Elite athletes don't usually smile when they win—they celebrate with pure aggression, like shouting and clenching their fists.
We often think of victory in terms of a 'proud smile,' but this analysis of elite high-jumpers shows that 'pride' expressions don't actually distinguish winners from losers. True success in non-interactive sports is expressed through displays of dominance and aggression.
Triumph - not pride - is the main emotion expressed after success in non-interactive sports
PsyArXiv · vczs7_v2
Matsumoto and Hwang (2012) demonstrated that triumph can be distinguished from pride in Judo fighters, identifying three factors: expansion, aggression, and attention for triumph expressions, whereas pride is characterized by expansion and smiling (Hwang & Matsumoto, 2014b). Our study aimed to identify the dominant emotion (triumph or pride) in non-interactive sports, specifically elite high jumpers, using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS, Ekman, Friesen & Hager, 2002). We analyzed data fro