Abstract
There appears to be an unwitting tendency in some spheres of achievement to whitewash the conceited and therefore offensive remarks of otherwise respected figures by defining those remarks as mere pride. An ex post facto field experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that objectively conceited talk about self-achievement by a star or other superior practitioner in a line of activity is perceived as a justified expression of pride by those far from the top levels of performance in that activity. Judgments of conceited remarks made by a professional football star in a videotaped interview were collected from an experimental group of high school football players (n = 28) and a control group of college players (n = 14). An analysis of variance of individual judgments of each of the star's conceited remarks was not significant. Further research is suggested using groups in different lines of achievement, groups that diverge more in their levels of accomplishment than the ones used in the present study.
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