Basking in Reflected Glory - Empirical Findings

Empirical Findings

One of the most influential studies of this phenomenon was done by Robert Cialdini in 1976. He discovered that the students sought to have the success of their football team linked to them by wearing school-identified apparel. These students associated themselves with a success, even though they in no way affected or caused the success. Through three different experiments, he was able to demonstrate the BIRGing phenomenon. The first experiment demonstrated the BIRGing phenomenon by showing that students have a greater tendency to wear apparel with the university’s colors and name after the football team had won a game. In the second experiment, subjects used the pronoun we to associate themselves more with a positive than a negative source. This was shown most prominently when their public reputation was at risk. When the subjects failed a task, they had a greater tendency to affiliate themselves with a winner, and less of a tendency to associate themselves with a loser. The third experiment replicated the finding that students used the pronoun we more when describing a victory compared to a non-victory by their school's football team. The researchers found that BIRGing is an attempt to enhance one's public image. The tendency to proclaim a connection with a positive source was strongest when one's public image was threatened. Thus, people bask in reflected glory to boost their self-esteem by associating themselves with a positive source.

A feeling of involvement is also necessary for BIRGing to occur. This phenomenon is usually seen as a cognitive process that affects behavior. In Bernhardt’s et al. (1998) study, they examined physiological processes related to basking in reflected glory, specifically, changes in the production of endocrine hormones. Fans watched their favorite sports teams (basketball and soccer) win or lose. The men’s testosterone levels increased while watching their team win, but decreased while watching their team lose. Thus, this study shows that physiological processes may be involved with BIRGing, in addition to the known changes in self-esteem and cognition.

The opposite of BIRGing is cutting off reflected failure. This is the idea that people tend to disassociate themselves from lower status individuals because they do not want their reputation affected by associating with people who are considered failures. Boen et al. (2002) demonstrate this effect in a political context. They examined houses with at least a poster or lawn sign supporting a political candidate days before elections in Belgium. The houses that showed support for the winning candidate displayed their poster and lawn sign for a longer period after the elections than did those who supported the loser. Thus, the tendency for individuals to display their association with a successful source and a tendency for individuals to conceal their association with a losing team was empirically supported. This finding also shows that this phenomenon is not limited to the United States.

These empirical studies show how even in controlled situations, people unconsciously seek acceptance by associating themselves with successful individuals. Whether this is accomplished by wearing brand names or covering your car with stickers about how talented your child is, basking in reflected glory has been found in both the naturalistic and experimental setting.