Donald Trump is the very picture of excessive self-confidence, disregard for the truth and a lack of respect for the wellbeing of others. Why do so many people believe in him?
Before he came to power in the 2016 election, Donald Trump had already shown himself to be an egotist with an inflated sense of self-confidence, blatant disregard for the truth and little respect for the welfare of others. Why didn’t his overconfidence scare off voters in 2016? And why did it still seem to appeal to voters in the run-up to the last election?
Research by Richard Ronay, Janneke Oostrom, Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, Samuel Mayoral and Hannes Rusch shows that overconfidence actually gives presidential candidates a head start in elections. This is because most people find it difficult to distinguish between self-confidence and overconfidence. Self-confidence (a sign of competence) and overconfidence (a sign of overestimation of one’s competence) are associated with the same kinds of behaviour, such as strong opinions and a self-confident appearance. This makes it extremely difficult to figure out how competent someone really is. As a result, people tend to rely on candidates who promise them the world.