Think Again

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.

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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.
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 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?