Emotions of excellence: Communal and agentic functions of pride, moral elevation, and admiration

Abstract

Excellence is a potent emotional elicitor. When it is oneself that achieves excellence, pride can arise. When another person achieves excellence, moral elevation and admiration can arise. This trio of "emotions of excellence" serves both communal and agentic functions. This chapter reviews these functions as well as how such functions might play out in one example context - the workplace - and concludes by outlining paths for future research, highlighting the need for integrative work across emotions and across functions as well as the application of new technologies to this intriguing area of research.