How perfection can amount to imperfection.

You will come to notice how much you despise someone who is perceived to not make any mistakes. However, in society today, not making any mistakes could become the biggest mistake of all. This is the result of a psychological phenomena known as the Pratfall Effect. The Pratfall Effect occurs when you feel attracted to someone who makes a mistake. You shouldn’t worry about tripping while walking up to stage, or falling in front of someone that you are trying to attract, these actions will only make you more liked! This is due to the Pratfall Effect: those who keep on a mask of perfection are often perceived as less likable than those who have a tendency to mess up from time to time.

Testing The Theory

The theory of the Pratfall Effect (occasionally referred to as, the Blemishing Effect) was first tested in 1966 by American psychologist Elliot Aronson. In his test, Aronson took a group of male students from the University of Minnesota and had them listen to a taped recording of a staged game show. In this game show, there were two individuals. One individual was perceived as competent, describing towards the end his esteemed high school career and involvement with non-school related matters. The other was perceived as incompetent, less than average grades, and weak involvement with anything extracurricular. Aronson’s theory stated that if someone who was competent was to make a mistake, he would be more liked. Moreover, someone who was incompetent would be less liked after his blunder. After a poll taken by the male students, Aronson found that during the beginning of the game the students had not been fond of the competent actor, who had been achieving a near-perfect score, but warmed up to him after he blundered a few questions. Whereas when the incompetent one had been blundering all of them, he turned out to be less liked.

Takeaway

Don’t worry when you trip in front of your crush, or when you stutter in a conversation. People who don’t make these simple mistakes are slowly creating a barrier between them and others, a barrier of apparent invincibility to life’s glorious mishaps.