The Psychology Behind Why Imperfection Can Make You More Attractive
Psychology shows that minor imperfections can humanize competence, increase warmth, and strengthen social connection.
By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | January 2, 2026
Most of us spend enormous amounts of energy trying to appear competent, composed and as though we were completely incapable of making mistakes. At work, we polish and edit our emails to perfection. In our relationships, we hide our insecurities to seem emotionally mature. And online, we try to curate spotless versions of ourselves.
Surprisingly though, research suggests that our mistakes — the small, relatable, human flaws we all have — often make us more likable, not less. This counterintuitive idea is known as the "Pratfall Effect," and it's one of social psychology's most enduring insights into what makes someone magnetic, trustworthy and real.
Here's what the research says, and why embracing your imperfections may be one of the smartest social strategies available.
People Like You More When You're Competent, But Still Make Mistakes
The Pratfall Effect was first identified by psychologist Elliot Aronson in a landmark 1966 experiment published in Psychonomic Science. Participants listened to audio recordings of someone taking a quiz. In one version, the quiz-taker performed exceptionally well, and then spilled coffee on themselves at the end. In the other version, the quiz-taker performed well but made no blunder.
The ground-breaking finding from that study was that the participants preferred the highly competent person who made a mistake.Researchers surmised that the logic behind this effect was simply this: competence makes people appear worthy of respect, and making a mistake makes them relatable. In other words, when people appear more human, they become easier to like.
This is also why a flawlessly confident person can feel intimidating until they break character, mess up a little and then laugh at themselves. For instance, when your smartest colleague admits they forgot their coffee on the roof of their car, they instantly become more likeable to us. Similarly, when a celebrity shares a self-deprecating moment in the public eye, they often end up trending upward in popularity as a result.
In the simplest of terms, this means that fallibility often leads to connection.
A foundational follow-up paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology also found that self-esteem plays an important role in how observers interpret mistakes.
People with lower self-esteem tend to admire highly competent individuals who commit small blunders more because the mistake reduces social distance between them. In contrast, those with high self-esteem may not experience the same boost in liking because they already feel confident about interacting with high-status individuals.
Another line of research explores self-presentational vulnerability. Studies show that people are drawn to individuals who are open about their imperfections, provided they have already demonstrated competence. Vulnerability without competence reads as unreliability; competence without vulnerability reads as arrogance. But their combination signals authenticity.
Mistakes Create Warmth, Authenticity And Trust
While the original experiment is over 50 years old, modern research continues to support the Pratfall Effect, and refine it. In the decades since its discovery, the Pratfall Effect has appeared in research on hiring decisions, impression formation and even human–robot interaction. Interestingly, one of the most creative modern extensions comes from robotics research.
A 2019 experiment examined how people respond to robots that occasionally "forget" tasks or apologize for small mistakes. The findings mirrored human psychology, in that a robot that made a mild, harmless error was often rated as warmer and more likable than a robot that performed everything perfectly. Even when observers consciously knew the "mistake" was scripted, the vulnerability cue still softened their perception.
This is striking because it suggests the Pratfall Effect isn't merely tied to human empathy; it taps into a broader cognitive rule about how we relate to agents who appear both skilled and fallible.
Why Your Brain Loves People Who Make Mistakes
The first and most obvious reason that this effect works is that competent, flawless people can often feel intimidating. A small blunder softens that impression and signals warmth and approachability.
However, if we dig deeper, more nuances surface. A person who makes a mistake naturally appears less rehearsed and more genuine, which activates our trust cues. A 2023 study published in Personnel Psychology highlights the significant benefits of leader vulnerability.
When leaders admit mistakes, it humanizes them, making them seem more trustworthy, approachable and supportive to their teams. This vulnerability helps remove psychological distance, which gives rise to a perception of psychological safety. This, in turn, encourages team members to collaborate more openly and effectively.
But the inverse is equally important. When a leader performs poorly and then makes a mistake, the blunder reinforces incompetence rather than humanizes it. This is why the effect is so dependent on context: mistakes add warmth to competence, but they also add liability to incompetence.
How To Makes Mistakes (Without Looking Incompetent)
If you're feeling tempted to treat the Pratfall Effect as a "hack" and purposely making mistakes to appear charming, you may be headed in the wrong direction. Intentional pratfalls almost always backfire because it isn't being fueled by authenticity. Here's how to lean into the science without overdoing it:
- Show competence first, vulnerability second. Exhibiting competence and then making a mistake registers as charming, but appearing incompetent and then making a mistake damages one's credibility. So, you should always play your strengths first, and then follow with relatability.
- Share minor, not major, flaws. Laughing about mispronouncing a word, admitting you forgot where you left your keys or making a self-aware joke about your clumsiness builds you up. In contrast, admitting mistakes that indicate carelessness, highlight major errors in judgement or, worse, harm others will break your character down. The Pratfall Effect works in slip-ups, but fails in collapses.
- Use self-deprecating humor sparingly. Humor that puts you down works in your favor when you're feeling confident. But, it can stain your reputation if you're otherwise exhibiting self-doubting behaviors. Similarly, the Pratfall Effect is most effective when you reveal small, real-time imperfections. It fails to make you likeable when you make major and deep self-disclosures in the wrong environment.
The Pratfall Effect survives because it captures oyr deeply human tendency to rely on context cues of both skill and approachability when forming relationships. Competence earns respect, but imperfection earns connection. When the two meet, likability soars.
So, instead of polishing your image into something brittle and untouchable, consider letting yourself be seen as capable, but still imperfect. The mistakes might just be working in your favor.
The Pratfall Effect fades away when we fixate on our mistakes. Take the science-backed Mistake Rumination Scale to know if you have this habit.
Curious to know who your historical personality twin is, as well as your historical opposite? Take the Historical Figure Quiz for an instant answer.
A similar version of this article can also be found on Forbes.com, here.