The Two Facets of Pride

And

The Big 5:

A Correlational Study

Alimurung, Artria Grace

Dy, Marijim

Jipos, Caren Shalou

Sarabia, Angel Grace

Villar, Jae Marie

1

ABSTRACT

According to the study of Tracy and Robins (2007), pride was found to have two facets:

authentic pride and hubristic pride. Each facet of pride was found to have a corresponding

significant correlation between the Big 5 personality traits. Using 331 college students from

different universities in Cebu City, this study examined the correlation between the two facets of

pride, using the Two Facet Pride scale, and the Big 5 personality traits, using the Big 5

Inventory. Results show that authentic pride is positively correlated with Extraversion (r = .147,

p < .05), Openness (r = .122, p < .05) and Conscientiousness (r = .334, p < .05) and is negatively

correlated with Neuroticism (r = .009, p > .05). However, results for hubristic pride were not

enough for a conclusion. Findings regarding authentic and hubristic pride supports the

conclusion developed by Tracy and Robins. However, only results regarding authentic pride met

the hypotheses of the present researchers.

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INTRODUCTION

"A proud man exhibits a sense of superiority over others by holding his head and body

erect, he makes himself appear as large as possible..." – Charles Darwin

Darwin’s statement can be deemed as positive or negative, depending on one’s view on

pride. That a proud man may be seen as someone who is feeling a sense of self-worth,

confidence and achievement; or may be viewed as a person looking down on others and making

them inferior to him. In this case, the person experiencing pride can be seen as good or bad.

Even emotion researcher Richard Lazarus said that pride is a positive emotion that

confirms or enhances social worth, which is to say how others perceive themselves. Michael

Lewis (2000) also perceived pride as a positive experience which comes when there is joy over

an accomplishment. Incongruently, pride was viewed negatively by Lewis (2000) who defined it

as “exaggerated pride or self-confidence”. When one asks about pride to different individuals,

one can expect to find a big difference with its definition and implications.

For a long time, the word pride has been commonly brought up in daily life whether in

the positive or negative way. In defining pride, present researchers then postulated that pride has

a reputation of both good and bad. Thus, upon getting in depth with the meaning of pride, they

came across researchers Jessica Tracy and Richard Robins on their study: The Psychological

Structure of Pride: A Tale of Two Facets. In this paper, Tracy and Robins stated that there are 2

facets of pride: the authentic pride and the hubristic pride. And so, this is where the definite

meaning of pride comes in which will be elaborated in tis paper.

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Authentic pride is said to be the prosocial, achievement-oriented form of pride and is

closely related to genuine self-esteem. In other words, it is the “good” pride. While, hubristic

pride is said to be the negative facet, gearing towards self-aggrandizement.

Tracy and Robins (2007), in addition to investigating the 2 facets of pride, also correlated

authentic and hubristic pride with narcissism, self-esteem and each of the Big 5 personality traits.

However, the present researchers decided to focus only on the relationship between the 2 facets

of pride and each of the Big 5 personality traits. This is because of the diversity of the Big 5

personality traits. It is easy to observe that there is a positive relationship between authentic pride

and self-esteem, or hubristic pride with narcissism, but it is complicated to categorize which of

the Big 5 personality traits is positively or negatively correlated with authentic or hubristic pride.

This is why the present researchers decided to delve on the relationship between the 2 facets of

pride and the Big 5 personality traits.

Pride is indeed one of the topics in psychology that do not have much information or

studies done. Since Tracy and Robins' study (2007) was only conducted within the Western

setting, it lacked empirical data and universality. It is then one of the goals of the current

researchers, on correlating the 2 facets of pride with the Big 5 Personality Traits, to achieve the

same results. Also, this paper supplies additional literature, results, and reference to future

investigators on pride and the Big 5 personality traits. Moreover, it is the hope of the current

researchers to establish a significant relationship between the two facets of pride and the Big 5

by correlating the scores on the two facets of pride scale with a standardized scale, the Big Five

Inventory, which measures the Big Five personality traits.

With the lead researchers Tracy and Robins contributing their instrument on the Two-

Facet Measure of Pride to the current researchers, the latter can say that this paper is part of the

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current studies on the 2 facets of pride. The conclusions of this research would then support the

presence of authentic and hubristic pride in everyday life, and to clarify the inconsistency on the

concept of pride. Also, the relationship of the 2 facets of pride with the Big 5 would add

empirical support to the reliabilty of the constructs of authentic and hubristic pride.

5

Review of Related Literature

Pride is a mystery (Sullivan, 2007). It has perplexed philosophers, theologians and even

scientists for centuries. It is so unlike primary emotions like fear and disgust. Those emotions

clearly had survival value for early humans, serving as an alert for predators and poisons. With

regard to psychology, the literature on pride is relatively limited in comparison to accounts of

other specific emotions. However, in the past decade, a growing body of research has emerged;

new theories and findings suggest that pride is psychologically important and evolutionarily

adaptive emotion.

According to Sullivan (2007), pride is a personally and culturally significant feeling that

has received little attention in psychology and has largely been examined as a positive emotional

product of self evaluative cognitions. The central idea behind cognitive appraisal theory, as

mentioned by Lewis (1999), is that pride is experienced when a person evaluate themselves on a

pride eliciting event. This type of theory focuses on what might be called selfish emotions or

emotions that characterize an individual self.

