent person can enhance that person's appeal. This phenomenon has been termed the pratfall effect and has been experimentally demonstrated with a staged coffee-spilling incident. However, hardly any effort has been expended in specifying the conditions that either retard or accelerate this paradoxical effect. Therefore in the present project, a rudimentary taxonomy of blunders was devised. Based on their relationship to the skill under observation, pratfalls were classified as either Peripheral or Central, the former proposed as most likely to initiate attraction toward blunderers. Additionally, a number of variable classes were assumed to mediate the pratfall effect including attributions of the target, individual differences of subjects, and the observer-target relationship. The generality of the phenomenon was explored by obtaining liking, respect, and admiration ratings of stimulus persons whose pratfall involved a computer miscue. The stimulus person represented three competence levels (Incompetent, Competent, and Superior) in a college bowl task. All affective sentiments indicated a bias for blunderers for Incompetent and Competent stimuli only. The concept of transcendence was introduced to designate "antiblunders", or unusually skilled physical and mental events. Operationally represented as insight, transcendent stimulus persons were better liked than controls when Incompetent and Competent but not when Superior. The relationship of pratfalls and transcendence to impression management was explored.