Sports fans’ self-esteem can be tied to their team, research says - The Washington Post

Other research shows water is wet and the sun is hot.

Sports fans, especially at the World Cup, use their clothes and colors to show their team identity. But it is not just apparel; fans’ self-esteem and sense of belonging are also tied to their team, researchers say. Fans may have no direct contribution to match outcomes, but they feel each win and loss as their own.

If their team wins, fans wear team colors the following day and brag about how “we” won the day, a behavior researchers have dubbed “basking in reflected glory,” or BIRGing.

But if their team loses, fans cast off their team jerseys and talk about how “they” did not perform as well, thereby “cutting off reflected failure,” or CORFing.