[vektor]

Confidence based on superficial means (e.g. money, appearance) can crumple at the slightest bit of upheaval. Confidence from true self-acceptance is unbreakable, you can tell who has true confidence based on how they react when they get criticized. People with real confidence will take criticism and try and take some valuable advice out of it, people with false confidence will defend themselves too much instead of trying to see why they were criticized in the first place. I'm not saying defending yourself is wrong, but there's a difference between a criticism and a personal attack.

People who tend to boast a lot and get defensive when they are criticized are much less confident than they seem, people who live their own lives without caring too much about how people perceive them could be cornered by a group and insulted and it wouldn't irk them one bit. If you find the need to have people's attention because you feel awesome then it's probably the false confidence, if you can do something stupid and laugh at yourself it's the good kind of confidence. Often times the hyper-alpha male type exudes that false confidence because of some deep seeded sense of inferiority in some aspect of their life, often times it's extreme sexual frustration. Jeff Winger from Community is the perfect character example of that, he exudes confidence but inside he's extremely self-conscious because he is terrible at sex.