Basking in reflected glory: Three (football) field studies

The tendency to "bask in reflected glory" (BIRG) by publicly announcing one's associations with successful others was investigated in 3 field experiments with more than 300 university students. All 3 studies showed this effect to occur even though the person striving to bask in the gl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 1976-09, Vol.34 (3), p.366-375
Main Author: Cialdini, Robert B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Achievement
College Students
Football
Human
Self-Concept
Social Perception
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Summary:The tendency to "bask in reflected glory" (BIRG) by publicly announcing one's associations with successful others was investigated in 3 field experiments with more than 300 university students. All 3 studies showed this effect to occur even though the person striving to bask in the glory of a successful source was not involved in the cause of the source's success. Exp I demonstrated the BIRG phenomenon by showing a greater tendency for university students to wear school-identifying apparel after their school's football team had been victorious than nonvictorious. Exps II and III replicated this effect by showing that students used the pronoun we more when describing victory than a nonvictory of their school's football team. A model was developed asserting that the BIRG response represents an attempt to enhance one's public image. Exps II and III indicated, in support of this assertion, that the tendency to proclaim a connection with a positive source was strongest when one's public image was threatened.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.34.3.366