Pride and respect in volunteers' organizational commitment

As volunteer organizations cannot rely on instrumental means to motivate their workers, we examine organizational commitment as a focal indicator of work motivation among volunteers. Based on a social identity analysis and previous work among paid employees, we argue that pride in the organization and respect from the organization predicts organizational commitment among volunteers. We further propose that among volunteers the perceived importance of volunteer work is an antecedent of pride, and that perceived support from the organization is an antecedent of respect. In this study among volunteer workers, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) offers empirical support for our hypothesized model. In addition to the theoretical significance of developing a model that explains organizational commitment among volunteer workers, this study also has practical relevance, as it indicates that volunteer organizations might convey the importance of volunteer work and provide organizational support to induce pride and respect as a means of enhancing organizational commitment among their volunteers. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimism, promotion pride, and prevention pride as predictors of quality of life

The relationship between optimism and two potential sources of optimistic beliefs--promotion pride (based on a history of success in promotion regulation) and prevention pride (based on a history of success in prevention regulation)--was explored. Optimism was more strongly related to promotion pride than prevention pride (controlling for neuroticism), consistent with past work showing that anticipating success increases eagerness motivation but decreases vigilance motivation. This suggests that the psychology of prevention regulators is not captured well by the existing literature on optimism. Although prevention pride does not predict self-reports of well-being, it does predict adaptive functioning independent of optimism, neuroticism, and promotion pride. Promotion pride uniquely predicted a sense of purpose in life or goal directedness. Both promotion and prevention pride predicted active coping. It is argued that promotion and prevention pride tell us something unique and important about the role of successful self-regulation in determining quality of life.     

Envy, identification, and pride

The constituents of the complex affective experience of envy are delineated, and defenses against each of these constituents are explored. Attention is then called to a common, variably adaptive, and socially approved means of obviating or coping with envious feelings, involving a partial identification and culminating in the conscious experience of "being proud of." A conjecture is made regarding the kind of pathology most likely to interfere with this mechanism.     

Felt emotions,and verbally communicated emotions: the case of pride

Potential discrepancies between felt and verbally communicated emotions elicited by two Pride events (‘selected for a job among a large group’ and ‘being congratulated for one's own new partner’) were studied by means of a structured questionnaire. Italian male (n = 88) and female (n = 107) university students attributed felt and communicated emotions to the event protagonist P, choosing from a list of 14 emotions; the communication occurred with P‘s partner or friend, or with an acquaintance. Statistical analyses of subjects’ attributions confirmed the hypothesis that felt emotions are regulated in verbal communication to others: pride, triumph, self-satisfaction and excitement were de-emphasized in communication; joy, satisfaction, happiness and surprise were intensified; other emotions were communicated as felt. Event type, and to a lesser extent sex of subject, significantly influenced the direction and extent of regulation. The results are interpreted as showing that the verbal communication of emotion is influenced by emotion-related social norms and beliefs.     

Pride and perseverance: the motivational role of pride

Perseverance toward goals that carry short-term costs is an important component of adaptive functioning. The present experiments examine the role that the emotion pride may play in mediating such perseverance. Across 2 studies, pride led to greater perseverance on an effortful and hedonically negative task believed to be related to the initial source of pride. In addition, the causal efficacy of pride was further demonstrated through dissociating its effects from related alternative mechanisms. Study 1 differentiated the effects of pride from self-efficacy. Study 2 differentiated the effects of pride from general positive affect. Taken together, these findings provide support for the proposed motivational function of pride in which this emotion serves as an incentive to persevere on a task despite initial costs.     

Achievement orientations from subjective histories of success: Promotion pride versus prevention pride

A new task goal elicits a feeling of pride in individuals with a subjective history of success, and this achievment pride produces anticipatory goal reactions that energize and direct behavior to approach the task goal. By distinguishing between promotion pride and prevention pride, the present paper extends this classic model of achievement motivation. Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997 ) distinguishes between a promotion focus on hopes and accomplishments (gains) and a prevention focus on safety and responsibilities (non‐losses). We propose that a subjective history of success with promotion‐related eagerness (promotion pride) orients individuals toward using eagerness means to approach a new task goal, whereas a subjective history of success with prevention‐related vigilance (prevention pride) orients individuals toward using vigilance means to approach a new task goal. Studies 1–3 tested this proposal by examining the relations between a new measure of participants' subjective histories of promotion success and prevention success (the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ)) and their achievement strategies in different tasks. Study 4 examined the relation between participants' RFQ responses and their reported frequency of feeling eager or vigilant in past task engagements. Study 5 used an experimental priming technique to make participants temporarily experience either a subjective history of promotion success or a subjective history of prevention success. For both chronic and situationally induced achievement pride, these studies found that when approaching task goals individuals with promotion pride use eagerness means whereas individuals with prevention pride use vigilance means. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A story superiority effect for disgust,fear, embarrassment,and pride

Past studies found that, for preschoolers, a story specifying a situational cause and behavioural consequence is a better cue to fear and disgust than is the facial expression of those two emotions, but the facial expressions used were static. Two studies (Study 1: N = 68, 36–68 months; Study 2: N = 72, 49–90 months) tested whether this effect could be reversed when the expressions were dynamic and included facial, postural, and vocal cues. Children freely labelled emotions in three conditions: story, still face, and dynamic expression. Story remained a better cue than still face or dynamic expression for fear and disgust and also for the later emerging emotions of embarrassment and pride.     

