Pride Definition

Emotions are dealt with every single day by people. Some emotions are simple while others are strong, some are long lasting while others are brief and fleeting. Each emotion is felt and shown differently by people, but under it all the emotion is the same. Often an emotion is confusing and unclear of what it truly is. Some emotions are mistaken for the wrong one and gain a certain reputation that is not true. Some emotions are not clearly seen for what it is and therefore does not receive the credit it deserves. One such emotion is pride. Pride is an emotion found in common everyday life. It is a part of every person no matter age, gender, race or ethnicity. People feel pride multiple times in life for multiple reasons. The strength of the …show more content…
Every person in the world feels pride whether they are consciously aware of it or not. For example, there are millions of people who are prideful about his or her country. This is a normal emotional response to living in a country that a person feelings satisfaction toward. Now, the major question is why do people feel and express pride? What is the purpose of having pride? The answer is simple. People have and show pride because it is the way in which to express approval, satisfaction and pleasure. This approval, satisfaction and pleasure can come from, not only something as large are pride in one’s country, but something as simply as pride in a presentation or achievement. School children and adults both give presentations. When this presentation is done extremely well, has the desired affect and was achieved in the correct manner (without “cheating”) the presenter will often be overcome with the feeling of pride. This becomes the satisfaction in one’s self for having done well and the approval earned through the presentation. This shows that pride can come from anything no matter how big or small the issue. Pride comes from multiple aspects of life. People have pride in more than what can be counted. There is pride in jobs, homes, family/friends, cars, school clubs, sport teams, charity events and anything else a person can view as an accomplishment. Even though the pride comes from these aspects of …show more content…
Many people do not recognize the emotion they feel as pride. Since pride can go hand-in-hand with other emotions such as satisfaction, approval, happiness, pleasure, and accomplishment it is often not seen for what it truly is. Many times it is covered up by emotions that are more familiar to people. It is easy for a person to say “I am happy I accomplished my goal” but more difficult to say “I am proud of my accomplishment”. This difficulty comes from people not having the knowledge of what pride is, so in turn they are unable to identify the emotion. When a person has pride he or she tends to portray it through body language. According the Jessica Tracy and Christine Prehn there is a globally recognized set of nonverbal signals that display pride. The signals “include a small smile, expanded posture, head tilted slightly back, and arms extended from the body either akimbo with hands on hips or raised above the head with hands in fists” (2). This particular set of body language is easily identified as the nonverbal signals that accompany pride. The importance of these signals is to alert others to a person’s achievements without ever having to hear the words saying so. Although, these signals are universal it does not mean they are the only nonverbal signs of pride. Each person can have his or her own addition of nonverbal signs. For example, there are over a million men and women are enlisted in some branch of the military, every year on