(2) The most effective signaling with complete strangers may be mixed signaling: straightforward signaling to show you’re not a loser (not low status), with countersignaling to show how cool you are (not merely medium status).
Another observation: it seems that countersignaling is iterable. In a room full of ultra-ironic hipsters, or douchebags trying to flaunt their indifference to what people think of them, refraining from such tactics, a sort of counter-counter-signal, may be the strongest status move.
I throw so many “counter-” in that the series stabilizes, and you can’t even reliably tell from a picture of me whether or not I was on a fancy dress party. (I forget to stop counter-counter-counter-signalling when I’m in an unfamiliar place, leading to weird stuff such as people mistaking me for a local.)
See here
I throw so many “counter-” in that the series stabilizes, and you can’t even reliably tell from a picture of me whether or not I was on a fancy dress party. (I forget to stop counter-counter-counter-signalling when I’m in an unfamiliar place, leading to weird stuff such as people mistaking me for a local.)