Back in the day, Saturday Night Live performer and former US Senator Al Franken, used to play a character called Stuart Smalley.   His schtick was to perform positive daily affirmation for himself, concluding with "and doggone it, people like me."  (In the end his forced departure from the Senate proved not EVERYBODY liked him but I digress...)
Well, doggone it, do people like you?  Maybe more than you think.
Time magazine reports on a new study that show people often underestimate how much another person likes them after a first meeting.

(Whew!)

Researchers from Harvard and Cornell ran a series of experiments in which two people, meet for the first time and then rate their own and each others conversational performance.  They found people consistently rated their conversation partner as more likable and enjoyable to talk to than they rated themselves.

Shy participants were especially prone to thinking this way, but it happened across most personality types. There was also evidence that the misconception persists beyond just the first interaction, potentially lasting months or even longer.

Study authors say the findings show people tend to be harder on themselves than they are on new acquaintances.

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