Difference between Pride and Arrogance
Pride is a word that means a person has self-respect and dignity. To feel pride in oneself or loved ones is a natural sense of successful people. In order to feel prideful, a person feels a sense of satisfaction or pleasure. Pride is often thought to be a positive sentiment.
Arrogance is a word that means a person has a feeling of being superior to other people. When people display arrogance they likely do not feel that they are in fact being arrogant, but rather they probably feel they are only prideful. Some people confuse a sense of pride for arrogance, when the actual definition of arrogance is a false-sense of superiority.
Philosophical Views
While some philosophers and religions believe that pride and arrogance are the same thing, many philosophers see pride as a good thing. Pride is feeling that recognizes a person's virtues, such as hard work and honesty, which makes pride a positive emotion that snubs laziness and lying
Arrogance is a word that is indicative of a negative emotion felt by people who falsely believe they are good and honorable. Arrogance is sort of a prideful feeling gone awry. When people feel a sense of pride in an overwhelming or excessive capacity, arrogance is the outcome, which can lead to feelings of hostility to the people around them.
Positive Aspects
Pride can be a very positive emotion, as people feeling a sense of pride are happy and content in a way that people who do not feel pride are not. Taking pleasure in your own behavior or actions is a good way to boost your self-esteem and self-worth.
Arrogance can also be a positive emotion when experienced by a group of people who are struggling for mutual benefit. While excessive arrogance can lead to a false sense of security or position, a healthy amount of arrogance can keep the members of a group cohesively bound together for the common good.
Negative Aspects
Pride is considered a negative emotion in the Biblical sense. Considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins, pride is closely related to vanity, and can lead to pretentious behaviors. Feelings of over confidence and conceit can occur when people are prideful. Often groups that promote pride can actually lead to intolerance in deference to other groups.
Arrogance is largely considered a negative feeling. The opposite of humility, arrogance is often displayed in a conceited fashion, which is an unattractive quality to most people. When someone has an overinflated opinion of himself or herself, they often act in an overbearing way that is called arrogance.
Similarities and Differences
- Both pride and arrogance are based upon feelings of positive self-esteem. Having a healthy ego is perfectly fine, and a balanced sense of pride is acceptable. When the boundaries of pride are overtaken by extreme feelings of superiority or preoccupation with oneself, it becomes known as arrogance. Pride is an emotion, which is mostly considered positive in nature, but some religions try to dissuade any prideful practice.
- Arrogance is often described as an unjustified pride, but could just as easily be called a false sense of personal worth.
- Some people feel that any display or comment on their own self-worth is arrogant, and pride should only be expressed about others instead of themselves.
