[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by Arch0wl

I think "need" is used hyperbolically here. Why does this behavior imply need, as opposed to desire or enjoyment?

It doesn't (necessarily). I'm defining it in the context of being labeled a braggart. Moreover, I'm trying to say that this is largely a perception issue.

For example:

Someone who just casually brings up a feat of theirs ("My personal best was about 400 pounds or so!") is not necessarily bragging. You could easily devise a number of hypothetical conversations, slip that statement in, and nobody would really get turned off by it (standalone).

What's going to get interpreted as bragging is if that self-promotion is permeating the conversation to some sufficient threshold based on the receiving audience and conversational context. If someone is constantly bragging to me about their awesome achievements, it's going to make me think "Why is this person telling me all of this? Is he trying to get me to compliment him or acknowledge that he's superior to me or something? Is he trying to make me feel worse about myself? Am I simply being used as a captive audience / narcissistic supply and nothing more?" etc.