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NEWS & TECHNOLOGY

Everyone hates

a humblebrag

Alice Klein hired a young woman to approach
100 female college students and
“JUST won GQ style award in ask them to sign a petition.
Germany. Obviously they made During her preamble, she asked
a mistake. I wonder how long till them about their summer plans.
they come take it back.” In response, she either bragged:
If this tweet by actor Jared Leto “That’s cool! I got my dream
sets your teeth on edge, you’re internship and got funding to
not alone. A study has revealed travel to Paris” or humblebragged:
that feigning modesty while “That’s cool! I got my dream
internship and got funding to
“Feigning modesty while travel to Paris. Ugh it’s so hard JAMES GOURLEY/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
boasting is a strategic to decide which one to choose.”
thing, and people see When she bragged, 86 per cent
straight through it” of the students she spoke to
agreed to sign the petition.
boasting – a practice known But only 65 per cent of those requirement: sincerity.“Even Jared Leto sent a humblebragging
as“humblebragging”– annoys she humblebragged to signed it. though bragging is frowned upon, tweet when he won a style award
people even more than outright Inotherexperiments,volunteers at least it comes across as sincere,”
self-promotion. were asked to rate examples of she says.“Humblebragging is a your likeability by bragging
Humblebragging comes in complaints, brags and both types sneaky, strategic thing, and or threaten your sincerity with
two forms, says Ovul Sezer at of humblebrag for likeability and people see straight through it.” a humblebrag?
the University of North Carolina. sincerity. None were very popular, Lisa Williams at the University One option is to ask a trusted
It can be expressed as a display but the two types of humblebrag of New South Wales in Australia peer to tell others about your
of humility –“I’m so shocked my scored lowest on both measures agrees.“Likeability, respect and accomplishments.“Then you get
new book is a bestseller”– or a (Journal of Personality and Social sincerity are like three legs of a the credit without having to do
complaint:“I’ve got nothing to Psychology, doi.org/gcsg5n). stool – if sincerity is missing, the bragging,”says Sezer.
wear after losing so much weight.” So why do people do it? your social image, like the stool, Another approach is to
Both types are disliked more Humblebragging is seen as a falls over,”she says. announce your achievement, but
than outright bragging, according way to broadcast achievements So what should you do the ensure you credit the people who
to a series of experiments run by without looking too arrogant, next time you achieve something helped you.“Then you look warm
Sezer and her team. says Sezer. However, it fails to impressive – keep it to yourself and communal, which people find
In one experiment, the team satisfy another important social and miss out on respect, damage attractive,”she says. ■

Robot factory ARMAR-6 consists of a humanoid help they might need and step in with
torso perched atop a four-wheeled manual assistance at the appropriate
worker is there chassis. It has two cameras for eyes time. If a technician asks for a
that can track several different spanner, say, the robot should identify
to help us out objects moving in a busy environment the tool among others in a toolkit, use
at once. Its two arms end in dexterous its natural language skills to ask the
IF ARMIES of Terminators start five-fingered hands for grasping technician “Do you mean this spanner
wiping out humanity, their ancestors irregularly shaped objects like or that one?”, and then hand it over.
might be traced to an upmarket home bananas and spray bottles. The torso Such an ability to understand
delivery service. KARLSRUHE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY can telescope between 1.5 metres its surroundings will be a massive
Ocado Technology, the innovation and 1.8 metres. And when it draws advance, says Joanna Bryson,
arm of grocery retailer Ocado, last itself to its full height, it can use its an AI researcher at the University
week unveiled the first prototype of long arms to reach objects 2.2 metres of Bath, UK.
its SecondHands project, a humanoid from the floor. It will be between two and five
robot called ARMAR-6 that will one The grocery company wants years before a SecondHands robot
day collaborate with maintenance Not just a pretty face: ARMAR-6 will ARMAR-6 to learn to understand what makes its proper debut on the shop
workers in the firm’s UK warehouses. lend a hand to maintenance workers people are working on, anticipate any floor, say its developers. Sally Adee ■

14 | NewScientist | 20 January 2018