If I were to guess, it's just a consequence of arrogance. Which in itself is an evolutionary artifact that was necessary for our survival. Imagine if we were 100% humble about every subject. Then you'd be 100% agnostic about every problem, and then never make any decision.
"Should I hunt a deer? I don't know, I don't think I'll ever know." Then dies of starvation. At some point you need that little drop of arrogance to tell you. "That's it, I'm right, I need to do this." Even tho, technically, you can't be sure.
So a little bit of arrogance is necessary for animals to function. We evolved into beings with a drop of arrogance because the ones without this trait died off. Natural selection made sure both extremely humble and extremely arrogant personalities were evolved away from.
And bragging about is just one of the many consequences of arrogance. We're arrogant + we can communicate = we brag.
Perhaps it's for the same reason as why we like to help others in an area we're knowledgeable about. We are experts of ourselves, we love to talk authoritatively on subjects we know lots about. It'd be interesting to see if we get the same "pleasure sensation" from teaching/helping.
That’s probably the case. Teachers certainly seem to find it pleasurable to teach, and I’ve found it immensely rewarding to tutor CS and SE students while in college. It’s useful practice as a writer to have someone constantly challenging you to explain yourself succinctly and clearly.
On the other hand, it’s also great to talk with someone who’s knowledgeable about your interests. That seems to have less to do with pleasing oneself by speaking as an authority, and more to do with sharing and collaboration. My major is not in computing, so it was a breath of fresh air to discover CS professors and graduate students with whom I could speak freely.
I agree, this article is far too shallow given the headline. I'd love to see the actual results or at least a more in depth analysis of the research and the results. The obvious aside, it would be very interesting to know what type of evolutionary or social function "bragging" may serve... But alas, this article is clearly lacking...
"Should I hunt a deer? I don't know, I don't think I'll ever know." Then dies of starvation. At some point you need that little drop of arrogance to tell you. "That's it, I'm right, I need to do this." Even tho, technically, you can't be sure.
So a little bit of arrogance is necessary for animals to function. We evolved into beings with a drop of arrogance because the ones without this trait died off. Natural selection made sure both extremely humble and extremely arrogant personalities were evolved away from.
And bragging about is just one of the many consequences of arrogance. We're arrogant + we can communicate = we brag.