From this, psychologist Jessica Tracy (2004) defined pride as a self-conscious emotion

that fuels many of our most meaningful achievements both common and life-changing. Being a

self-conscious emotion, the experience of pride requires self-evaluation, and thus the capacity for

self-awareness and self-representations. Tracy (2004) was also one of the first to provide an in-

depth study about pride. Together with colleagues, Tracy (2008) has been exploring the origins

and purpose of pride, both in the laboratory and in the field. Everyone knows disgust and

happiness when they see it, almost instantaneously, and the scientists wanted to see if the same

were true for pride. Jessica Tracy and Richard Robins (2008) ran a series of experiments using

photographs of models with varying facial expressions and body language, asking subjects to

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identify the nonverbal signs of pride. And they did indeed found a prototypical prideful look: it

includes a small smile, a slight head tilt, and puffed up chest and posture. The arms are either

akimbo or held overhead. Findings suggest that pride is reliably recognized and distinguished

from related emotions, including happiness, by children as young as four years old and by non-

literate, culturally isolated, non-Western individuals. However this does not really give us a

meaning of pride, only the fact that pride is present and can be determined nonverbally.

Several researchers have argued that pride is too broad a concept to be considered a

single, unified construct and is better viewed as two or more distinct emotions (Ekman, 2003; M.

Lewis, 2000). Both Lewis (2000) and Tangney (2002) independently developed theories

describing two facets of pride - one productive and positive and the other linked to narcissism

and the difficulties associated with it. They argue that people who experience the first type credit

their behavior for a success while people who experience the second type credit themselves. The

productive study of pride then hinges on distinguishing the two facets.

The study of Tracy and Robins (2007) provided empirical evidence to this claim. In their

study, they first asked people to come up with words that they associated with pride, and

interestingly they found two distinct clusters of word associations. On one hand, people link

pride to such achievement-oriented ideas as accomplishment and confidence. On the other hand,

people also connect pride to self-aggrandizement, arrogance and conceit—not appealing traits at

all. Several researchers have addressed the apparently dual-faceted nature of pride by postulating

distinct “authentic” and “hubristic” components of the emotion.

Authentic pride was named such to emphasize that it is typically based on specific

accomplishments and is likely accompanied by genuine feelings of self-worth. The label also

connotes a full range of academic, social and moral and interpersonal accomplishments that

7

might be important elicitors. It is said to be the pro-social, achievement-oriented form of pride

and is closely related to genuine self-esteem. Authentic pride has a distinct causal attribution.

People report greater authentic pride when they attribute success to internal, unstable and

controllable causes than when they attribute the same success to internal, stable, uncontrollable

causes. This implies that people who feel authentic pride have actual skills that they achieved.

The people who feel authentic pride more are the people who accomplished something socially

desirable like honor students, volunteers for charity, athletes winning for their nation.

Hubristic pride is the second facet of pride and is deemed to be negative. The term hubris

is defined as exaggerated pride or self-confidence often resulting in retaliation. It is an example

of pridefulness, something dislikeable and to be avoided (Morrison, 1989). Hubristic is defined

as insolent or contemptuous. Hubristic pride is the facet of pride that is more related to

narcisissm and self-aggrandizement. In fact, hubristic pride might be a part of a dynamic

regulatory pattern through which narcisissts suppress feelings of shame, in part, by expressing

and experiencing exaggerated feelings of hubristic pride (Tracy & Robins, 2003). Although

Tracy and Robins did not mean that the feeling of hubristic pride is not authentic or genuine,

their intention was to differentiate the self-evaluative process that reflects a less authentic sense

of self (Tracy & Robins, 2007). This implies that people who feel hubristic pride are the people

who base their feelings of self-worth on exaggerations of their accomplishments. These people

are the kind of people who gloat about their achievement, no matter how infinitesimal it may be,

as long as they feel that they did better that other people.

M. Lewis (2000) said that there is difficulty of distinguishing between different kinds of

pride. We can think of two uses of the term pride. On one hand, we can think of pride in one’s

accomplishment – the pride that one feels in being successful in fulfilling a particular goal and

8

activity. On the other hand, we can also use the term “pride” to indicate a negative emotional

state. One speaks of the proud man or the proud woman with some disdain. This, then, provides

us with a conclusion that there is no definite meaning of the word pride.

Big 5 Personality

Popularly known as the five basic dimensions of personality, the Big Five has been

studied by personality researchers a long time ago, and evidence of this theory has been growing

for the past 50 years. Beginning with its proponents, research of D. W. Fiske (1949) and later

expanded upon by other researchers including Norman (1967), Smith (1967), Goldberg (1981),

Cattell (1998) and McCrae & Costa (1987).The term "Big Five" was coined by Lew Goldberg

(1981) and was originally associated with studies of personality traits used in natural language.

When Tracy and Robins (2007) studied people with tendencies toward one or the other

form of pride, they found that they had very different personalities. People exhibiting authentic

pride were more likely to score high on extraversion, agreeableness, genuine self-esteem and

conscientiousness—all adaptive, appealing traits. This is because by definition, authentic pride is

the facet of pride related to pro-social, achievement-oriented and is closely related to genuine

self-esteem. But those exhibiting hubristic pride were narcissistic and prone to shame. Other than

Tracy and Robins, the relationship of the two facets of pride and the Big 5 personality traits have

been studied and correlated methodically by previous researches that expanded results about the

two variables being linked together.

These traits are broad categories of an individual’s personality and there is a wide range

of significant literature that supports the validity of the Big 5 in explaining personality. Big five

personality traits include Openness, being inventive and curious, this trait features characteristics

such as imagination and insight, and those high in this trait also tend to have a broad range of

9

interests. Openness describes the extent, depth, originality and complexity of an individual’s

mental and experiential life. People who are high in openness take time to learn something

simply for the joy of learning. These people are adventurous and like to explore new things.

They like to try things at least once and twice would be better.

