Status signals: Adaptive benefits of displaying and observing the nonverbal expressions of pride and shame

Abstract

A growing body of research suggests that pride and shame are associated with distinct, cross-culturally recognised nonverbal expressions, which are spontaneously displayed in situations of success and failure, respectively. Here, we review these findings, then offer a theoretical account of the adaptive benefits of these displays. We argue that both pride and shame expressions function as social signals that benefit both observers and expressers. Specifically, pride displays function to signal high status, which benefits displayers by according them deference from others, and benefits observers by affording them valuable information about social-learning opportunities. Shame displays function to appease others after a social transgression, which benefits displayers by allowing them to avoid punishment and negative appraisals, and observers by easing their identification of committed group members and followers.

Keywords:

• Pride
• Shame
• Emotion expression
• Social signal

Notes

¹In contemporary human societies, guilt may serve the same function, and may do so even more effectively (Tangney & Dearing, 2002).

²If these results can be attributed to pride displays shown by confederates, it suggests that 3-year-old children implicitly understand the communicative meaning of the pride display despite not yet being able to explicitly identify it as pride (Tracy, Robins, & Lagattuta, 2005).