You Can’t Root for Both Teams!: Convergent Evidence for the Unidirectionality of Group Loyalty

Kruger, Daniel J.; Day, Michele; Duan, Ailiya; Heyblom, Anna; Juhasz, Dora; Misevich, Stephanie; Phaneuf, Camille; Saunders, Claire; Sonnega, Peter; Sreenivasa, V.

doi:10.1007/s40806-018-0178-0

Cited by 1 publication

(7 citation statements)

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“…These studies use the context of team sports rivalry to extend understanding of our evolved coalitional psychology. Previous research demonstrated that individuals displaying dual loyalty to rival teams provoked attention, behavioral reactions, and negative affect in naturalistic settings and elicited anger and disgust in survey studies (Kruger, 2019; Kruger et al, 2019). The current studies demonstrate that conceptions of group loyalty as unilateral within a set of competitors, and reactions to violations of this principle are related to other constructs proposed to facilitate cooperation with the ingroup and competition with out-groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The following survey page displayed an image from Kruger et al (2019) Study 2, a picture of a college-aged White male confederate with a neutral facial expression wearing a T-shirt and baseball cap with the names and logos of rival universities in traditional colors. Two images were used with balanced assignment to participants based on their birth month.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pictographic items from Kruger et al (2019) Study 3 assessed identity convergence/divergence with the UM and OSU. These items were based on Inclusion of Other in Self (IOS) scale developed to measure of interpersonal closeness, which exhibits convergent validity with longer relationship closeness measures, discriminant validity with measures of other constructs, and test–retest reliability (Aron, Aron, & Smollan, 1992).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participants next viewed one of the confederate images from Kruger et al (2019) Study 3 and rated the basic emotional reaction (Ekman, 1992) items. On the next survey page, participants viewed a different confederate image and rated the basic emotional reaction items.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If someone signals affiliation with both the ingroup and its rival, would they be perceived as a true ingroup member, an effective outgroup member, a compromise between the two identities, or as an even greater risk as a double agent? A research confederate who simultaneously wore apparel from two rival teams provoked more attention and reactions from others in a naturalistic public setting than displays of consistent loyalty to each of the teams with equivalent apparel (Kruger et al, 2019). In open-ended interviews, participants viewing images of the confederate in attire signaling mixed loyalty expressed anger and disgust (Kruger et al, 2019).…”

Section: Ingroup Loyaltymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the foundations of unilateral loyalty in coalitional psychology: Identifying mechanisms of identity, morality, and disgust.

Kruger¹

2021

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences

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Team sports and sports team fandom illustrate design features of evolved coalitional psychology, including components related to ingroup loyalty and intergroup competition. In psychological research, loyalty is behaviorally defined as staying within a group, even when one may benefit from leaving. Disloyalty is behaviorally defined as switching sides in a competition to obtain better outcomes. Three studies (Ns ϭ 251, 938, 267) examined another form of disloyalty, simultaneously displaying allegiance to both the home team and its rival, as well as beliefs that true group loyalty is unilateral within a set of competitors. The study was framed in the context of a prominent university sports rivalry. Results suggest convergence between cognitive and affective pathways facilitating group loyalty, with both uniquely contributing mechanisms and relationships among these mechanisms. Identification with the home university, concern with moral issues related to group interests, concern with the rights, preferences, and treatment of individuals as autonomous social agents, and disgust sensitivity were associated with anger and disgust reactions to displays of mixed loyalty and beliefs that loyalty is unilateral among competitors. Concerns in binding and individualizing moral domains and team identity fusion were more consistently related to reactions and unilateral loyalty beliefs than were disgust domains. These constructs may facilitate group interests as part of our evolved coalitional psychology. Men consistently scored higher on beliefs in loyalty as unilateral and tended to score higher on constructs related to group interests. Women consistently scored higher on concern for the rights, preferences, and treatment of individuals. Public Significance StatementPsychological phenomena thought to promote group coordination and the interests of one's social group are related to concepts of group loyalty. Identification with the group, moral concerns, and disgust sensitivity to pathogens and sexual stimuli were related to the idea that people can only be loyal to one team in a set of competitors. Moral concerns were related to emotional reactions to individuals displaying dual loyalty to rival teams.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%