| ▲ | rao-v 3 days ago | ||||||||||||||||
This generally is a version of what economics and game theory knows as countersignalling. A classic paper is “Too Cool for School” https://host.kelley.iu.edu/riharbau/cs-randfinal.pdf Always worth pondering when it works, and when, for whom, and how it fails. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | gadders 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
Rory Sutherland had a good description of this: "If you’re a top executive, turning up to work on a bicycle is a high-status activity because it was a choice and not a necessity. But if you work at Pizza Hut, turning up on a bike means you can’t afford a car." | |||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | anal_reactor 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
I remember reading about Nikocado Avocado and I found information that he graduated from art school or something and thought "Wait. He's just pretending to be an idiot in front of a camera because this makes money". I talked about this to a friend of mine, who dismissed me. Two weeks later he put a video about having lost all that weight. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | pyman 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | ||||||||||||||||
I'd argue that shamelessness and countersignalling are different things but share the same foundation: confidence. Shamelessness is acting without embarrassment and countersignalling is deliberately downplaying because you're so confident you don't need to prove yourself. Using the example from the article, another person who comes to mind besides Paris Hilton is Trump. He uses countersignalling as a strategic tool, and sloppiness as a Swiss knife. The followers of both Paris and Trump interpret that sloppiness as confidence and authenticity, which is why it's so effective. And to pull off being deliberately sloppy, you need to be shameless. | |||||||||||||||||
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