Evidence for a Discrete Emotion Expression

Three experiments provide converging evidence that pride has a distinct, recognizable expression. Experiment 1 showed that judges can agree in identifying a posed expression as showing pride and can reliably distinguish pride expressions from expressions of related emotions such as happiness. Experiment 2 showed that judges can identify the pride expression when the task uses an open-ended response format that does not cue them with the label ‘‘pride.’’ Experiment 3 showed that the pride expression includes a small smile, with head tilted slightly back, visibly expanded posture, and arms raised above the head or hands on hips. Overall, these findings challenge the assumption that all positive emotions share the same expression, and suggest that pride may be added to the pantheon of basic emotions generally viewed as evolved responses. Building on Darwin’s (1872) seminal work on the expression of emotions, contemporary researchers have argued that emotions evolved, in part, to communicate needs that facilitate survival and reproduction, and that, consequently, each emotion should have a unique signal reflecting its evolutionary origins. Supporting this perspective, research has demonstrated that there is a universally recognized nonverbal expression for each of the so-called basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, and possibly contempt and embarrassment (Ekman, 1992). Happiness is the only positively valenced emotion on this list, leading researchers to conclude that all positive emotions share the same expression (Ekman, 1992; Fredrickson & Branigan, 2001). Thus, evidence that pride has its own distinct expression would overturn this assumption and imply that pride may have evolved to serve a particular communicative function. Pride is an important emotion that plays a critical role in many domains of psychological functioning (Tracy & Robins, in press). Feelings of pride reinforce prosocial behaviors such as achievement and caregiving. The loss of pride, in the form of humiliation or ego threats, can provoke aggression. The regulation of pride is intrinsically linked to the regulation and maintenance of self-esteem. In fact, pride is the emotion (along with shame) that gives self-esteem its affective kick (Brown & Marshall, 2001), and self-esteem in turn influences a wide range of intrapsychic and interpersonal processes. Specifically, feelings of pride may boost self-esteem and thereby alert an individual that his or her behavior (or self) is valued by others. The expression of pride may serve a complementary adaptive function, drawing attention to the individual and alerting the social group that he or she merits increased acceptance and status. Despite its theoretical importance, pride has received relatively little empirical attention. Yet, in 1872, Darwin wrote, ‘‘Of all the complex emotions, pride, perhaps, is the most plainly expressed . . . a proud man exhibits his sense of superiority over others by holding his head and body erect’’ (p. 263). A handful of studies have indirectly addressed this possibility by examining the nonverbal behaviors shown after success experiences (Belsky & Domitrovich, 1997; Kasari, Sigman, Baumgartner, & Stipek, 1993; Lewis, Alessandri, & Sullivan, 1992; Stepper & Strack, 1993; Weisfeld & Beresford, 1982). The findings from these studies point to some possible components of a pride expression, including an expanded posture, upward or spreadout positioning of the arms, positioning of the head up and tilted back, and a smile. However, none of these studies tested whether pride has a recognizable nonverbal expression. This was the goal of the present research.