Us Versus Them

TLDR

Intergroup competition heightens social identity, making in‑group failures painful and rival failures pleasurable, potentially motivating harm toward rivals. The study examined whether valuation‑related neural responses to rival group failures predict the likelihood of harming individuals associated with those rivals. Avid Red Sox and Yankees fans viewed baseball plays while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Negative outcomes activated anterior cingulate cortex and insula, whereas positive outcomes activated ventral striatum, and ventral striatum activity correlated with reported aggression toward rival fans, showing that competition outcomes influence reward‑processing systems and intergroup harm.

Abstract

Intergroup competition makes social identity salient, which in turn affects how people respond to competitors’ hardships. The failures of an in-group member are painful, whereas those of a rival out-group member may give pleasure—a feeling that may motivate harming rivals. The present study examined whether valuation-related neural responses to rival groups’ failures correlate with likelihood of harming individuals associated with those rivals. Avid fans of the Red Sox and Yankees teams viewed baseball plays while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjectively negative outcomes (failure of the favored team or success of the rival team) activated anterior cingulate cortex and insula, whereas positive outcomes (success of the favored team or failure of the rival team, even against a third team) activated ventral striatum. The ventral striatum effect, associated with subjective pleasure, also correlated with self-reported likelihood of aggressing against a fan of the rival team (controlling for general aggression). Outcomes of social group competition can directly affect primary reward-processing neural systems, which has implications for intergroup harm.