The two facets of pride, authentic and hubristic, had significantly different correlations

with each of the Big Five personality traits except for the openness to experience trait. Tracy and

Robins (2007) results show that there is no significant correlation between openness to

experience and authentic pride. This means that a high level of openness does not indicate a high

level of authentic pride. John & Srivastava (1999) results also showed that authentic pride was

positively correlated with all of the adaptive personality factors, except for Openness (for which

the correlation was in the positive direction but was not significant). The reason for this is that

although authentic pride is said to be positively correlated with the more adaptive and prosocial

traits, openness to experience is not as strongly regarded as an adaptive trait unlike agreeableness

and conscientiousness, the two personality traits most closely related to prosocial behaviors and

achievement (Digman, 1997; Graziano & Tobin, 2002; Roberts et al., 2005 as cited by Tracy and

Robins, 2007).

There is also no significant relationship between openness to experience and hubristic

pride (Tracy & Robins, 2007). This implies that a high level of openness does not indicate a low

level of hubristic pride, nor does a low level of openness indicate a high level of hubristic pride.

A low level in openness to experience is not a good predictor for hubristic pride. It also assumed

that since hubristic pride is said to be negatively correlated with the more prosocial traits of the

Big 5, there is no significant relationship between hubristic pride and openness because this trait

is not as closely related to the prosocial behaviors.

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Conscientiousness is described as efficient and disciplined, high levels of thoughtfulness,

with good impulse control and goal-directed behaviors. Conscientiousness describes socially

prescribed impulse control that facilitates task- and goal- directed behavior such as thinking

before acting, delaying gratification, following norms and rules, and planning, organizing, and

prioritizing tasks. Those high in conscientiousness tend to be organized and mindful of details,

arrive early or on time for appointments; study hard in order to get a high grade on exams and/or

double check term paper for typing and spelling errors. These people are often termed as

obsessive-compulsive by others because of their mindfulness to details. Most people are annoyed

with conscientious people because if they see an error, then they feel uncomfortable with it and

have to correct it.

According to the study by Shiota, M., Keltner, D., & John, O. (2006), Conscientiousness

is positively correlated with authentic pride which implies that this Big 5 trait can be a good

predictor for levels of authentic pride. Tracy and Robins (2007), too, showed the same results:

authentic pride was positively related to the more adaptive and socially desirable traits, including

conscientiousness. Cheng, J. & colleagues (2007), in their study on routes to attaining social

status in human societies, hypothesize that authentic pride should be positively related to

agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability. All of these traits should show positive

relations with prestige (based on the possession of skills) and null or negative relations with

dominance (based on intimidation). There is a strong relationship between authentic pride and

conscientiousness because it is one of the two traits that are most closely related to prosocial

behaviors and achievement (Digman, 1997; Graziano & Tobin, 2002; Roberts et al., 2005 as

cited by Tracy and Robins, 2007).

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A low level on conscientiousness is also a good indicator of a high level of hubristic

pride; since conscientiousness is also significantly correlated with emotions like joy, contentment

and (authentic) pride (Shiota, M., Keltner, D., & John, O., 2006). Hubristic pride is negatively

correlated with the more adaptive and prosocial traits in the Big 5, one of which is

conscientiousness (Tracy & Robins, 2007). This implies that conscientiousness can help predict

whether an individual has a high or low level of hubristic pride. If an individual is impulsive and

careless, it is assumed that the same individual experiences hubristic pride more. On the other

hand, if an individual has a high level of conscientiousness and is more inclined to goal-directed

behaviors then that means he or she may experience less hubristic pride and more authentic

pride. A low level on conscientiousness is a good indicator of whether an individual experiences

hubristic pride because it is more geared towards a distorted self-view that is not achievement-

based, and having a low level of conscientiousness implies that an individual does not have an

inclination to goal-directed behaviors.

Extraversion is depicted as sociable and vigorous, this trait includes characteristics such

as excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional

expressiveness. This factor implies an energetic approach toward the social and material world

and includes traits such as sociability, activity, assertiveness, and positive emotionality. People

high in this factor tend to approach strangers at a party and engage in a conversation or take a

lead in organizing with others. These people are the life of the party; they have an energetic force

that pulls people towards them. These are the people who know many people but may not have

many friends.

Tracy and Robins (2007) found that authentic pride is positively correlated with

extraversion, which is also a more adaptive and prosocial behavior. Additional researches also

12

discussed that Extraversion is strongly associated with positive emotions, most especially with

joy, pride and contentment (Shiota, M. and colleagues, 2006). Results from the scale developed

by Shiota, Keltner and John (2006), named the Dispositional Positive Emotional Scale (DPES)

showed that extraversion has the strongest significant correlation with emotions like joy,

contentment and pride. Prestigious individuals, individuals who attain a high status in society

through skills, and individuals high in authentic pride tended to be extraverted (Cheng, J.T.,

Henrich, J. & Tracy, J.L., 2010). This implies that there is a strong positive relationship between

extraversion and authentic pride, which means that being friendly, is a good indicator of

authentic pride. This is because authentic pride connotes a range of interpersonal

accomplishments (Tracy & Robins, 2007) which could be a factor for its positive relationship

with extraversion.

In a study on emotion dispositions by Shiota, M., Keltner, D., & John, O. (2006), they

hypothesized that major personality traits including the Big 5 personality traits are correlated

with several corresponding emotions including pride. Results from Shiota, Keltner and John’s

(2006) study showed that extraversion has the strongest significant correlation with emotions like

joy, contentment and pride. This study implies that extraversion is a good predictor for authentic

pride and although hubristic pride was not mentioned, this study supported the hypothesis and

findings of Tracy and Robins (2007) that authentic pride is positively correlated with the more

socially desirable traits of the Big 5 like extraversion. It would entail that this study would follow

the hypothesis that hubristic pride is negatively correlated with extraversion. This means that a

low level of the extraversion trait could be an indicator of a high level of hubristic pride. This

may be because an individual who is high on hubristic pride might be viewed as insolent and

contemptuous, which would be the cause for people to avoid him or her. In order to regulate his

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or her self-view, the individual might suppress feelings of shame, in part, by expressing

exaggerated feelings of hubristic pride (Tracy & Robins, 2003) and keeping to himself or herself.

