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social
You feel an ownership for groups you did not join.
Basking in reflected glory is the tendency to associate yourself with successful groups or individuals to bolster your own self-image.
People are more likely to wear team apparel or use pronouns like 'we' following a victory rather than a loss. This serves as a psychological strategy to externalize success, allowing you to reap the social benefits of an achievement you did not contribute to. It is a subtle way of curating how you appear to others.
You borrow prestige to define your identity.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Cialdini et al., 1976
- What the check found
- The term and the phenomenon are accurately attributed to Cialdini et al. (1976), and the description is consistent with the established psychological literature.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.