 23. The Self‑Conscious and Social Emotions  511
tween individuals who attain social rank by 
inducing fear, typically through intimida -
tion and coercion (dominance), and individ -
uals who attain rank by demonstrating skills 
or expertise, and earning respect and willing 
deference on this basis (prestige). Empirical 
studies suggest that both dominance and 
prestige are effective means of increasing 
one’s status; each strategy leads to the ac -
quisition of power and influence over one’s 
group (Cheng, Tracy, Foulsham, Kingstone, 
& Henrich, 2013). Hubristic and authentic 
pride may therefore have separately evolved 
as the affective mechanisms that, respective -
ly, underpin each of these systems (Cheng 
et al., 2010; Tracy et al., 2010). More spe -
cifically, hubristic pride may facilitate the 
attainment of dominance by motivating 
individuals to behave in an aggressive and 
intimidating manner, and providing a sense 
of grandiosity and entitlement that allows 
them to take power rather than earn it, and 
to feel little empathy for those who get in the 
way (Ashton-  James & Tracy, 2012; Tracy, 
Cheng, et al., 2009).
In contrast, authentic pride may facilitate 
the attainment of prestige by motivating cre -
ativity, accomplishments, and other indica -
tors of competence, and providing individu -
als with feelings of genuine self-  confidence 
that allow them to comfortably demonstrate 
both social attractiveness and generosity 
(Cheng et al., 2010; Damian & Robins, 2013; 
Weidman et al., 2016). Furthermore, to re -
tain subordinates’ respect, prestigious indi -
viduals must avoid succumbing to feelings of 
power and superiority, and authentic pride 
may allow these individuals to acknowledge 
their own achievements while maintaining 
humility and helping others (Ashton-  James 
& Tracy, 2012; Tracy, Cheng, et al., 2009; 
Tracy & Robins, 2007; Weidman, Cheng, & 
Tracy, 2018). Several studies provide more 
direct evidence for these theorized associa -
tions (Cheng et al., 2010). Individuals prone 
to authentic pride were found to rate them -
selves as highly prestigious, whereas those 
prone to hubristic pride rated themselves as 
more dominant. This pattern was replicated 
using peer ratings of dominance and pres -
tige; varsity athletes high in dispositional au -
thentic pride were viewed as prestigious (but 
not dominant) by their teammates, whereas 
those high in dispositional hubristic pride were viewed as dominant (but not presti -
gious).
The pride nonverbal expression also ap -
pears to serve an adaptive function; a large 
body of evidence suggests that pride displays 
send rapidly and automatically perceived 
messages of high status to other group mem -
bers (Shariff & Tracy, 2009; Shariff, Tracy, 
& Markusoff, 2012). The status signaling 
property of these displays generalizes across 
cultures, including a small-scale traditional 
society on Fiji’s outer islands (Tracy et al., 
2013), suggesting that the expression may be 
an evolved status signal. Furthermore, given 
how widely and reliably recognized the pride 
expression is, perceiving pride in others may 
have adaptive benefits for both observers 
and expressers (Martens, Tracy, & Shariff, 
2012). Studies supporting this account indi -
cate that observers use others’ pride displays 
to determine which group members are 
likely to possess knowledge or expertise that 
should be copied (Martens & Tracy, 2013).
Turning to shame, its functionality may 
be akin to that of physical pain, which is 
aversive but adaptive by virtue of promot -
ing injury avoidance. Shame experiences 
may have evolved as a kind of alarm system, 
warning individuals that a drop in social 
rank is imminent, and they should change 
their behavior or depart from the situa -
tion to avoid the consequences. Consistent 
with this argument, shame responses to so -
cial transgressions have been documented 
among members of a small-scale traditional 
fishing village, suggesting that the propen -
sity to feel shame in response to a deviation 
from culturally normative behavior may be 
a human universal (Fessler, 2004). Another 
supportive study revealed that individuals 
contribute more generously to a public good 
if they are threatened with being shamed for 
selfish behavior (Jacquet, Hauert, Traulsen, 
& Milinski, 2011).
Shame may also be adaptive by virtue 
of motivating individuals to engage in ap -
peasement behaviors that demonstrate their 
increased trustworthiness or conformity to 
group norms, thereby reducing the likeli -
hood of punishment in response to trans -
gressions (Fessler, 2007; Gilbert, 1998). In 
a study testing this account, Giner-  Sorolla, 
Castano, Espinosa, and Brown (2008) asked 
participants to read hypothetical scenarios 