Presumably, you are asking how to hack the status detectors of other people? If not, then you need to put a lot of work and energy into doing something that other people value, and not be shy about letting the kinds of people who value that thing know what you have done and can do. I think this is usually called “earning it.”
But if you are seeking to acquire status as status, essentially, the reputation for something which you are not, then you are asking how to hack people’s status detectors. The answer will very much depend on WHO you want to think you are high status, as different people will have different status. If it is biker chicks, for example, you should get the biggest hog (motorcycle, not mammal) you can, get a pot belly, go to some biker clothes stores and get the outfit, get some bitchin’ tatoos. You should lie about having been in the marines, having been in jail, probably a crime of passion carries more status than a crime of violence, and either of those would be better than a white collar crime. Of course, you can lie about these but you will need to do some research to get the lie going.
If you want to hack the status of some other group, you’ll have to do some research on what they think of as status-ful and then do enough research to come up with a good false story, and make yourself look like a high status individual in that crowd.
If my answer seems funny, it did seem like a funny question to me. Maybe I missed the point, if so I apologize in delay.
Insofar as you exclude stuff like career choice from personal opinions I think the best way is to act like you share the opinions of whoever you’re talking to (or the most powerful person in a group) while never committing to anything publicly. This is probably different in fields where your opinions ARE your career, like politics or art criticism, but I think schmoozing is probably more effective than trying to pick the most generally appealing to everyone opinions.
Insofar as you exclude stuff like career choice from personal opinions I think the best way is to act like you share the opinions of whoever you’re talking to (or the most powerful person in a group) while never committing to anything publicly.
The words “yes-man”, “hanger-on”, and “riding on coat-tails” come to mind. These are failure modes of status-seeking.
Are they? They seem to always be attached to rising star or second in command and so on. Also you forgot brown-noser and the one I think most illustrative: teachers pet. The teachers’ or bosses esteem is exactly whose you should care about if you want to rise high, not jealous or anti-elite drones.
Eg “he only got the job by sucking up to the boss” is used pejoratively but guess who has the job? It’s not the complainer.
Myself, I just use my actual opinions—I’m so bad at lying convincingly, and even if I was better, I have better things to spend my cognitive faculties on than keeping track of which people I tell which lies to.
OTOH, that’s a very bad idea with people who don’t already know you. (In that case, I play it safe, e.g. in the past couple years I only ever mentioned my beliefs in a God or the lack thereof to people I had already known for months, or whose ideas on the matter I already knew.)
How does one best optimize personal opinions for purposes of status-acquisition?
Presumably, you are asking how to hack the status detectors of other people? If not, then you need to put a lot of work and energy into doing something that other people value, and not be shy about letting the kinds of people who value that thing know what you have done and can do. I think this is usually called “earning it.”
But if you are seeking to acquire status as status, essentially, the reputation for something which you are not, then you are asking how to hack people’s status detectors. The answer will very much depend on WHO you want to think you are high status, as different people will have different status. If it is biker chicks, for example, you should get the biggest hog (motorcycle, not mammal) you can, get a pot belly, go to some biker clothes stores and get the outfit, get some bitchin’ tatoos. You should lie about having been in the marines, having been in jail, probably a crime of passion carries more status than a crime of violence, and either of those would be better than a white collar crime. Of course, you can lie about these but you will need to do some research to get the lie going.
If you want to hack the status of some other group, you’ll have to do some research on what they think of as status-ful and then do enough research to come up with a good false story, and make yourself look like a high status individual in that crowd.
If my answer seems funny, it did seem like a funny question to me. Maybe I missed the point, if so I apologize in delay.
I suspect the OP was looking for reasonably subculture-independent ideas. Still, upvoted.
Are we in PUA-land?
The specifics of status acquisition very much depend on which social group do you want to grant you status.
Insofar as you exclude stuff like career choice from personal opinions I think the best way is to act like you share the opinions of whoever you’re talking to (or the most powerful person in a group) while never committing to anything publicly. This is probably different in fields where your opinions ARE your career, like politics or art criticism, but I think schmoozing is probably more effective than trying to pick the most generally appealing to everyone opinions.
The words “yes-man”, “hanger-on”, and “riding on coat-tails” come to mind. These are failure modes of status-seeking.
Are they? They seem to always be attached to rising star or second in command and so on. Also you forgot brown-noser and the one I think most illustrative: teachers pet. The teachers’ or bosses esteem is exactly whose you should care about if you want to rise high, not jealous or anti-elite drones.
Eg “he only got the job by sucking up to the boss” is used pejoratively but guess who has the job? It’s not the complainer.
The same way you optimise the colour of a wheel for purposes of velocity-acquisition.
Make it expressed personal opinions, then.
I endorse this as being my original intention.
Myself, I just use my actual opinions—I’m so bad at lying convincingly, and even if I was better, I have better things to spend my cognitive faculties on than keeping track of which people I tell which lies to.
OTOH, that’s a very bad idea with people who don’t already know you. (In that case, I play it safe, e.g. in the past couple years I only ever mentioned my beliefs in a God or the lack thereof to people I had already known for months, or whose ideas on the matter I already knew.)
The cheapest one so you have more money left for the motor.
This is an example of an opinion that is sometimes useful to believe but terrible to alieve.
Some opinions can get you killed or ostracised. Being killed and ostracised is low status.