Pride can keep you on track or send you off the rails

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/uoc-pck090915.php

Public Release: 9-Sep-2015
Pride can keep you on track or send you off the rails
University of Cincinnati

Can pride in a personal achievement also help you turn down the dessert tray, or can it make you want to indulge as a reward? It all depends, according to new research published in the October issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.

The study led by the University of Cincinnati found that when people took pride in an accomplishment and chalked that up to being disciplined and responsible, they were more likely to continue making disciplined choices through the day. But when people considered a self-control goal that they had before feeling proud - a goal such as eating healthy, working out or saving money - they were more likely to think they had made good progress toward their goal, and therefore were more likely to indulge in a reward that veered from making disciplined choices. The findings could hold possibilities ranging from investigating the nation's obesity epidemic to examining Americans' growing credit card debt.

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We found that when people did not have a self-control goal and were made to feel proud, they increased their level of self-control, becoming more likely to choose healthy snacks or to save money," says Salerno. "However, when people had a self-control goal and were made to feel proud, they had less self-control, becoming more likely to select the indulgent snacks or to spend their money, because they thought of themselves as having already achieved their goal.

"It's almost like this misattribution," continues Salerno. "You have this goal, you're made to feel proud - which is a sense of accomplishment - so they feel it gives them license to indulge. It's one of those issues that depending on what we're thinking about, we tend to get different effects."

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