The unexpected importance of expectations in self-conscious emotions

Prominent accounts suggest that people feel self-conscious emotions when they evaluate their self-caused, identity-relevant behavior as a success or failure (Tracy & Robins, 2004)-even if they expected to succeed or fail. We propose a novel, alternative account that builds on those prior by considering expectations. People feel self-conscious emotions when they evaluate their self-caused, identity-relevant behavior as discrepant from expectations, with discrepancies progressing toward identity-relevant goals eliciting pride and those regressing away from these goals eliciting shame and guilt. Six studies (total N = 1,643) provide support for this account. Studies 1 and 2 examine how expectation-behavior discrepancies influence emotions in hypothetical and recalled situations. Studies 3 and 4 manipulate behaviors or expectations to create discrepancies between them, then examine effects of discrepancies on self-conscious emotions. Study 5 uses a longitudinal, naturalistic design to test how these discrepancies track emotions outside the lab and over time. Study 6 directly tests predictions made by our account and competing accounts against each other. Across studies, a robust, causal, and distinct relationship emerged between expectation discrepancies and self-conscious emotions. When participants exceeded expectations, they felt greater pride compared to when they met or fell below expectations and compared to other positive emotions; when participants fell below expectations, they felt greater shame or guilt compared to when they met or exceeded expectations and compared to other negative emotions. These findings provide the first evidence for a new understanding of the cognitive elicitors of self-conscious emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)

Motivated reasoning · Perception · Personality · Social perception · Social relation · Emotional Intelligence and Performance · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction