Concealing positive information about yourself

[texbusdave]

I'm not really sure this is the correct spot for this, but if not, I'm sure it'll get moved.

I'm a Ph.D. student writing a paper about what motivates people to conceal their identity. Lot of info out there about concealing negative characteristics (e.g., things that are threatening to me: I smell bad, I am a sociopath, etc.), but I'm taking this from the angle of why people conceal POSITIVE things about themselves. I have lots of thoughts, but want to see what you guys think.

So first things first. What positive characteristics about onesself do people conceal and why?

I'll start with a few to see what you can come up with:
1. Wealth (potentially avoid the responsibility that may come with wealth, like having to pick up tabs, etc.)
2. Intelligence ( because in some social circles you may want to blend in with the common folk)
3. Owning a pick-up truck (because owning one may generate requests from friends to help them move their stuff)

 

[A. BETTIK]

Anything with stored up potential energy will be preyed upon by anything that likes to catalyze entropy. If that "anything with stored up potential energy" is living, then it wants to catalyze entropy also, preferably over a long period of time. Therefore, concealment of one's assets/energy.

Of course it gets more swirled up as you add brain power and long term thinking.

 

[Perham1]

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[Dionysus]

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[OldHippie]

This may have something to do with knowledge being power and the more differential in knowledge you have relative to others provides a power differential relative to them. If you know a lot about someone else and they know very little about you, there is an advantage there. They have fewer options but you can choose to provide information or not depending on the situation.

Take football teams. The more you know about another team, the better you can predict and prepare. The less you know, the more problems they might present.

 

[Perham1]

Benjamin Disraeli had a motto of "never complain, never explain." I'm sure it wasn't original with him.

 

[Gadfly]

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[Dionysus]

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[Statalyzer]

I think a lot of times it's just false humility - as in, pretending to be more humble/modest than you really are because it's seen as a virtue to do so.

 

[Hornius Emeritus]

I've been the victim of identity theft twice in the past seven years. It is a pain in the *** to unwind.

I figure the less people know about me personally ---- positive or negative ----- the better off I am.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

Maybe, just maybe (and I fully recognize this point may not be sufficient for a student who is trying to pile it higher and deeper) some people are self effacing and modest, and simply don't want to promote themselves to the general public in any way whatsoever.

Radical concept, huh?

 

[The Eyes of Texas]

One might make an anonymous gift or donation because they don't want the motivation for the gift/donation questioned, or because they don't want any notoriety that may be associated with it.

 

[texbusdave]

I'll ignore the condescension toward PhD students and try to summarize:

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[parkerco]

Some people have enough self confidence that they do not feel the need to advertise their positives. Those that have empathy for others will go far enough to hide certain positives from others as they do not want to make them feel bad about themselves.

I, for one, never felt the need to share the fact that I am a stunningly handsome, wealthy, well hung and brilliant man. It serves no purpose and would only cause others harm, so why bother?

 

[Statalyzer]

 

[majorwhiteapples]

I would agree most with Sangre. The people who are like that tend to be more of a listener than a talker. When they do talk it usually has a very pointed solution/meaning said in as few words as possible.