Abstract
The aim of the present research was to investigate the interpersonal effects of pride and shame expressions amongst opponents and teammates in a soccer penalty scenario. Across a series of experiments using the point-light method, pride and shame expressions exerted strong effects upon observers' anticipated emotions, associated cognitions, and performance expectations. Using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) in two pilot studies we demonstrated that the created pride and shame point-light stimuli were implicitly associated with status and performance related attributes. In Experiment 1, observing pride expressions caused opponents to anticipate more negative emotions, cognitions, and lower performance expectancies toward their next performance in comparison with neutral expressions. In contrast, pride expressions led teammates to anticipate more positive emotions (i.e., pride and happiness), cognitions, and performance expectations toward their next performance than neutral expressions (Experiments 2–4). The results are discussed within the emotions as social information (EASI, Van Kleef, 2009) framework by arguing that the social context has to be taken into account when investigating the interpersonal effects of emotion expressions. In conclusion, the present research highlights the potential interpersonal influence of the nonverbal expressions of pride and shame in soccer penalty shootouts.
Highlights
Any other sporting event is characterized by such intense emotional displays in close succession as penalty shootouts in soccer
Based upon the suggestions of Moll et al (2010), we hypothesized that pride and shame expressions could be distinguished based on biological motion information from neutral expressions; that pride expressions would lead to more negative anticipated emotions and cognitions compared to a neutral expression; and shame expressions would lead to more positive anticipated emotions and cognitions compared to a neutral expression amongst opposing goal-keepers
The results revealed that the manipulated post-performance pride and shame expressions were recognized by the observers
Summary
Any other sporting event is characterized by such intense emotional displays in close succession as penalty shootouts in soccer. Two important emotions in this respect are pride and shame that recently have received increased research attention in the psychological literature. An important question regarding these emotions is whether the expression of these emotions can merely be regarded an outcome as highlighted by previous research (Tracy and Matsumoto, 2008) or whether these emotional expressions influence competitive (opponents) and cooperative others (team-members) as indicated by a recent study by Moll et al (2010). According to Van Kleef (2009) the psychological study of emotions has primarily focused on intrapersonal effects of emotions and neglected the interpersonal effects.
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