Applying the dominance hierarchy model to pride and shame, and related behaviors

Abstract

This paper offers a functional, comparative view of a relatively neglected emotion: pride and shame. Parallels between the nonverbal expression of pride and shame in humans, on the one hand, and of dominance and submission in other species on the other, have long been noted. However, many other parallels exist between competitive behavior in humans (prompted by the affect of pride and shame) and dominance behavior in other primates. These additional parallels strengthen the claim that human competitive behavior evolved from primate dominance behavior. This expanded dominance model of human competitive behavior also might allow various aspects of our social behavior to be understood functionally and comparatively. That is, a fuller application of the dominance model of human competitive behavior, which is motivated by pride and shame, might elucidate many facts about human social behavior that otherwise remain theoretically unmoored. Possible future directions for research into this emotion complex are discussed. Much remains to be learned about the expressions, affect, development, eliciting circumstances, neural and physiological correlates, and individual, pathological, and cultural variations of this emotion.

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