Agreeableness is a predisposition of being welcoming and empathetic, this dimension

includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviours

such as tender-mindedness and modesty. Agreeable people emphasize the good qualities of other

people when talking about them or console friends who are upset. These people are those who

just go take care of the group’s well being by avoiding and preventing conflict within the group.

These people also are trusting towards people; they believe that other people are innately good

and decent.

People exhibiting authentic pride were more likely to score high on agreeableness, an

adaptive, appealing trait (Tracy & Robins, 2007). Results supported the hypothesis that authentic

pride was positively correlated with all of the adaptive personality factors, one of which is

agreeableness (John & Srivastava 1999). According to Cheng, J.T., Henrich, J. & Tracy, J.L.

(2010) prestigious individuals were also high in agreeableness, and authentic pride is associated

with prestige or the use of skills to attain status in human societies. These results imply that a

high level of agreeableness is a good indicator of a high level of authentic pride. This is because

agreeableness is a prosocial trait and authentic pride is related to the prosocial and adaptive traits.

A definite predictor of hubristic pride is if an individual has a low level of agreeableness.

Agreeableness is one of the socially desirable traits in the Big 5, and hubristic pride is said to be

negatively correlated with this and the other more pro-social traits. A study by Cheng, J.T.,

Henrich, J. & Tracy, J.L. (2010) supported this claim with their hypothesis that hubristic pride

should be positively related to narcissism, aggression, and disagreeableness. According to their

study about routes to attaining social status in human societies, either through dominance (based

14

on intimidation) or prestige (based on the possession of skills), results show that hubristic pride

is associated with dominance, which is positively associated with narcissism, aggression and

disagreeableness. This supports the assumption that hubristic pride has a negative association

with agreeableness. This means that the more disagreeable an individual is the more probability

that he or she experiences hubristic pride than authentic pride. This is because an individual high

in hubristic pride is more inclined to self-aggrandize and this may sometimes be the cause for

him or her to disagree with others and have conflict.

Neuroticism or also know as Emotional Stability, the last dimension that places people

along a continuum according to their emotional stability and personal adjustment. This trait

signifies individuals that are susceptible and worried often having emotional distress; persons

high in this trait tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and

sadness. These people are the ones who are heavily affected by stress, and tend to view ordinary

conditions as threatening or hopeless. They are the ones who panic at the slightest disturbance.

Based on the research done on the relationship of the Big 5 personality traits and

hubristic pride, it is seen that hubristic pride has a significantly negative correlation with

extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness; which are the socially desirable traits in the

Big 5. Openness is also a socially desirable trait, but results show that it has no significant

correlation with hubristic pride. There are two contrasting notions on the relationship of

emotional stability and hubristic pride. Based on the implications of Shiota, Keltner, and John’s

(2006) study, there is a negative correlation between emotional stability and hubristic pride.

While, Tracy and Robins’ (2010) results showed that there is no relationship between emotional

stability and hubristic pride. However, if hubristic pride is the negative facet, the researchers then

hypothesize that neurotism will gain positive correlation with hubristic pride. That is, people

15

high on neuroticism will also be high in hubristic pride. As mentioned in the earlier part of this

paper, the researchers aim to resolve this uncertain position on the relationship of emotional

stability and hubristic pride.

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Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine if there is a significant relationship between the two facets

of pride: Authentic and Hubristic and the Big 5 Personality Traits.

Specifically, this aims answer the following questions:

1. Does Authentic Pride and Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness,

and Neuroticism have a statistically significant relationship?

2. Does Hubristic Pride and Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness,

and Neuroticism have a statistically significant relationship?

Statement of the Hypothesis

The two facets of pride are correlated with the Big 5 Personality Traits.

Specifically,

1. Obtaining positive correlation with

1.1 Authentic Pride - Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Agreeableness

1.2 Hubristic Pride – Neuroticism

2. Obtaining negative correlation with

2.1 Authentic Pride - Neuroticism

1.2 Hubristic Pride – Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Agreeableness

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Significance of the Study

This study will be a significant attempt in providing a stronger relationship between pride

and the Big 5. So far there has not been any independent study specifically correlating pride to

the Big 5 personality traits other than the one conducted by Tracy and Robins (2007) which is

part of a larger study. This study provides additional literature on pride. Correlating pride with a

more established set of personality characteristics can lead to a better and wider understanding of

pride. This in turn can lead to a wider scope in understanding personality and self-conscious

emotions. If the hypotheses are proven correct, this research can strengthen the definition of each

facet; that authentic pride is a positive facet of pride and hubristic pride is a negative facet. It will

also serve as a future reference for future researchers regarding the concept of pride: authentic

and hubristic and what kind of personality is associated with each facet. And importantly, this

research will educate people about pride. That pride is not only a negative emotion but also has a

positive side to it.

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METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This is a correlational study which aims to establish a significant relationship between

two facets of pride: authentic and hubristic with the Big 5 Personality Traits.

Research Environment

The study was conducted in the three campuses of the University of San Carlos (USC

Main Campus, USC Talamban Campus and USC South Campus. This venue was able to

accommodate the population of the subjects.

Research Respondents

The researchers did a convenience and purposive sampling. The subjects were three

hundred and thirty-one (331) college students studying in Cebu City with 197 females and 134

males aged 16 to 21 years old.

