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The Psychology of Sports Fans

Joseph Sparks

9th February 2017

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An article on PsychologyToday, explains the psychology behind the behaviour of sports fans.

According to the article, there are two key behaviours that sports fans typically display: BIRGINIG, which stands for ‘Basking in Reflective Glory’, is typically found when a team is performing well, and people say ‘we won’ and identify with their team. However, CORFING, which stands for ‘Cutting off Reflective Failure’, occurs when people don’t say ‘we lost’, but instead reflect the result onto their team by saying ‘they lost’.

These two behaviours are common among sports fans.

Read: The Psychology of Sports Fans

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Joseph Sparks

Joseph is a Subject Advisor for Psychology at tutor2u. He is an experienced Psychology & Music Teacher, Writer, Examiner and Presenter. He is currently completing a Professional Doctorate in Education and is passionate about the impact of technology on teaching and learning.

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