Have you watched your secret-admiring person spill their coffee and found you just loved them even more? Not because of schadenfreude, of course (hopefully). But they suddenly feel more like a real human than fitting into some ideal.
Is It True or Just Illusional?
You’re not imagining this; it’s actually a well-documented phenomenon. In 1966, social psychologist Elliot Aronson asked participants to rate someone’s performance on a quiz. He created two personas auditioning for a prestigious quiz team: a “superstar” who aced 92% of the difficult trivia questions and an “average Joe” who scored only 30%. At the end of the performance, both accidentally knocked over a cup of coffee. Yet the superstar’s likability scores skyrocketed, whereas the same clumsy mistake only made the already-average candidate even less popular.
This is the pratfall effect. It only enhances someone’s likeness when they are perceived as excellent, so a minor mistake makes them human. For someone who’s perceived as incompetent, though, a blunder may just confirm their presumed flaws. And it is not useful for performing vulnerability, either, which tends to backfire.
Why Do We Feel It?
In fact, the pratfall effect is context-based. The same actor and audience can feel very differently, giving a diverse scenery. Some argue that this effect works because it assuages the audience to feel less insecure and less intimidated by competence. It is possible. For those who have high self-esteem (not high competence, objectively), they may prefer the highly polished version because “like attracts like”. (Related: How Are Self-Esteem and Ego Related in One Person?)
Conversely, others believe that flawlessness feels robotic or an unreal “object”. A minor blunder makes the expert a flesh-and-blood human, which naturally fosters human connection. The warmth, the authenticity, and the sense of trust. They simply close the distance between the two parties. (Related: The Popular Myth about Dislikes and Insecurities)
More broadly, in everyday life, perfection doesn’t make someone likeable. It is the perceived authenticity, the willingness to be seen with flaws, the healthy self-esteem that doesn’t rely on performative ego, that makes someone human and builds better connections.
*What is Daily Insight? An ongoing series of quick, bite-sized brain snacks. Every week, there are three research-based factual reports and three research-informed reflective notes.