Research Instruments

Two Facet Pride Scale. Jessica Tracy and Richard Robins (2004) found evidence for the

presence of the 2 facets of pride. To further test or provide support for the theoretical distinction

between the 2 facets of pride, Tracy and Robins (2007) conducted a series of studies. These

studies demonstrate that the 2 facets emerge in analysis of the semantic meaning of pride-related

words. The 2 facets also appear from dispositional tendency to experience pride and from reports

of actual pride experience. The 2 facets have divergent personality correlates and distinct

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antecedent causal attributions. They have also proven that the 2 facets do not simply reflect

positively and negatively valenced, high- and low activation or state versus trait forms of pride.

They were able to develop brief 7 item scales from an original 77 item pool of pride related

words (See Appendix I for the scale). The Authentic Pride scale included the words:

accomplished, achieving, confident, fulfilled, productive, self-worth and successful; and the

Hubristic Pride scale included the words: arrogant, conceited, egotistical, pompous, smug,

snobbish and stuck-up (See Appendix II).

The 7-item scales were tested for reliability and factor structure in two independent

samples – that is one that assessed pride as a trait (Sample A) and one that assessed pride as a

state (Sample B). Results showed that for Sample A (trait pride), the Authentic Pride scale had

an Alpha reliability of .88 and the Hubristic Pride scale had a reliability of .90. For Sample B

(state pride), the Authentic Pride scale had an Alpha reliability of .88 and the Hubristic Pride had

an Alpha reliability of .90. These reliabilities suggest that the scales have an adequate internal

consistency, regardless of whether pride is assessed as a trait or as a state and despite their

relatively short length. The items are scored by getting the mean of the 7 items that comprises

each facet.

Big Five Inventory. This 44-item test, developed by Oliver P. John, Ph.D. and V. Benet-

Martinez in 1998, is in the public domain and has been normed on tens of thousands of adults. It

is used to assess the participants’ Big Five Personality Traits – Openness (α = .74),

Conscientiousness (α = .82), Extraversion (α = .87), Agreeableness (α = .74) and Neuroticism or

Emotional Stability (α = .82). It provides a score for each of the Big Five personality traits. A

high score on Agreeableness implies appreciative and sympathetic disposition. Also, high score

on Conscientiousness implies a responsible and goal-directed behaviour. A sociable and

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outgoing character entails a high score on Extraversion. Meanwhile, a high score on Openness

implies an innovative and insightful outlook. A high score on Neuroticism implies a tense and

anxious emotional state or less emotional stability. The test will be scored by summing the items

for each of the personality traits. Some of the items will be scored reversely as indicated in

Appendix III. One of the advantages of using the BFI is its efficiency taking only about 5

minutes of administration time. Moreover, the BFI items are shorter and easier to understand.

Research Procedures

Gathering of Data. The two sets of questionnaires were consecutively administered to the

participants. First administered is the Two Facet Pride Scale followed by the Big 5 Inventory. No

transmittal letter was written since the questionnaires were administered outside of school

grounds.

Treatment of Data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Software was

utilized to interpret the gathered data. Descriptive statistics was used for socio-demographic data

such as age, gender, and course. Pearson Product – Moment Correlation (Pearson r) was used to

determine the degree of relatedness between authentic and hubristic pride and the Big 5

Personality Traits.

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RESULTS

To test for the correlation between the two facets of pride and the Big 5, two measures

were used. First is the two-facet pride scale developed by Tracy and Robins (2007) which

assesses the two facets of pride in both ways it is experienced; either as a trait or a state. Trait

pride refers to the general feeling of pride while state pride refers to the momentary experience

of pride. Two-facet pride scale is score by getting the mean of the seven words that comprises

each facet. Two scores are yielded for each facet but Tracy and Robins (2007) claimed that there

is no significant difference between trait and state pride so the sum of the two score foreach facet

was computed to get one score for authentic pride and one score for hubristic pride. The second

measure used is the Big 5 Inventory (BFI) that measures the Big 5 personality traits. It yields one

score for each factor.

Table 1 shows the correlation between Extraversion and the two facets of pride including

the individual scores for the state and trait pride.

Table 1: Extraversion and Pride

State

Authentic

Pride

Trait

Authentic

Pride

Authentic

Pride State Hubristic

Pride

Trait

Hubristic

Pride

Hubristic

Pride

Extraversion Pearson

Correlation .165** .099 .147** .011 .006 .009

Sig. (2-tailed) .003 .072 .007 .837 .907 .866

N 331 331 331 331 331 331

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

22

As seen in Table 1, there is a significant positive correlation between Extraversion and

Authentic pride (r = .147, p < .05). This supports the present researchers’ hypothesis that there is

a positive relationship between authentic pride and Extraversion. This implies that scoring high

on Extraversion can also mean having a high level of authentic pride.

On the other hand, results regarding hubristic pride and Extraversion (r = .009, p > .05)

showed there is no significant relationship between the two. This means that having a low level

of Extraversion does not necessarily conclude that a person is high in hubristic pride or does

having a high level of Extraversion mean that an individual is low in hubristic pride.

Table 2 shows the correlation between Agreeableness and the two facets of pride

including the individual scores for the state and trait pride.

Table 2: Agreeableness and Pride

State

Authentic

Pride

Trait

Authentic

Pride

Authentic

Pride

State Hubristic

Pride

Trait Hubristic

Pride

Hubristic

Pride

Agreeableness Pearson

Correlation .014 .030 .024 -.201** -.147** -.183**

Sig. (2-tailed) .798 .592 .657 .000 .007 .001

N 331 331 331 331 331 331

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Results from Table 2 indicates the significant negative correlation between hubristic

pride and Agreeableness (r = -.183, p < .05). This confirms to the hypothesis that hubristic pride

is negatively correlated with Agreeableness. This means that having low in agreeableness is

23

indicative of a high level of hubristic pride. Inversely, having a high level of Agreeableness is

suggests of a low level of hubristic pride.

