Eloquence in an Interview Is Better Than Accuracy
Two Harvard researchersAfound that a person’s likeability increases the more articulate they are. In the study, they showed subjects videos from a political debate. In the first video, a candidate answers the posed question directly and well. In the second, he answers a similar question, and in the third, he answers it directly but inarticulately.
Subjects didn’t notice when the candidate answered a similar question — his likeability only went down a tenth of a point. But when he answered directly and inarticulately, subjects liked him less. The audience also didn’t remember if the candidate fudged a similar question.