Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRGing) is a social psychology phenomenon, where individuals enhance their self-esteem by publicly associating themselves with the success of others – even if they had no personal part in achieving that success. The term was popularized by Robert Cialdini and colleagues in a seminal 1976 study.
They observed that university students were significantly more likely to wear school apparel on the Mondays following a football victory, compared to a loss. In 2026, research continues to explore how social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok amplify these behaviors through hashtags and viral trends.
Here in HP, BIRGing can be seen especially during football and basketball seasons (which covers fall, winter, and part of spring). Jerseys, flags, license plates etc. proudly present one’s affiliation with a given university or professional team. Many of us think that BIRGing is a good thing, however, there are downsides.
1) While it provides a temporary boost in self-esteem, if carried to an extreme, it can cause problems in relationships. We’re ignoring others, because we are preoccupied with our team.
2) It provides a bit of delusion when fans rave on about what “we” (the team) did. The reality is that you did nothing to influence the outcome, and most of us realize that.
3) Over identification can lead to aggressive behaviors such as denigrating other teams and thus, conflicts with others
In 1978, the University of Kentucky won the NCAA men’s basketball championship. A colleague of mine told me that a professor in the department of sociology did a study of birth rates in Kentucky nine months following the win, and found a statistically significant spike in births as compared to previous years. I’m not sure if that is true, but it’s a good story. Sometimes I wonder when UK lost to Duke in the NCAA regionals of 1992, did birth rates nine months following that heartbreaking loss, decline significantly.