There is no significant relationship between authentic pride and Agreeableness, as seen

in Table 2 (r = .024, p > .05). Contrary to the hypothesis of the researchers, Agreeableness is not

positively correlated to authentic pride. This means that being agreeable does not predict a high

level of Authentic pride.

Table 3 shows the correlation between Conscientiousness and the two facets of pride

including the individual scores for the state and trait pride.

Table 3: Conscientiousness and Pride

State

Authentic

Pride

Trait Authentic

Pride

Authentic

Pride

State Hubristic

Pride

Trait

Hubristic

Pride

Hubristic

Pride

Conscientiousness Pearson

Correlation .296** .303** .334** -.031 -.031 -.032

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .580 .580 .560

N 331 331 331 331 331 331

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Conscientiousness is positively correlated with authentic pride (r = .334, p < .05), as seen

in the results from Table 3. This is in accordance with the hypothesis postulated by the

researchers and it surmises that being conscientious is a reliable indicator of authentic pride.

Table 3 shows of a negative correlation with Conscientiousness and hubristic pride (r =

-.032, p > .05), albeit a weak one. This agrees with the hypothesis of the researchers that

24

hubristic pride has a negative relationship with Conscientiousness, although in-depth

investigation might be needed to add more support to this hypothesis.

Table 4 shows the correlation between Neuroticism and the two facets of pride including

the individual scores for the state and trait pride.

Table 4: Neuroticism and Pride

State

Authentic

Pride

Trait

Authentic

Pride

Authentic

Pride

State Hubristic

Pride

Trait Hubristic

Pride

Hubristic

Pride

Neuroticism Pearson

Correlation -.246** -.125* -.206** .074 .068 .075

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .023 .000 .179 .217 .175

N 331 331 331 331 331 331

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 4 shows the results for the correlation between Neuroticism and authentic pride. In

accordance to the hypothesis of the researchers, there is indeed a negative relationship between

Neuroticism and authentic pride (r = -.206, p < .05). This implies that being emotionally unstable

means having a low level of authentic pride. On the other hand, being emotionally stable means

that the individual experiences authentic pride more.

Hubristic pride and Neuroticism has no statistically proven relationship (r = .075,

p > .05), according to Table 4. This implies that neither being emotionally stable nor unstable is a

reliable predictor of a high or low level of hubristic pride.

25

Table 5 shows the correlation between Openness and the two facets of pride including the

individual scores for the state and trait pride.

26

Table 5: Openness and Pride

State

Authentic

Pride

Trait

Authentic

Pride

Authentic

Pride

State Hubristic

Pride

Trait

Hubristic

Pride

Hubristic Pride

Openness Pearson

Correlation .031 .122* .086 .033 .052 .045

.418Sig. (2-tailed) .576 .027 .119 .552 .350

N 331 331 331 331 331 331

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

According to the researchers’ hypothesis, Openness is positively correlated with

authentic pride and negatively correlated with hubristic pride. Results from Table 5 show that

there is a significant relationship between the trait form of authentic pride and Openness to

experience (r = .122, p < .05). Although when the researchers summed up the scores for the trait

and state forms of authentic pride, there was no significant correlation (r = .086, p > .05).

These results show that there is no relationship between hubristic pride and Openness to

experience (r = .045, p > .05). This does not correspond to the hypothesis of the researchers that

the two variables are negatively correlated. This means that having a high level of Openness is

not an indicator of a low level of hubristic pride, nor does having a low level of Openness be an

indicator of a high level of hubristic pride.

27

DISCUSSIONS

The present study explored the correlation between the two facets of pride: authentic and

hubristic pride, and the Big 5 personality traits. Prior studies have observed the relationship

among the two facets of pride and each of the Big 5 personality traits. The present results

suggest that authentic pride is more inclined to prosocial profiles of the Big 5, except for

Agreeableness and that there is no relationship between hubristic pride and Neuroticism, which

supports the conclusion of Tracy and Robins (2010) but opposes the hypothesis of the present

study.

Authentic pride is positively correlated with Extraversion, which means that people high

in Extraversion experience authentic pride more than those who are low in Extraversion. This

implies that people who are sociable and friendly are the people are likely to feel genuine self-

worth. These are the people who take pleasure in large gatherings such as parties, community

activities, and public demonstrations. This might be the reason why people high in Extraversion

tend to feel authentic pride, because they feel they helped their community through outreach

activities or through public demonstrations where they are fighting for a cause. Similarly, Weiner

(1985) and Williams & DeSteno (2008) concluded that authentic pride may be what promotes

positive behaviors in the achievement domain. In contrast, people who are introverts or have low

levels of Extraversion tend to experience a lower level of authentic pride. The reason for this

may be because people with a low level of Extraversion do not find it enjoyable to mingle with

others, which is why they might not find joining a community activity desirable and might also

be one of the reasons why they do not feel like they have accomplished much. Results of the

present study regarding Extraversion and authentic pride are supported by the similar findings of

Tracy and Robins (2007), Shiota, Keltner and John (2006) and Cheng, Henrich and Tracy

28

(2010). They all concluded that Extraversion is strongly associated with associated positive

emotions like joy, contentment and pride (authentic).

Authentic pride is also positively correlated with Conscientiousness; this means that

people who are careful, thorough, and organized are the ones who experience authentic pride

more. This implies that the more a person is mindful of details and is generally hard working and

reliable; there is a greater possibility that these people experience greater feelings of self - worth

and accomplishment than the people who do not have a high level of Conscientiousness. The

reason for this is that people who are conscientious have a need to be ideal, and in order for them

to achieve that they must work hard. People who have a high level of Conscientiousness feel

accomplished after they have done everything perfectly and carefully, resulting to feelings of

authentic pride which is based on accomplishments. Findings are similar to the conclusion of

Digman (199), Graziano & Tobin (2002), and Roberts et al. (2005) as cited by Tracy and Robins

(2007) that there is a strong relationship between authentic pride and conscientiousness because

it is one of the two traits that are most closely related to prosocial behaviors and achievement.

