Pride Following Recall of Personal Achievements: Does Social Anxiety Play a Role?

Abstract

Purpose

We evaluated whether recalling personal achievements would result in an increase in feelings of pride, and if so, whether social anxiety (SA) moderated this relationship.

Methods

Community samples were recruited in 2022 via the online platform Prolific. On average, participants in both studies were aged 32–33, had some post-secondary education, were married/cohabitating and self-identified as White (60%), Asian (10%) or Black (7%). Participants completed measures of state pride and affect before and after different types of writing tasks. Study 1 participants (N = 398) recalled and wrote about either one or three personal achievement experiences. To control for the general effects of self-reflection, Study 2 participants (N = 396) wrote about either achievement or non-achievement-oriented events.

Results

Mixed-model Time X Condition ANCOVAs were conducted with pride as the dependent variable and social anxiety as covariate. Both studies revealed significant increases in pride and positive affect following recall of achievement events, and (Study 2) no significant change following recall of non-achievement events. SA had no significant effect on change in pride, suggesting that SA did not suppress the benefits of achievement recall.

Conclusions

Facilitating recall of personal achievements may help to heighten pride and positive affect regardless of social anxiety level. The results support further research on the role of pride in social anxiety.