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Abstract
People differ in their reactions to the outcomes of their group. Whereas some may revel in victory and mourn in defeat, others may internalize victory but distance themselves from defeat. Here, we sought to relate these divergent reactions to two forms of alignment with groups–identity fusion and group identification. Investigations of the 2008 elections in the United States and Spain revealed that people who were “fused” with their political party internalized both victory and defeat, but highly identified persons internalized only victory. We discuss how these findings bear on the conceptual distinctions between identity fusion and group identification.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was funded by Research Fund Grant PSI2009-07008 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to Ángel Gómez, Michael D. Buhrmester, Matthew L. Brooks, William B. Swann, Jr., and J. Francisco Morales and National Science Foundation Grant BCS-1124382 to William B. Swann, Jr.