Authentic pride is also positively correlated with Openness to experience. This implies

that people who create new things experience higher levels of authentic pride. People who have a

low level of Openness to experience might not experience much authentic pride, unlike the

people who have a high level of the Openness trait. The reason for this might be because people

who do not have a high level of Openness tend to be conventional and traditional; this means that

they do not find new ways to do things. This might hinder progress and improvement on their

part which could be the reason why they do not experience authentic pride more, because

authentic pride is linked with feelings of self-worth. These results, however, did not coincide

with the results of Tracy and Robins (2007) for there study yielded no significant relationship

29

between authentic pride and Openness. They concluded that although authentic pride is said to

be positively correlated with the more adaptive and prosocial traits, openness to experience is not

as strongly regarded as an adaptive trait.

Authentic pride is negatively correlated with Neuroticism. People who have a high level

of Neuroticism do not respond well to stress, which could hinder how they do their tasks whether

at school or in the office. This could lead to poor job performance and result to feelings of

inadequacy with themselves. This could be one of the reasons why they have less feelings of

self-worth, thus leading to less feelings of authentic pride. People with a low level of

Neuroticism would have a higher tendency to experience authentic pride. This is because these

people can handle stress and anxiety well, resulting to better job performance and thus

accompany feelings of self-worth and accomplishment; which are linked to feelings of authentic

pride.

Although Agreeableness is considered as one of the prosocial traits in the Big 5, it did not

have a significant relationship with authentic pride. This does not mean that being pleasant and

accommodating during social situations do not accompany feelings of Authentic pride, only that

the relationship between the two variables are not as strong as the other constructs. This implies

that an individual’s level of Agreeableness is not a good indicator for an individual’s level of

authentic pride. Results were not as conclusive as with Tracy and Robins (2007) findings

wherein their results showed positive relationship with authentic pride and Agreeableness. This

may be due to the fact the being agreeable has a dual function. It could be being inherently

agreeable and pleasant or just being agreeable for the sake of avoiding trouble.

Results for correlations with hubristic pride were not very definite. Hubristic pride has

shown a weak negative correlation with Conscientiousness which suggests that a high level in

30

hubristic pride might indicate less efficiency and discipline. This means that a person who is less

goal oriented and less driven by success would tend to experience hubristic pride more. The

reason for this is because people who are fewer goals oriented could not base their pride on

specific accomplishments and they might exaggerate or distort their own accomplishments to be

used for self-aggrandizement, which results to feelings of hubristic pride. Results were somewhat

supported by the findings of Tracy and Robins (2007) wherein hubristic pride tended to be

negatively or not related to Conscientiousness.

Hubristic pride also yielded a strong negative relationship with Agreeableness, leading to

a conclusion that people high in hubristic pride are less agreeable but does not necessarily imply

that people high in authentic pride are also high in agreeableness. This conflict may be resolved

through further studies. This means that people who are helpful and have a concern for social

harmony seldom feel hubristic pride. The reason for this might be because they would rather

avoid conflict than to start it with self-aggrandizement, which is linked to feelings of hubristic

pride. Results were suported by the claim that hubristic pride is more experience by disagreeable

people in response to pride – eliciting events (Tracy & Robins, 2007).

In general, authentic pride was positively correlated with Extraversion,

Conscientiousness and Openness – all prosocial traits. This corresponds to the hypothesis that

authentic pride has a positive relationship with the prosocial traits in the Big 5 and is consistent

with the notion that authentic pride is more inclined to prosocial traits, as proposed by some

researchers (e.g., Shiota, Keltner, & John, 2006; Tracy and Robins 2007; Cheng, J.T., Henrich, J.

& Tracy, J.L., 2010). However, authentic pride is not positively correlated with all prosocial

traits in the Big 5, as proven by the results that there is no significant relationship between

authentic pride and Agreeableness - which implies that being pleasant and considerate is not a

31

good indicator of experiencing authentic pride. The hypothesis that authentic pride is negatively

correlated with Neuroticism was also proven by the results shown in the previous section,

implying that people who are easily affected by stress and anxiety experience less authentic

pride.

Hubristic pride was proven to be negatively correlated with agreeableness, which implies

that, a person who is disagreeable and inconsiderate experiences hubristic pride more. Hubristic

pride is also negatively correlated with Conscientiousness, although the relationship was a weak

one. This implies that people who are disorganized and careless tend to experience hubristic

pride more, rather than the individuals who are organized and mindful to details.

Although most of the hypotheses were met, supplementary studies regarding this topic

would be most helpful in providing a more certain conclusion regarding the relationship of pride

and the Big 5 personality traits. Findings from present research points to the need for continued

research and theory on both facets of pride.

The present researchers were only able to collect data from college students due to time

and financial constraints. Results from this study are limited to the correlation of the two facets

of pride to the Big 5 personality traits. For future researchers who would endeavor to study pride,

the present researchers recommend a larger sample of participants which would include people

of various ages, culture and profession. Also, in addition to strengthening the proven relationship

of the 2 facets of pride with the Big 5, the present researchers urge the future researchers to seek

other correlates. Either through studying the correlates of pride postulated by Tracy and Robins

(2007) which are self-esteem and narcissism or finding other constructs that the future

researchers think are in some way related to the 2 facets of pride.

32

REFERENCES

Berkely Personality Laboratory. (2007-9). The Big Five Inventory. Retrieved January 7, 2011, from http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~johnlab/bfi.htm

Burger, J. (2005). Personality. (pp. 176-180). Singapore: Thomson Learning, Wadsworth.

