Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 28, 2026

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Online Gamers
Published on: November 9, 2019
Behavioral consequences of fluctuating group success: an internet study of soccer-team fans
Filip Boen1, Norbert Vanbeselaere, Jos Feys
1Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders, Belgium. Filip.Boen@psy.kuleuven.ac.be
Abstract:
The authors tested the hypothesis that fans of a sports team avoid private contact with their team when it is unsuccessful (cutting off reflected failure, or CORF), whereas fans actively seek private contact with their team when it is successful (basking in reflected glory, or BIRG). During the 2nd half of the 1999-2000 soccer season, the authors registered the number of visitors who had surfed the Web sites of 16 Belgian and 18 Dutch 1st-division teams on the 1st working day following a championship game. The authors obtained 586 valid measurements, which were transformed into z scores for each team separately. In line with the hypothesis, there were significantly more visitors after the teams won (BIRG) than after they lost (CORF). The effects of game outcome were not mediated by pregame expectations or by the size of the wins or losses.
Related Concept Videos
Social Facilitation
Social Loafing
Robbers Cave
Impact of Groups on Individuals
Social Proof
Impact of Groups on Groups
