Do people treat you differently if you're confident?

[caravanette]

I have a few anecdotes to support this. Opinions?

Yes.

If you have confidence in yourself, others will have.

Its hard to be have confidence in someo e who doesnt believe in themseleves.

Also, if you just act confident, strangers will believe you have reason to be.

I think this is common knowledge and widely accepted.

I agree. I wasn't confident as a teenager and my ex colleague seemed very taken aback when i came across as a no nonsense adult when she saw me later after a gap of a few years. Not taken aback in a bad way she just wasn't expecting it

Yes. I decided to “fake it ‘til I make it” with confidence and it has helped my professional relationships, no doubt about it. Confidence (or pretending to be confident!) has given me more opportunities, possibly because I appear capable and self-assured. I AM capable, but no more so than the next person in a similar role.

Actually, maybe I really am more confident now, thinking about it. Either way, when I was less self-assured and almost apologetic for my presence, nothing much happened in my life. Confidence has helped me grow. So yes, in my experience, confidence DOES make people treat you differently.

Of course, but then you treat people differently if you are confident. It’s easier to have fun if you’re past being embarrassed about your dancing style. Is easier to dress comfortably and not feel awkward if you’re less bothered about what others think.
Your more likely to do well at interviews, to be promoted and listened to. Your children are more likely to do as you tell them so parenting is easier and relationships are likely to be more honest and enduring.

Yes. If people have nothing else to go on they'll take your own evaluation as a starting point.

Yes, confidence is a huge attribute I feel for so many things; professionally and personally, it must be quite restricting if you lack it, if you don't have it- fake it till you make it, confidence can be faked.

It's harder to bully a confident person. Some will try, but the confident person brushes it off and the bully looks publicly stupid. It isn't attempted again. That makes a huge difference at work.

Yes. I am Introvert who is very good at being the total opposite.

People who knew me in real life would have fainted if they'd seen me in work mode - presenting to hundreds of people with no notes and actively enjoying it.

I am an outwardly confident person, very much from the fake it til you make it school. This is because I'd rather be at the front than at the back so that I can influence decisions and hopefully get my desired outcome.

I'm very aware that less confident or people that haven't worked out my strategy dislike me anywhere from mildly annoying to outright dislike.

I can't say that I'm not bothered by that, but it also surprises me that they'd rather hang back and then moan about an outcome.

@PicsInRed I don't agree with this, I am very confident and still got treated appallingly.

What the confidence did do was give me the fight to raise the issues publicly, not quit and refuse to be silenced.

But it had gone on a while before I reached that point.

It took me years to realise that confidence is not just about speaking loudly and clearly, having a strong opinion and being able to justify it. It can equally be a quiet certainty in yourself and strong belief in your abilities. It does not always need to be projected outwardly, but during interactions, your behaviour and responses will speak volumes if you are confident and unwavering, even if you’re not bubbly and outgoing.

In short, yes. I do believe confidence makes a huge difference to how you are treated. It is usually very enjoyable dealing with a confident (but NOT pompous / arrogant / self-righteous) person.

Have to agree with pp the best way to be confident is actually calmly and quietly.

I dont have confidence in people who over talk people or are very loud about how great they are. That smacks of trying to hide insecurity.