As a sports fan, do you find yourself speaking in "we" mode when your favorite team wins — and "they" when it loses?
Do you have tendencies to don a team jersey or cap after a big victory — and stuff the logo-laden gear back in the closet following a defeat?
If so, it's more than merely jumping on and off the proverbial bandwagon.
You're "BIRG-ing" and "CORF-ing" — and you're not alone.
Those are phrases used by sports psychologists to describe fan behavior — BIRG stands for "basking in reflected glory" and CORF for "cutting off reflected failure."
Sports affiliations are seen as an extension of social identity theories, where individuals behave in ways to maintain and enhance their self-esteem.
And BIRG and CORF are common, high-profile indicators of fan behavior, says Christian M. End of Miami (Ohio) University's Sports Fan Research Group, which is aligned with the university's department of psychology.
BIRG and CORF practices assure fans "that the group's successes are my successes — and that the costs associated with another group's failures are my failures," said End, who has been involved in teaching and researching sports psychology — specifically fan behavior — for several years.
This fall, he joins the faculty at the University of Missouri-Rolla, where sports psychology is one of five emphases of the department of psychology.
"We embrace winners — that what the BIRG does," said End, adding that in using CORF techniques, "we want to distance ourselves from the losers."
The so-called "bandwagon" theory applies more to newcomer fans — those who bounce from one team to the next, basing their following more on trends and titles than time-tested allegiance.
One of the first studies into sports-fan psychology came in the early 1950s, when researchers polled fans after a Princeton-Dartmouth college football game. Results showed that opinions about performances, fouls, penalties, refereeing and general impressions coincided with the fans' allegiances.
In the mid-1970s and early '80s, Arizona State psychology professor Robert Cialdini performed several key studies of fan behavior.
One study conducted at six universities the Monday after Saturday college football games showed more college students wearing team-logo apparel and speaking of the team in "we" terms after victories — and shunning the team gear and speaking of the team as "they" following losses.
In "basking in reflected glory," fans look to enjoy the fruits of success and recognition, despite having done nothing tangible in achieving that success.
And in "cutting off reflected failure," fans attempt to avoid any negative evaluation associated with an unsuccessful team.
Besides distancing themselves by the no-apparel and "they" techniques, CORF-ing fans with strong allegiances to the team may attribute the loss not to the team's performance but other external factors, such as playing conditions or officiating.
CORF-ing fans may turn their attention to the next sport or the next season as a defense mechanism. Or they may use the "blasting" technique for indirect self-enhancement — criticizing and degrading the other team when feeling their self-esteem is threatened.
End is so trained in recognizing BIRG and CORF techniques that when he listens to sports-talk radio shows, "I usually complete everybody's sentences," he said. "I know where they're going."
Don't look for BIRG-ing and CORF-ing to end any time soon. Fans are able to follow their teams even more closely — and express themselves more abundantly — thanks to the Internet, e-mail, bulletin boards, cable TV and satellite.
"They all have made it easier for fans to follow any team at any time," said End, adding that BIRG-ing and CORF-ing and other sports-fan techniques will continue "as long as there are two people."
And at least two teams.
E-mail: taylor@desnews.com