Pride
The glow of achievement, in healthy and arrogant varieties.
What it means
Pride is a positive self-conscious emotion felt when one takes credit for a socially valued achievement or outcome, signaled by an expansive posture of raised chin, expanded chest, and arms out or on hips. Research distinguishes two facets: authentic pride, tied to effort and accomplishment ('I worked hard and succeeded'), which is associated with genuine self-esteem, persistence, and prestige-based status; and hubristic pride, tied to global self-aggrandizement ('I'm great'), which is linked to arrogance, narcissism, and dominance-based status. The pride display appears to be recognized across cultures and even produced by congenitally blind athletes, suggesting an innate status signal. By rewarding valued behavior and advertising competence, pride helps motivate achievement and navigate social hierarchy. The two-facet structure explains why pride can be both a virtue and a vice.
Examples
After finishing a marathon she trained months for, a runner feels authentic pride; a colleague who brags he is simply superior shows the hubristic kind.
A junior developer stands taller in stand-up the week her first feature ships — pride earned by the work; the manager who calls the team's win proof of his brilliance shows the other kind.
A child who finally reads a page unaided beams and asks to read another; the pride is tied to the effort, so it pushes her back toward the thing that produced it.
First described in Jessica Tracy & Richard Robins (2004, 2007).