The tribes of March

On the face of it, college basketball is a bit ridiculous. Fans scream encouragement to five people trying to get a ball through a steel ring suspended 10 feet in the air while trying to prevent opponents from doing the same. I'm a professor at Hope College in Michigan, and just before we took on our top basketball rival, Calvin College, I had a philosophical moment. Turning to a friend, I asked, "Why does this matter?"

The same question has crossed the minds of fans (or their bemused spouses) during USC-UCLA games, Cubs-White Sox games and now during March Madness. Why do we fans sulk in defeat and exult in victory?

There's something primal at work when the crowd erupts as two rival teams take the floor. Our ancestors, living in a world in which neighboring tribes raided and pillaged one another's camps, knew there was safety in solidarity. Dividing the world into "us" and "them" entails significant costs -- racism and war not least among them. But there are also benefits: Whether hunting, attacking or defending against the fast break, 10 hands are better than two. To identify us and them, our ancestors -- not so far removed from today's rabid fans -- dressed or painted themselves in group-specific costumes and colors.

As social animals, we live in groups, cheer on our groups, kill for our groups. Our groups help define who we are and who we are not. Groups -- even completely arbitrary groups -- promote what social psychologists term "ingroup bias." Ask children, "Who are better, the children in your school or the children at another school nearby?" Virtually all will say that their school has the better children. Cluster people into groups defined by the last digit on their driver's license and they'll feel a kinship with their number mates.

Group solidarity soars further when people face a common enemy (think of the United States immediately after 9/11). When facing an external threat during wartime, we-feeling rises. Membership in civic organizations increases, and citizens rally behind their leader and their troops. But there doesn't have to be a true threat; creating a rival generates a near-automatic response.