That strut is telling

Two researchers are probably walking a little taller these days, puffing out their chests, maybe tilting their heads back and smiling slightly.

Two researchers are probably walking a little taller these days, puffing out their chests, maybe tilting their heads back and smiling slightly. If they8217;re looking a little smug, perhaps it8217;s because their recent studies on the nature of pride have added some small but important pieces to a psychological puzzle.

Among their conclusions, published in a review in the June issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, pride appears to be a universal, human emotion, and it comes in two flavors: positive and arrogant. In a summary of current scientific thinking on the nature of pride and a review of four of their own papers on the topic, Jessica Tracy, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and Richard Robins, a University of California, Davis psychology professor, suggest that pride is a cross-cultural phenomenon, that even remote-living tribal cultures know it when they see it, and that humans recognise two distinct types of pride: justifiable pride and arrogant, or conceited, pride.

People who feel justifiable pride are likely be more extroverted and conscientious, whereas those who feel conceited pride tend to be narcissistic and attribute their success to their innate abilities rather than their personal efforts.

To test if pride is an universal emotion, Tracy and Robins asked 40 members of a tribal group in Burkina Faso, West Africa, to review photos of Westerners and Africans expressing various emotions, including pride. The subjects, aged 20 to 75, had little or no exposure to Western culture. They didn8217;t even recognise photos of President Bush, Tom Cruise or Michael Jordan. But they were able to identify pride from among photos of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise and shame. Their recognition of pride was perhaps a hair higher than all other emotions except for happiness and surprise.

The study itself is under review for publication. Other studies also suggest pride is universal, Tracy says. For example, researchers have found that pride is first exhibited by children around age two-and-a-half to three years, and can be recognised by children as young as 4. Their work also bolsters prevailing theories of distinct types of pride.

In a series of seven studies that canvassed over 2,000 students, the scientists found the most concrete evidence to date that expressions of pride are generally perceived either positively, as a state related to an accomplishment termed 8220;authentic pride8221; by the researchers, or negatively, as one caused by arrogance or conceit. This suggests there is a consensus that pride has a light and a dark side.

The scientists also found distinct personality characteristics associated with these two states. In one study, 110 undergraduates completed five personality tests, including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, and then rated the extent to which they identified with 77 pride-related words.

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Students who scored high in authentic pride also demonstrated high self-esteem, whereas those who scored high in arrogant pride tended to be narcissistic and prone to shame.

Charles Darwin put the study of pride on the psychological map in 1872, when he said, 8220;Of all the complex emotions, pride, perhaps, is the most plainly expressed8230; a proud man exhibits his sense of superiority by holding his head and body erect.8221;

But since then, research in emotions has mostly centered on primal emotions such as happiness, sadness and fear. Nevertheless, pride is an important line of psychological inquiry, Tracy says, because of its widespread but little recognised social influence.

Pride is important, for example, because it fuels pursuits. It pushes us to achieve academic, job-related or personal goals. It exhorts us to solve medical mysteries, build better bridges and break sports records. Ross Buck, professor of communication sciences and psychology at the University of Connecticut, believes pride has an important but under-recognised role in our social system, influencing interactions in many ways. For example, a person who has a healthy dose of pride, justified or not, will dominate an interaction with one who doesn8217;t share it. The unsuccessful person senses those feelings and in turn experiences envy. The result is an unconscious dance of dominance and submission. In this scenario, research suggests that it8217;s healthier to be proud because the it helps a positive physiological response while the underachiever is flooded with stress. 8220;Pride helps us survive by helping us maintain our status in a group. As social creatures, those relationships are essential.8221; There may also be such a thing as too much pride. Children who are given constant rewards and flattery for their accomplishments may feel shame when they do fail. With this shame comes an avoidance of doing anything that could cause them to feel shame in the future.