HUMAN BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
SARAH WILD: Pride comes before a fall — and being helped up again
Research shows a person’s feelings of pride are linked to the community’s estimation of their value, writes Sarah Wild
It is the greatest of vices. Pride, the estimation of one’s own value, has had a bad rap for millennia. The Greeks thought pride brought the capricious anger of the gods, while in Christianity Lucifer’s pride brought about his downfall. But now an international team of researchers has found that it was fundamental to our human ancestors’ evolution and survival. Their research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, covered 16 nations and numerous cultures. Humans are quite singular in the extent to which we rely on each other. Perhaps that’s less noticeable now, with 24-hour grocery stores and the police at the press of a button, but that is a new phenomenon. In the past, people only survived through their reliance on community. "Natural selection would have crafted a neural programme — pride — that makes you care about how much others value you, and motivates you to achieve and advertise socially valued things," says Daniel Sznycer, lead author and a research...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.