Rivalry and Out-group Bias
Rivalries fuel intense negative stereotypes and prejudice toward out-groups, leading people to harm rivals even at the expense of their own interests. This bias is driven by identity, competition, and a sense of threat.
THE IDEA
HATE ME OUT AT THE BALLGAME
“Yankees suck! Yankees suck!” It was a summer night at Fenway Park, my first and only time at a Boston Red Sox baseball game. In the seventh inning, without warning, 37,000 people erupted into a chant. The entire stadium was dissing the New York Yankees in perfect harmony.
I knew the two teams had a century-long rivalry, widely viewed as the most heated in all of American professional sports. I took it for granted that the Boston fans would root against the Yankees. I just didn’t expect it to happen that day, because the Yankees weren’t even there.
The Red Sox were playing against the Oakland A’s. The Boston fans were booing a team that was hundreds of miles away. It was as if Burger King fans were going head-to-head against Wendy’s in a taste test and started chanting “McDonald’s sucks!”
I started to wonder if Red Sox fans hate the Yankees more than they love their own team. Boston parents have been known to teach their kids to flip the bird at the Yankees and detest anything in pinstripes, and “yankees suck” is apparently among the most popular T-shirts in Boston history. When asked how much money it would take to get them to taunt their own team, Red Sox fans requested an average of $503. To root for the Yankees, they wanted even more: $560. The feelings run so deep that neuroscientists can watch them light up people’s minds: when Red Sox fans see the Yankees fail, they show immediate activation in brain regions linked to reward and pleasure. Those feelings extend well beyond Boston: in a 2019 analysis of tweets, the Yankees were the most hated baseball team in twenty-eight of the fifty U.S. states, which may explain the popularity of this T-shirt:
The shirt reads: "I Root for Two Teams: The Red Sox and Whoever Beats the Yankees"
I recently called a friend who’s a die-hard Red Sox fan with a simple question: what would it take to get him to root for the Yankees? Without pausing, he said, “If they were playing Al Qaeda . . . maybe.”
It’s one thing to love your team. It’s another to hate your rivals so much that you’d consider rooting for terrorists to crush them. If you despise a particular sports team—and its fans—you’re harboring some strong opinions about a group of people. Those beliefs are stereotypes, and they often spill over into prejudice. The stronger your attitudes become, the less likely you are to rethink them.
Rivalries aren’t unique to sports. A rivalry exists whenever we reserve special animosity for a group we see as competing with us for resources or threatening our identities. In business, the rivalry between footwear companies Puma and Adidas was so intense that for generations, families self-segregated based on their allegiance to the brands—they went to different bakeries, pubs, and shops, and even refused to date people who worked for the rival firm. In politics, you probably know some Democrats who view Republicans as being greedy, ignorant, heartless cretins, and some Republicans who regard Democrats as lazy, dishonest, hypersensitive snowflakes. As stereotypes stick and prejudice deepens, we don’t just identify with our own group; we disidentify with our adversaries, coming to define who we are by what we’re not. We don’t just preach the virtues of our side; we find self-worth in prosecuting the vices of our rivals.
When people hold prejudice toward a rival group, they’re often willing to do whatever it takes to elevate their own group and undermine their rivals—even if it means doing harm or doing wrong. We see people cross those lines regularly in sports rivalries. Aggression extends well beyond the playing field: from Barcelona to Brazil, fistfights frequently break out between soccer fans. Cheating scandals are rampant, too, and they aren’t limited to athletes or coaches. When students at The Ohio State University were paid to participate in an experiment, they learned that if they were willing to lie to a student from a different school, their own pay would double and the other student’s compensation would be cut in half. Their odds of lying quadrupled if the student attended the University of Michigan—their biggest rival—rather than Berkeley or Virginia.
Why do people form stereotypes about rival groups in the first place, and what does it take to get them to rethink them?
When to use it
When a competitor makes a useful proposal, ask whether you would judge it differently if it came from a partner.
When discussing politics, check whether a criticism concerns a specific policy or a stereotype about everyone on the other side.
A coach can challenge hostility toward rival fans while keeping competition on the field.
When a workplace disagreement follows team boundaries, compare the proposals without their authors’ names.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Red Sox Fans Booing the Yankees (When Not Playing)
At a Red Sox game against the Oakland A’s, fans chanted 'Yankees suck!' The absent rival still drew the crowd’s attention.
Puma vs. Adidas Business Rivalry
For generations, families in the town where both companies were founded self-segregated based on brand allegiance—going to different bakeries, pubs, and shops, and refusing to date employees of the rival firm.
Ohio State Students Lying to Harm Michigan
In an experiment, Ohio State students were four times more likely to lie to a student from their rival University of Michigan than to a student from Berkeley or Virginia if it doubled their pay and halved the other's compensation.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Think of a group you strongly dislike or consider a rival. How do you typically describe them? Are these descriptions fair and accurate, or do they rely on stereotypes?
Recall a time you acted against a rival group more harshly than was necessary. What motivated that behavior—identity, competition, or something else?
If a rival group faced a serious threat (e.g., natural disaster), would you feel pleasure, indifference, or sympathy? Why?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Think Again The Power of Knowing What You Dont Know (Adam Grant)