Football has Already Come Home…
13th July 2018
Have you realised how throughout the 2018 World Cup England seems to have become an all-round ‘happier’ place? How long this will last is uncertain but the positive effect it has had over the last 30 days has been sensational. The England 2018 football team have somehow revived the nation and made us all smile and cheer. We have become closer as a nation and made modern history. The World Cup has also been very interesting for psychologists, looking at people’s behaviour change and witnessing many psychological theories in action.
You may have noticed that some suddenly “get into” football throughout the World Cup. People that are usually uninterested, so why is this?
Psychology would answer this question by suggesting a change in social identity. Social identities are certain aspects of our personalities that have a relation to our social surroundings in one way or another. When we have a shared ‘social identity’ with someone else we tend to be nice to them, we have seen this many times during this World Cup… hugging the stranger next to you when England score or singing with a group of people you’ve never met that “footballs coming home”. During the 2018 World Cup, the social identity of all being members of the same country is suddenly incredibly visible. So people who usually are uninterested in football begin to follow it, feel motivated towards a positive outlook about ‘their team’ and have a negative outlook on the opposing teams.
Every now and again during a large tournament, a plucky team we once saw as inexperienced advance further than anticipated… but why is it that so many then begin rooting for them and willing them to knock out another ‘big team’?
This is known as the ‘Underdog effect’, one that has been proven to be very much in action this year. Brazil, Portugal, Germany and Spain all being knocked out by teams that they were expected to beat without hassle. An explanation for this feeling can be that when we witness success in an unexpected circumstance, it then inspires us to have confidence that we too have a shot in succeeding and winning difficult games. Another reason for this could be explained by cost-benefit effects. The cost for backing the underdog team is a small one, but the reward can be big – the whole “I told you so” factor. Alongside this, some research has suggested that the teams with less hype are seen to put in larger amounts of effort. When we perceive someone is putting in more effort it makes them more likeable and therefore more desirable.
“COME ON ENGLAND!”… A line that we have all heard, more than enough times over the last 30 days! But why do we yell and cheer during football in a way that we never normally would?
The theory of deindividuation is where you ‘blend into a crowd’ and therefore become more anonymous… something that is likely to happen when you’re watching football in a large group or surrounded by people all in the same football shirt. This means that we are more likely to act in a way that is outside of the social and personal norms but those appropriate to the norms of the group. The norms of football supporters are that of cheering, yelling, chanting and singing.
It is worth noting that although typically we associate the chanting and group identification with negative and antisocial behaviour – This is not always the case! For example, from this World Cup, we saw the fans of Japan and Senegal clearing up all their litter and rubbish after the games. This being true display of respect from the supporters.