Politics and basking-in-reflected-glory: A field study in Flanders

Abstract

This field study tested whether the basking-in-reflected-glory phenomenon would emerge in a political context. Two days before the general elections in Flanders (Belgium), 3 urban regions were systematically surveyed by 10 observers. These observers unobtrusively registered the addresses of private houses that displayed at least 1 poster (N=482) or 1 removable lawn sign (N= 180) supporting a political party. The day after the elections, the observers checked whether the registered houses still displayed their poster(s) or lawn sign(s). A strongly positive linear relation was found between the proportional win - loss of the various political parties (compared with the previous elections) and the percentage of houses that continued to exhibit the poster(s) or lawn sign(s)in favor of that party: The better the election result, the more houses that still displayed their poster(s) or lawn sign(s). Two complementary processes seem to account for the observations: a tendency to flaunt one's association with a triumphant party (i.e., basking-in-reflected-glory) and a tendency to conceal one's association with a defeated party (i.e., cutting-off-reflected-failure). A follow-up indicated that basking-in-reflected-glory lasted for at least 1 week after the elections.