LAUSR

Significance It is often assumed that competent actors are trusted, but is this always true? In this report, we test the position that impression management decreases the amount of trust competent actors receive. Employing a variety of experimental paradigms and measures and confirming predictions based on attribution theory, we demonstrate that impression management can substantially backfire, at least for competent actors, and that this effect can be explained by decreases in perceived benevolence and integrity. Our findings make important contributions to the literatures on trust, status, and impression management.