I can think of at least two high status individuals I’ve met in the corporate world that displayed a wide range of intelligence depending on their audience.
Which audiences elicited which behaviors? From your hypotheses, it sounds like they were smarter in front of higher status people. But Technologos’s hypothesis is opposite.
I don’t think they acted smarter around higher status people or dumber around low status people.
Smarter around people who were already convinced of their high status and authority, perhaps. And dumber around people whom they knew less well or who knew them less well.
ETA: I never observed them when they were trying to impress their bosses, though.
Which audiences elicited which behaviors? From your hypotheses, it sounds like they were smarter in front of higher status people. But Technologos’s hypothesis is opposite.
I don’t think they acted smarter around higher status people or dumber around low status people.
Smarter around people who were already convinced of their high status and authority, perhaps. And dumber around people whom they knew less well or who knew them less well.
ETA: I never observed them when they were trying to impress their bosses, though.