TY - CHAP

T1 - Moral pride

T2 - benefits and challenges of experiencing and expressing pride in one’s moral achievements

AU - McLatchie, Neil Marvin

AU - Piazza, Jared

PY - 2017/10

Y1 - 2017/10

N2 - Pride is a positive emotion experienced following the recognition of one’s status or achievements. Here, we review the psychological literature that exists on pride, its expression and outcomes. We distinguish pride based on individual, competence-based achievements from moral pride where others benefit from a person’s efforts. We propose that pride is a highly social emotion experienced when appraising the social merit of one’s actions. Pride’s motivational function may be to promote continued effort towards achieving, yet there are several distinct challenges to experiencing and expressing pride. First, we consider the conditions in which pride might serve to promote perseverance versus licensing effects, that is, continuance versus discontinuance towards desirable goals. Two important moderating factors we consider are the extent to which the achievement is considered to be self-diagnostic, and the extent that agent is held socially accountable. Second, we consider whether there might be greater social costs associated with expressing pride in moral achievements than expressing pride in competence-based achievements. For one, expressing pride in moral achievements may serve to cancel the perceived selfless motive of the act, while this may not be true for competence achievements. Furthermore, expressing pride in moral achievements may be more likely to pose an identity threat to audience members than when expressing pride in one’s skills. Thus, regulation of moral pride may be of critical importance to social functioning. Throughout the chapter we highlight a number of outstanding questions on the psychology of moral pride.

AB - Pride is a positive emotion experienced following the recognition of one’s status or achievements. Here, we review the psychological literature that exists on pride, its expression and outcomes. We distinguish pride based on individual, competence-based achievements from moral pride where others benefit from a person’s efforts. We propose that pride is a highly social emotion experienced when appraising the social merit of one’s actions. Pride’s motivational function may be to promote continued effort towards achieving, yet there are several distinct challenges to experiencing and expressing pride. First, we consider the conditions in which pride might serve to promote perseverance versus licensing effects, that is, continuance versus discontinuance towards desirable goals. Two important moderating factors we consider are the extent to which the achievement is considered to be self-diagnostic, and the extent that agent is held socially accountable. Second, we consider whether there might be greater social costs associated with expressing pride in moral achievements than expressing pride in competence-based achievements. For one, expressing pride in moral achievements may serve to cancel the perceived selfless motive of the act, while this may not be true for competence achievements. Furthermore, expressing pride in moral achievements may be more likely to pose an identity threat to audience members than when expressing pride in one’s skills. Thus, regulation of moral pride may be of critical importance to social functioning. Throughout the chapter we highlight a number of outstanding questions on the psychology of moral pride.

KW - Pride

KW - Moral emotions

KW - Morality

M3 - Chapter

SN - 1783489081

SN - 9781783489084

T3 - Moral psychology of the emotions

BT - The Moral Psychology of Pride

A2 - Carter, J. Adam

A2 - Gordon, Emma

PB - Rowman and Littlefield

ER -