The roles of praise and social comparison information in the experience of pride

J Soc Psychol. 2003 Apr;143(2):209-32. doi: 10.1080/00224540309598441.

Abstract

The authors examined the roles of social comparisons, publicity of success, and praise on the experience of pride in an experiment in which college students successfully completed a timed intelligence task in private and later received 1 of 4 types of feedback from the experimenter: no feedback (private), mere public acknowledgment of completion, general praise containing both a public and an evaluative component, or praise containing explicit comparison information. Half of the participants also received written normative information suggesting they performed at a high level. Participants then completed a number of dependent measures, including a key measure of pride. Overall, results suggest that the public aspect of a performance, together with the superior standing suggested by any praise accompanying this publicity, is important in the experience of pride.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial

MeSH terms

  • Achievement*
  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Aptitude Tests
  • Emotions*
  • Feedback
  • Humans
  • Kentucky
  • Psychological Theory
  • Reinforcement, Social*
  • Self Concept*
  • Social Perception