Determinants of pride and shame: outcome, expected success and attribution

In two experiments we investigated the relationship between subjective probability of success and pride and shame. According to Atkinson (1957), pride (the incentive of success) is an inverse linear function of the probability of success, shame (the incentive of failure) being a negative linear function. Attribution theory predicts an inverse U-shaped relationship between subjective probability of success and pride and shame. The results presented here are at variance with both theories: Pride and shame do not vary with subjective probability of success. However, pride and shame are systematically correlated with internal attributions of action outcome.     

Caring,Gender Role Orientation,and Volunteering

The current studies were conducted to examine two questions regarding the development of an ethic of care versus an ethic of justice, where the former is associated with being female and the latter is associated with being male. First, does gender role orientation in adolescence predict the ethical orientation one adopts better than gender itself does? Second, does adolescents' ethical orientation predict their volunteering behavior? To answer these questions, two studies were conducted. In Study 1, adolescents completed Bem's Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and Jensen's World View Questionnaire (WVQ) which assesses ethical orientation. Girls and individuals high in femininity were higher on the ethic of care than were boys and individuals high in masculinity. In addition, individuals with a feminine gender orientation received higher care scores than individuals with an androgynous orientation. Regression analyses indicated that gender orientation accounted for more of the variance in the ethic of care than did gender. In Study 2, older adolescents completed Jensen's WVQ and were subsequently asked to volunteer in one of two settings: a personal setting or an impersonal setting. Individuals high in the ethic of care were more likely to volunteer and volunteered for more hours, but volunteered equally often in the two types of settings. Individuals who “apologized” for being unable to volunteer were higher on caring. The results are discussed in the context of Gilligan's theory of socialization to morality.

     

Level of commitment,mutuality of commitment,and couple well-being

Interdependence theory identifies level of dependence and mutuality of dependence as two key properties of interdependent relationships. In ongoing relationships, these structural properties are subjectively experienced in terms of commitment–dependence level is experienced as greater or lesser commitment level, and mutuality of dependence is experienced as greater or lesser perceived mutuality in partners’commitment levels. We examined the associations of these variables with couple well-being using data from two three-wave longitudinal studies. One study examined partners in dating relationships and the second study examined partners in marital relationships. Consistent with predictions, both level of commitment and perceived mutuality of commitment accounted for unique variance in couple well-being: Couples exhibited greater adjustment to the degree that the partners were highly committed to their relationship and to the degree that their commitment levels were mutual. Mediation analyses revealed that the association of mutuality of commitment with couple well-being is partially mediated by negative affect (e.g., anxiety, guilt) and partially to wholly mediated by trust level; perceived mutuality of power is not a reliable mediator of this association.     

Tracking the trajectory of shame, guilt, and pride across the life span

The authors examined age differences in shame, guilt, and 2 forms of pride (authentic and hubristic) from age 13 years to age 89 years, using cross-sectional data from 2,611 individuals. Shame decreased from adolescence into middle adulthood, reaching a nadir around age 50 years, and then increased in old age. Guilt increased from adolescence into old age, reaching a plateau at about age 70 years. Authentic pride increased from adolescence into old age, whereas hubristic pride decreased from adolescence into middle adulthood, reaching a minimum around age 65 years, and then increased in old age. On average, women reported experiencing more shame and guilt; Blacks reported experiencing less shame and Asians more hubristic pride than other ethnicities. Across the life span, shame and hubristic pride tended to be negatively related to psychological well-being, and shame-free guilt and authentic pride showed positive relations with well-being. Overall, the findings support the maturity principle of personality development and suggest that as people age they become more prone to experiencing psychologically adaptive self-conscious emotions, such as guilt and authentic pride, and less prone to experiencing psychologically maladaptive ones, such as shame and hubristic pride.     