Cheng, J. T, Henrich, J. & Tracy, J. L., (2010). Pride, Personality and the Evolutionary Foundations of Human Social Status. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31(5), 334-347.

Darwin, C. & Ekman, P. (1872,1998). Disdain, Contempt, Disgust, Guilt, Pride, Etc. Helplessness, Patience, Affirmation and Negation. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. (pp. 552). New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions Revealed. New York: Times Books.

John, O. P., Naumann, L. P., & Soto, C. J. (2008). Paradigm Shift to the Integrative Big-Five Trait Taxonomy: History, Measurement, and Conceptual Issues. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 114-158). New York: Guilford Press.

John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin, & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 102-138). New York: Guilford Press.

Lewis, M. (2000). Self-Conscious Emotions: Embarassment,Pride, Shame and Guilt. New York: Guilford Press.

Morrison, H. P. (1989). Shame: The Underside of Narcisissm. New Jersey: Analytic Press.

Srivastava, S. (2011). Measuring the Big Five Personality Factors. Retrieved January 10, 2011 from http://www.uoregon.edu/~sanjay/bigfive.html.

Sullivan, G. B. (2007). A Critical Psychology of Pride. International Journal of Critical Psychology, 21,166-189.

Shiota, M., Keltner, D., & John, O. P. (2006). Positive emotion dispositions differentially associated with Big 5 personality and attachment styles. Journal of Positive Psychology, 61-71.

Tagney, J. P., & Dearing, R. L. (2002). Shame and Guilt. New York: Guilford Press.

Tracy, J. L. (2003). "Death of a Narcissistic Salesman":An Integrative Model of Fragile Self-Esteem. Psychological Inquiry, 57-62.

Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2004). Show your pride: Evidence for discrete emotion expression. Psychological Science, 15, 194-197

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Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2007). The Psychological Structure of Pride: A Tale of Two Facets. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 506-525.

Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2008). The Nonverbal Expression of Pride: Evidence for cross-cultural recognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92, 548–573.

Williams, L., & DeSteno, D. (2009). Pride: Adaptive social emotion or seventh sin? Psychological Science, 20, 284–288.

34

Appendix I

Two Facet Pride Scale

Q #:____

Name (optional):_________________________________ Date: ____________________

Age:____________ Gender: __M __F Course and Year: ___________

Instructions: Below are a number of words and phrases that describe different feelings and

emotions. Read each item and then indicate the extent to which you would use each of the

following words to describe yourself and your feelings right now.

Please use the scale below:

1 = Not at all

2 = Somewhat

3 = Moderately

4 = Very much

5 = Extremely

*As much as possible, kindly refrain from choosing Neutral (3), since this does not provide us

with useful information.

____Accomplished

____Arrogant

____Confident

____Fulfilled

____Productive

____Smug

____Stuck-up

____Like I am Achieving

____Conceited

____Egotistical

____Pompous

____Like I have self-worth

____Snobbish

____Successful

35

Instructions: Below are a number of words and phrases that describe different feelings and

emotions. Read each item and then indicate the extent to which you generally feel this way

(i.e., how you feel on the average).

Please use the scale below:

1 = Not at all

2 = Somewhat

3 = Moderately

4 = Very much

5 = Extremely

*As much as possible, kindly refrain from choosing Neutral (3), since this does not provide us

with useful information.

____Accomplished

____Arrogant

____Confident

____Fulfilled

____Productive

____Smug

____Stuck-up

____Like I am Achieving

____Conceited

____Egotistical

____Pompous

____Like I have self-worth

____Snobbish

____Successful

36

Appendix II

Retained Top 7 Loading Items for each Scale

Authentic Pride Hubristic Pride

Accomplished

Achieving

Confident

Fulfilled

Productive

Self-worth

Successful

Arrogant

Conceited

Egotistical

Pompous

Smug

Snobbish

Stuck-up

37

38

Appendix III

Big 5 Inventory – Scoring Key

Instructions for scoring:

Key items that are bold, italicized, and underlined (e.g., E) should be reverse scored. To

reverse score an item, change 1 to 5, 2 to 4, 4 to 2, and 5 to 1. After reverse scoring, find the total

score for E (Extroversion), A (Agreeableness), C (Conscientiousness), N (Neuroticism), and O

(Openness).

__1 Is talkative E __23 Tends to be lazy C

__2 Tends to find fault with others A __24 Is emotionally stable, not easily upset N

__3 Does a thorough job C __25 Is inventive O

__4 Is depressed, blue N __26 Has an assertive personality E

__5 Is original, comes up with new ideas O __27 Can be cold and aloof A

__6 Is reserved E __28 Perseveres until the task is finished C

__7 Is helpful and unselfish with others A __29 Can be moody N

__8 Can be somewhat careless C __30 Values artistic, aesthetic experiences O

__9 Is relaxed, handles stress well N __31 Is sometimes shy, inhibited E

__10 Is curious about many different things O __32 Is considerate and kind to almost everyone A

__11 Is full of energy E __33 Does things efficiently C

__12 Starts quarrels with others A __34 Remains calm in tense situations N

__13 Is a reliable worker C __35 Prefers work that is routine O

__14 Can be tense N __36 Is outgoing, sociable E

__15 Is ingenious, a deep thinker O __37 Is sometimes rude to others A

__16 Generates a lot of enthusiasm E __38 Makes plans and follows through with them C

__17 Has a forgiving nature A __39 Gets nervous easily N

38

39

__18 Tends to be disorganized C __40 Likes to reflect, play with ideas O

__19 Worries a lot N __41 Has few artistic interests O

__20 Has an active imagination O __42 Likes to cooperate with others A

__21 Tends to be quiet E __43 Is easily distracted C

__22 Is generally trusting A __44 Is sophisticated in art, music, or literature O

39