The Appeal of the Underdog

When people observe competitions, they are often drawn to figures that are seen as disadvantaged or unlikely to prevail. The present research tested the scope and limits of people's support for underdogs. The first two studies demonstrated, in the context of Olympic matches (Study 1) and the Is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 2007-12, Vol.33 (12), p.1603-1616
Main Authors: Vandello, Joseph A., Goldschmied, Nadav P., Richards, David A. R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arabs
Attitude
Competitions
Competitive advantage
Competitive Behavior
Competitors
Empirical Research
Expectations
Female
Humans
Internationality
Israel
Male
Olympic games
Perceptions
Social Identification
Social Justice
Social psychology
Sports
Studies
Surveys and Questionnaires
Team sports
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Summary:When people observe competitions, they are often drawn to figures that are seen as disadvantaged or unlikely to prevail. The present research tested the scope and limits of people's support for underdogs. The first two studies demonstrated, in the context of Olympic matches (Study 1) and the Israeli—Palestinian conflict (Study 2), that observers' support for a competitor increased when framing it as an underdog. The final two studies explored mechanisms underlying support for underdogs. Study 3 showed that participants attributed more effort to a team when they believed it to be an underdog, and perceptions of effort mediated liking. In Study 4, participants reading a hypothetical sporting event supported a team with a low probability of success and labeled it an underdog unless it had greater resources than an opponent, suggesting that low expectations by themselves do not engender support if positive outcomes are not seen as deserved.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167207307488