Evidence is presented suggesting that a speaker who makes positive self-descriptions will be perceived differently as a function of the conversation context of his or her remarks. Subjects read a transcript of a conversation between two persons; one of whom made positive self-statements about his (Replication 1) or her (Replication 2) intellectual prowess. Impressions of the target were positive when these statements were made in response to specific questions or were made in the context of positive self-statements by the other. However, when the target simply took advantage of the topic of the conversation to make positive statements about the self, impressions of the target were much more negative. These effects were greater for subjects high in public self-consciousness, and this finding is used to argue that such subjects are more sensitive to the implicit rules of social interaction.
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