But I have seen some clueless types act selfishly, and it definitely registers as high-status.

I second that observation. A friend of mine is extremely clueless in social situations (constantly needs to ask friends for help interpreting others' actions and for advice on what to do in fairly standard cases), but just doesn't seem to experience the "flight" response when in intimidating situations. Result? He's the one who (e.g.) walks up and talks to the cute female bassist of the indie band after the show. And it definitely comes across as "awesome", i.e. high-status, although he doesn't show any other symptoms of it.