Mechanizm emocjonalnego dystansowania się od grupy jako sposób na utrzymanie samooceny

Marina Noske

Abstract

The study was conducted on football fans, supporting various sport clubs (N = 85). The subjects were between 15 and 52 years of age. According to the theory of the need for social identity in Tajfel's understanding, the launch of mechanisms allowing to maintain self-esteem was anticipated, involving: 1. longer persistence of positive emotions in case of winning the game; 2. in case of loosing - devalutation of the opponent through viewing him as less capable of experiencing specific emotions. The first assumption was not confirmed in studies, while in case of loosing game the results confirmed the launch of a mechanism allowing to maintain self-esteem, however, the observed mechanism was different than expected. Subjects declared less intensive experiencing their own club's failure in comparison to opponents' experiences. This concerned both the primary emotions, as well as secondary, but in the case of secondary emotions difference was far greater. A conclusion on the launch of a mechanism allowing to maintain self-esteem involving the emotional distancing from the group was formulated.