Pride: The Secret of Success – Mastering the Double-Edged Emotion that Drives Excellence and Prestige

by Jessica Tracy

“A revelation.” — Angela Duckworth

“Enlightening.” — Steven Pinker

“Fascinating.” — Daniel H. Pink

“Insightful and engaging.” — Daniel Gilbert

“Stopped me in my tracks.” — Adam Grant
 
“An intriguing new way to think about a complicated emotion.” — New York
 
Why did Paul Gauguin abandon middle-class life to follow the path of a starving artist? What explains the massive success of Steve Jobs, a man with great ideas but weak programming skills and a questionable managerial style? How did Dean Karnazes—the famed “Ultramarathon Man”—transform himself from a directionless desk jockey into an extreme athlete who once ran fifty marathons in fifty days? 
     As the renowned emotion researcher Jessica Tracy reveals , each of these superachievers has been motivated by an often maligned pride. Its dark, hubristic side is well known, but Tracy shows that pride is also essential for helping us become our best, brightest selves. It makes us strive for excellence. In the right doses and the right contexts, it has been proven to boost creativity, motivate altruism, and confer power and prestige on those who display it. In Pride, Tracy explains how we can make this double-edged emotion serve us—rather than the other way around.
 
“A must-read for anyone pursuing noteworthy goals.” — Publishers Weekly
  

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published January 9, 2018

About the author

Jessica Tracy is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where she also directs the Emotion and Self Lab. Her research focuses on emotions and emotion expression, and especially on the self-conscious emotions of pride and shame. She has published over 80 journal articles, book chapters, edited volumes, and reviews, and her groundbreaking work on pride has been covered by hundreds of media outlets, including ABC’s Good Morning America, NPR’s All Things Considered, the New York Times, the Economist, and Scientific American. Tracy was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and now lives in Vancouver with her daughter and her partner.

Reviews

[Nick Noxon · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who was specifically looking to learn more about pride, I found this book to be insightful, clear, and helpful! After finishing this I felt like I had a much better understanding of my experiences with this emotion along with how and why people utilize pride.

[Xavier Bonilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! I would expect nothing less from Tracy. She is a phenomenal researcher and has written an accessible book about one of our important self-conscious emotions.