Dual-promotion: Bragging better by promoting peers.

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Impression Management
• Interpersonal Communication

Background:

• Individuals often self-promote to gain credit and favorable impressions.
• Traditional self-promotion can negatively impact perceptions of warmth and likability.
• Previous research viewed self-promotion as a trade-off between competence and warmth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and investigate a novel self-promotion strategy termed 'dual-promotion'.
• To determine if combining self-promotion with other-promotion (praising others) improves impressions.
• To assess the impact of dual-promotion on perceptions of both warmth and competence.

Main Methods:

• Conducted seven preregistered studies with a total of 1,448 participants.
• Included analyses of congressional annual reports and experiments in social network, workplace, and political contexts.
• Compared impressions formed by individuals engaging in dual-promotion versus only self-promotion.

Main Results:

• Dual-promotion consistently led to more favorable impressions of both warmth and competence.
• Individuals using dual-promotion were perceived more positively than those only self-promoting.
• These positive effects were observed across competitive and noncompetitive contexts and influenced behavioral intentions.

Conclusions:

• Dual-promotion offers a more effective strategy for impression management than self-promotion alone.
• Integrating praise for others alongside self-advocacy can enhance social and professional standing.
• This approach successfully balances perceptions of competence and warmth.