Get Yourself to Do Stuff by Appealing to Your Own Sense of Pride

New York Magazine:

A story at the start of Take Pride, a forthcoming book by University of British Columbia psychologist Jessica Tracy, is a typical one of youthful aimlessness, at least at first. Tracy writes about her post-college life in the late 1990s, when she moved across the country to San Francisco and got a job as a barista in a cozy cafe. It was a pleasant life, filled with lots of people to talk to and lots of time to read, along with few anxieties or responsibilities. But after about a year, she started missing something she’d had in college, an emotion that she used to experience often as a student, especially when working on the magazine she started with friends, but that she rarely felt as a barista.

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Consider one clever study she did, along with colleague David Matsumoto of San Francisco State University, that centered around the Paralympics. She and Matsumoto collaborated with a photographer at the Games, and examined photos of 108 judo athletes — some of whom were born blind, others who became blind later in life, and others who were sighted — noting their body language after they won or lost a match. After a win, most of the athletes did the same thing: They stood up a little straighter, they puffed up their chests, and they often raised their arms above their heads in victory. After a loss, too, their body language changed, this time slumping their shoulders and caving in their chests.

Read the whole story: New York Magazine