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After all, flattery won’t get you anywhere! Undeserved praise isn’t as effective as sincere praise for getting people to like you, experts say
- Compliments can improve performance just as much as being rewarded with money
Everyone loves a compliment, but empty flattery won’t get you anywhere, scientists have discovered.
Researchers found that — whatever the old adage may say — undeserved praise isn’t as effective as sincere praise when it comes to getting people to like you.
A team from Japan examined the brain activity of participants who received sincere feedback or insincere flattery after completing a task – and found that activity in parts that control feelings of reward and pleasure was higher when the praise was earned.
As an example of flattery, where a compliment does not necessarily reflect a person’s true qualities or abilities, they cited, “You are the most intelligent person I have ever met, not to mention your charm, wit, and good looks.”
While sincere praise might be, “This meal is delicious—it’s clear you’ve put a lot of thought into it.”
Undeserved praise isn’t as effective as sincere praise when it comes to getting people to like you
In the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, the Tohoku University researchers write: ‘Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured brain activity when healthy young participants received sincere praise or flattery after performing a visual search task. A higher activation was observed during sincere praise than during flattery…implying a rewarding effect of sincere praise.”
They added, “Sincere praise is a social reward, but the effect of flattery is controversial,” explaining that the “reliability” of the compliment is important. Previous research has shown that flattery has a negative effect on how trustworthy someone is perceived to be, as it is ‘untrustworthy’ feedback.
A separate team of researchers previously discovered that compliments can improve performance just as well as being rewarded with money.