The phenomenon of collective pride

A Shared Emotion

Pride is not just an individual emotion; We also experience it collectively.

A clear example is the pride we feel when our local sports team wins a championship, or when a fellow countryman achieves international success.

At first glance, it may seem irrational to feel pride about something in which we have no direct participation.

The Biological and Evolutionary Roots

To understand this phenomenon, we can look to our evolutionary heritage.

Humans are social animals, and for millennia, our survival has depended on belonging to a group or "tribe."

Feeling part of a collective and rejoicing in its successes strengthened the group's cohesion, which in turn increased each individual's chances of survival.

Our brains are, in a way, programmed to identify with their "tribe" and feel the group's success as their own.

The Identification Mechanism

In the modern world, this programming is transferred to symbolic identifications such as our city, our country, or our favorite teams.

Even if we don't have a genetic link to the players on our team, the psychological mechanism of identification is the same.

The team's success is perceived as a validation of our group, and by extension, of ourselves.

"My team won, therefore, I, as part of that collective, am a winner."

The Double Sided of Collective Pride

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