Tune into the Olympic coverage over the next few weeks, and you will see many an athlete proudly raise their arms and head in victory, while a much larger number slump their shoulders and necks in defeat. We’ve all shown  the same body language ourselves, and a new study reveals why – they are innate and universal behaviours, performed by humans all over the world in response to success and failure.

The discovery comes from Jessica Tracy from the University of British Columbia and David Matsumoto from San Francisco State University, who wanted to see how people across different cultures express feelings of pride and shame. In particular, they wanted to know whether these expressions are instinctive, or whether