Religion,Inclusive Individualism,and Volunteering in Europe

A well supported finding in social science is that religiosity is associated with pro-social behaviours such as volunteering, but the religious decline in Europe characterising the latter part of the twentieth century has not been accompanied by decline in voluntary participation. This period is also associated with a sharp increase in the moral emphasis on individual autonomy and inclusiveness over social norms and traditions. In this analysis of the European Values Study (2008–2010), I examine the relationship between religion and volunteering, taking both individual values and aggregate norms into account. Religious attendance is found to be associated with volunteering at the individual level. However, the average citizen’s likelihood of volunteering is lower in more religious countries. This could be due in part to secular countries’ high levels of inclusive individualism (autonomy values and generalised trust) which are positively associated with volunteering among both religious and non-religious respondents.     

The nonverbal expression of pride: evidence for cross-cultural recognition

The present research tests whether recognition for the nonverbal expression of pride generalizes across cultures. Study 1 provided the first evidence for cross-cultural recognition of pride, demonstrating that the expression generalizes across Italy and the United States. Study 2 found that the pride expression generalizes beyond Western cultures; individuals from a preliterate, highly isolated tribe in Burkina Faso, West Africa, reliably recognized pride, regardless of whether it was displayed by African or American targets. These Burkinabe participants were unlikely to have learned the pride expression through cross-cultural transmission, so their recognition suggests that pride may be a human universal. Studies 3 and 4 used drawn figures to systematically manipulate the ethnicity and gender of targets showing the expression, and demonstrated that pride recognition generalizes across male and female targets of African, Asian, and Caucasian descent. Discussion focuses on the implications of the findings for the universality of the pride expression.     

Dedicating Time to Volunteering: Values,Engagement, and Commitment to Beneficiaries

A moderated mediation model was developed to explain the variation in the amount of time volunteers dedicate to their chosen voluntary cause. Data from 534 volunteers of an international aid and development agency in the United Kingdom revealed a positive relationship between prosocial values and time spent volunteering. The results also show that volunteer engagement fully mediated the relationship between the value motive and time spent volunteering, and the strength of the mediated effect varied as a function of volunteers' commitment to beneficiaries. These findings provide a new perspective on the link between volunteers' motivation and active participation in volunteer activities. Implications for practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Fear-then-relief,legitimizing a paltry contribution,and charity

IntroductionThe compliance literature describes multiple techniques of social influence. Some of them have proven effective at inducing compliance in the charity domain. One such technique is referred to as legitimizing a paltry contribution (LPC). There are theoretical grounds on which it can be assumed that this technique will be particularly effective in conditions in which a person feels relief from fear.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to examine whether people who experience fear-relief sequences are more susceptible to the LPC technique than those in a neutral emotional state.MethodIn two field studies, some people experienced relief from fear, while others remained in a neutral emotional state. The participants were then asked to donate to a worthy cause. A request was formulated either in a standard way, or with the phrase “even a penny will help”.ResultsThe two experiments yielded consistent results. It turned out that the LPC technique was particularly effective when participants had experienced relief from fear.ConclusionsThe aforementioned pattern of results is important for the development of theoretical knowledge about techniques of social influence, and has direct practical implications.     

Advantaged group's emotional reactions to intergroup inequality: the dynamics of pride, guilt, and sympathy

Three studies establish intergroup inequality to investigate how it is emotionally experienced by the advantaged. Studies 1 and 2 examine psychology students' emotional experience of their unequal job situation with worse-off pedagogy students. When inequality is ingroup focused and legitimate, participants experience more pride. However, when inequality is ingroup focused and illegitimate, participants experience more guilt. Sympathy is increased when inequality is outgroup focused and illegitimate. These emotions have particular effects on behavioral tendencies. In Study 2 group-based pride predicts greater ingroup favoritism in a resource distribution task, whereas group-based sympathy predicts less ingroup favoritism. Study 3 replicates these findings in the context of students' willingness to let young immigrants take part in a university sport. Pride predicts less willingness to let immigrants take part whereas sympathy predicts greater willingness. Guilt is a weak predictor of behavioral tendencies in all studies. This shows the specificity of emotions experienced about intergroup inequality.     

Body-related pride in young adults: An exploration of the triggers,contexts, outcomes and attributions

This study explored body-related emotional experiences of pride in young adult males (n = 138) and females (n = 165). Data were collected using a relived emotion task and analyzed using inductive content analysis. Thirty-nine codes were identified and grouped into six categories (triggers, contexts, cognitive attributions, and affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes) for each of two themes (hubristic and authentic pride). Hubristic pride triggers included evaluating appearance/fitness as superior. Cognitions centered on feelings of superiority. Behaviors included strategies to show off. Triggers for authentic pride were personal improvements/maintenance in appearance and meeting or exceeding goals. Feeling accomplished was a cognitive outcome, and physical activity was a behavioral strategy. Contexts for the experience of both facets of pride primarily involved sports settings, swimming/beach, and clothes shopping. These findings provide theoretical support for models of pride as it applies to body image, and advances conceptual understanding of positive body image.