"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.
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.
The link is here : http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/taiqo/can_we_all_...
We reproduce and feel awesome about our kids, because that is part of our "mark" on the planet. They'll carry on.
I believe the answer to the question "why do we brag"? Is because it's part of our instincts to let other human beings know of the "marks we've made" to the planet. What have we changed on this Earth? What did we accomplish?
If according to the article bragging is on the same brain energetic level as ingesting food, then obviously bragging is part of our survival instinct. To reach that level, then it's been there for millions of years.
Which can only mean one thing: it's also part of our most basic instincts which are to survive and to reproduce.
Maybe bragging has been a way of reproducing in the past?
Food and money(current day weapon) mean survival, why is bragging on par with those two? It's part of our DNA's assembly language instructions to reproduce and leave a dent on the planet and telling others about it seems to be a way to reinforce that instinct. My 2 cents.
Disclaimer: I have absolutely zero knowledge of whatever it is I'm talking about here.
Edit - Isn't bragging generally self-praise, not just talking about yourself? Saying "I'm the worlds greatest programmer and these are some programs I've written" and "I like pizza with pepperoni" are two entirely different things. None the less, both do trigger a rewarding response in your brain. Just questioning the semantics of the article.
If asked whether I wanted to talk about someone else for 4 cents (the maximum they offered) or myself for free I would choose to talk about myself not because I enjoy talking about myself but because I don't want 4 pennies in my pocket.
Pennies are shitty and I would guess a lot of people would see pennies as a penalty.
