Abstract
Social anxiety is correlated with diminished global positive affect (PA). However, it is not clear from the data whether this relationship is due to global PA, or to specific emotions such as joy or pride. We hypothesized that pride will account for most of the relationship between social anxiety and PA after controlling for depression. Results of Study 1 (N = 352) supported the hypothesis that when pride and PA were in the same model, only pride was significantly related to social anxiety. The same pattern was found when pride and joy were in the same model. When multiple facets of positive emotions (pride, love, joy, contentment, amusement, awe and compassion) were in the same model, only pride and love were significantly related to social anxiety. Results of Study 2 (N = 288) replicated the findings that only pride was significantly related to social anxiety, but counter to our hypothesis, revealed that pride experience was significantly related to social anxiety more than reported expressions of pride. Study 3 extended these findings to a clinical, treatment seeking sample of 23 patients diagnosed with generalized social anxiety disorder and 35 low-anxious controls. When predicting group (patients vs. non-patient) by pride and PA, only pride was a significant predictor. Pride continued to be a predictor when controlling for either fear of positive or negative evaluation. Thus, all three studies demonstrated the importance of the specific experience of pride in its relationship to social anxiety.
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Notes
Given that one explanation of the relationship between lower positive affect and social anxiety is due to negative response bias, the overlap with negative affect, or depression itself, all regression analyses conducted included depression as the first step in the regression in order to control for these factors.
Given the unequal proportion of males and females in Study 1 and Study 2, we entered gender as a covariate in all analyses along with depression. When doing so, gender was not a significant predictor and all findings remained essentially the same.
When conducting multiple regression with all of the facets of the DPES predicting depression, it was found that contentment was the strongest significant predictor (sr2 = 0.11) followed by pride (sr2 = 0.02), joy (sr2 = 0.01), and compassion (sr2 = 0.01).
For a list of all measures collected in this session, contact the authors. Patients completed these measures on a different day than the assessment, prior to beginning treatment. Control participants completed all of the assessment in a single day.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Yiska Smotrich for her contributions by helping design and collect data for Study 2.
Funding
This research was partially supported by Israel Science Foundation Grant #3302/09 to the second author and the Sturman Foundation.
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Lior Cohen and Jonathan D. Huppert declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Appendix: The Pride Expression Questionnaire (PEQ)
Appendix: The Pride Expression Questionnaire (PEQ)
Below are a number of statements. Read each one carefully and indicate to what extent each statement characterizes you very well.
1. Not at all 2. A very little 3. A little 4. Somewhat 5. Very much 6. Extremely 7. Absolutely
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1.
When I feel proud, I express it.
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2.
People can see it on me when I feel good about myself
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3.
When I act effectively and productively, others can be see that I am satisfied with myself
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4.
When I accomplish something, I keep it to myself
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5.
When I feel self-assured, my facial expressions convey this
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6.
When I am happy with myself, others around me can see it
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7.
When I feel high levels of self-esteem, I express it in different ways
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8.
When I succeed at something, I share it with friends
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9.
When I receive a good grade on an exam, I smile to myself
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10.
When I accomplish my tasks well, people can see that I am proud of myself
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Cohen, L., Huppert, J.D. Positive Emotions and Social Anxiety: The Unique Role of Pride. Cogn Ther Res 42, 524–538 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-018-9900-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-018-9900-2