The British FA Test Responses

‘Pleased in oneself, pleased with someone else’ (GB1), ‘to feel good about something you or someone else has done or accomplished’ (GB2), ‘A positive thing that means you are pleased with an achievement…’ (GB3), ‘Feeling extremely content of a certain outcome…’ (GB7), ‘A feeling of intense happiness and elation for yourself or someone else, after an achievement etc’(GB8), ‘When you feel good about your achievements and then about yourself’ (GB9), ‘A feeling of being happy about something you have done…’(GB10), When someone is happy about something they or someone else has done that involved achievement’ (GB11),

‘Being extremely happy with someone’s achievements...’(GB12), ‘1.Feeling good about oneself or a member of one’s close circle because of that person’s achievements or merits’ (GB13), ‘You are very emotional pleased about something’

(GB15), ‘to feel constantly please with someone or something you have done’

(GB17), ‘A positive overwhelming emotion felt when you/someone else has achieved something’ (GB18), ‘Feeling happy, or please about an achievement’

(GB19), ‘To feel attached to someone or something which has proven to do or be good; so as to allow you to have positive feelings’ (GB20), ‘Being happy about an achievement…’(GB21), ‘When you are happy about what yourself or someone has achieved’ (GB22)

In the quotations above, the participants describe proudas a positive, pleasant emotional response to achievements by themselves or others. The few participants who do not describe proud directly as a pleasing emotion do so indirectly by describing the context in which proud occurs in positive (agreeable) terms:

‘A person can feel proud of themselves or someone else when they have achieved something they at [as] really good or noteworthy’ (GB4), ‘When someone close to you have done something amazing’ (GB5), ‘Someone is proud of someone else when they have achieved at something that sometimes outdoes their expectations and standards’ (GB6), ‘Proud is when you feel like someone (or yourself) did something

well’ (GB14), ‘Proud is when an individual has a strong sense of achievement towards something or someone’ (GB16)

In these Descriptions it is not proudthat is described as good or amazing, but the situations which cause people to feel ‘proud’. Therefore, as ‘proud’ is a reaction to something positive taking place, it is only logical to conclude that proudin these contexts is also viewed as agreeable and pleasant.

Although few, there are also some instances in the General Descriptions where feeling ‘proud’ is viewed as an unpleasant emotion or used to describe unpleasant behaviours:

‘Or to not want to ask for help or support for fear of loosing face’ (GB2), ‘Or a negative quality that means you are stubborn and unable to accept something, usually help’ (GB3), ‘Often has negative connotations, however, if someone is seen as too proud’ (GB4), ‘someone who is conceited and arrogant, and refuses to back down even when they know they’re wrong’ (GB9), ‘2.A feeling of superiority over others, resulting in certain patterns of behaviour’ (GB13).

Unlike the positive descriptions of proud, these five quotations all describe a feeling of ‘proud’ that is not based on achievement. What is interesting in these responses is that, although they do not refer to feeling ‘proud’ in the positive sense, the majority of them also do not refer to feeling

‘proud’ in the superior, self-satisfied, and self-important sense. Instead the descriptions refer to a

‘pride’ disguised as stubbornness and obstinacy as a mechanism to hide insecurity and wrongful actions. Therefore, even though the people in these examples feel ‘proud’ in what is regarded as a disagreeable manner, they do not necessarily feel that they are superior to, or more important than other people; instead it is a matter of hiding one’s faults and of not admitting defeat. Consequently, it is be possible to argue for the possibility of two aspects of negative ‘pride’: one of obstinacy and stubbornness, and another of conceit, arrogance, and superiority, i.e. excessive pride.

If we explore what sort of situations that evoke feelings of ‘pride’, we can see that the General Descriptions refer to these only in vague terms. They do not specify which accomplishments, achievements, and unexpected amazing results entitle them to feel ‘proud’, i.e. a justifiable ‘pride’.

As for the more specific instances of pride-eliciting events, the participants provide Examples of events from all areas of life:

‘I’m so proud of you for trying. He was proud that he’s achieved a first’¹⁵ (GB1),

‘She was proud of her exam results’ (GB2), ‘I’m so proud of my friend, she just got came first in her race’ (GB3), ‘”I was quite proud of my results in that exam”’

(GB4), ‘my sister got into uni [university], I’m so proud’ (GB5), ‘I was proud of my brother when he got a job promotion. I was proud of my mum for not getting upset when my dad had to leave the country’ (GB6), ‘Graduating from university with a First Degree’ (GB7), ‘I’m so proud that Rachel gave it a go, He’s so successful, I’m so proud’ (GB8), ‘I am so proud I finished my essay on time’ (GB9), ‘I am proud to watch my brother do that’ (GB10), ‘I am proud of my daughter’s exam results’

(GB11), ‘”Do you feel proud that you didn’t eat that chocolate?”, “You should be proud of that work!”’ (GB14), ‘I am very proud of how you performed today. I am proud of how my cake turned out’ (GB15), ‘I am so proud of how far we have come’

(GB16), ‘I have never felt more proud of an essay before’ (GB17), ‘ I was proud of the way he handled the situation, I’m proud of myself for all my hard work’ (GB18),

‘I was proud of myself for passing the exam’ (GB19), ‘The mother was proud of her children’ (GB20), ‘”I passed my exams, I’m so proud”. “I’m really proud of you for doing so well”’ (GB21), ‘I am so proud of my daughter with her exam results’

(GB22)

Although the majority of the examples above refer to achievements and accomplishments such as job promotions, exams, and graduations, all of which are the result of hard work, a few of the instances refer to people being proud of non-actions such as refraining from becoming upset and eating chocolate. However, even though these can be classified as non-actions they are nevertheless still acts in that they are instances of controlled behaviour. Whereas quite a large number of the pride-eliciting events above (i.e. from the Examples) are examples where an individual feels

15Afirstmeans graduating from university with First Class Honours

‘proud’ of a specific act, behaviour, or achievement performed by someone else, the Examples also contain instances where people rather than achievements are the subject of ‘pride’ from others:

‘”I am so proud of you”’ (GB4), ‘He was proud of me’ (GB10), ‘You have made me very proud!’(GB12), ‘1. Peter had scarcely ever been so proud of Jane’ (GB13),

‘”I’m so proud of her/myself!”’ (GB14), ‘I am so proud of my son’ (GB16), ‘The mother was proud of her children’ (GB20)

These Examples illustrate that people feel ‘proud’, not only of themselves and their own achievements, but also of other people. However, from the Examples it is not clear if the individuals mentioned have accomplished something specific to cause another person to feel ‘proud’, or if they evoke ‘pride’ by their mere existence. In the case of parental pride (GB16 & GB20), it is likely that the children are viewed as the successful outcome of the parents’ emotional investment, hard work, and efforts.

This brings us to the question of what sort of persons people feel ‘proud’ of. As already mentioned,

‘pride’ is described as a pleasant feeling by the participants, when it is a response to the achievements by themselves and others. However, from the General Descriptions we can see that it is not just any person that people feel ‘proud’ of, but individuals with whom they are affiliated:

‘…you are pleased with an achievement/person who is connected to you…You have usually put some effort into the scenario or person…’(GB3), ‘when someone close to you has done something amazing’ (GB5), ‘Being happy with someone’s achievement, usually someone you know well’ (GB12), ‘…or a member of one’s close circle…’ (GB13), ‘To feel attached to someone…which has proven to do or be good…’(GB20)

This affiliation is also visible in the previously quoted Examples (p.12) where the participants mention feeling ‘proud’ of children, siblings, parents, and friends. Thus, for the British participants it seems that they need to be personally and emotionally involved with a person in order to feel

‘proud’ of them and their accomplishments. Furthermore, in order to be entitled to feeling ‘proud’

of people other than themselves, an emotional investment in or contribution to those people and their achievements must have taken place.

If we look at the participants’ use of I in combination with the stimulus word proud – with either feelor amproud – it is obvious that they continue the pattern found in the FA responses for guilty and ashamed. In the General Descriptions for proud, there is not a single instance of I. Instead the participants only employ third personal pronouns such as someone, one,a person, and the general you. In contrast, the Examples contain 24 instances of I – or variations thereof – in combination with proud, i.e. where Iis the person that feels ‘proud’. Many of these examples have already been presented above in connection with the discussion of the object of people’s ‘pride’. However, it is worth exploring the Examples where the Is are proud of themselves and their own accomplishments:

‘“I was quite proud of my results in that exam”’ (GB4), ‘I am so proud I finished my essay on time’ (GB9), ‘“I’m so proud of her/myself!”’ (GB14), ‘I am proud of how my cake turned out’ (GB15), ‘I am so proud of how far we have come’ (GB16), ‘I have never felt more proud of an essay before’ (GB17), ‘I’m proud of myself for all my hard work’ (GB18), ‘“I passed my exams, I’m so proud”’ (GB21)

As we can see, there are only eight instances of people feeling ‘proud’ of themselves, the majority of which refer to achievements one can feel ‘proud’ of. Note though that in one of these instances the Ifeels ‘proud’ of a joint collaboration, i.e. we. Furthermore, a few other examples contain direct speech within quotation marks which creates a distance between the participants and the example.

In other words, the phrase is not an example of the participant’s own ‘pride’ but someone else’s.

As to other people feeling ‘proud’ it is worth noting that the few times the participants use proudin a negative context, the owner of the ‘pride’ is always someone else, never I:

‘Her mother was too proud to ask for help’ (GB2), ‘He is too proud to admit that what he said was offensive’ (GB9), ‘…Fitzwilliam, like so many proud men, was hiding, somewhere under his feigned diffidence, an insecure interior that verged on the childlike’ (GB13)

Like the instances of negative ‘pride’ in the General Descriptions, the Examples above also refer to a disapproving use of proud, where it describes unpleasant behaviours used to hide insecurity and failing to admit responsibility. That being said, most of the Examples where individuals other than I feel ‘proud’, are examples of pleasant, justifiable, and achievement-based ‘pride’.

To sum up, the British participant group understands and uses the word proudto describe a pleasant feeling where individuals feel pleased with or good about something they themselves or others have accomplished. However, in order to experience this feeling, the individuals must qualify through the effort of hard work. Proudmay also be used to describe people who feel self-satisfied, have an inordinately high opinion of themselves, and feel superior to other people, as well as refuse to reveal any signs of weakness.