Soccer players have made an art form of racing around like a chook with its head cut off after scoring a goal. Their self-congratulatory jigs may look ridiculous, but they serve a greater purpose. They are contagious, designed to infect their teammates.
“The more convincingly someone celebrates their success with their teammates, the greater the chances that team will win,” according to Dr. Gert-Jan Pepping, Sport Scientist and lecturer in Human Movement Sciences at the University of Groningen.
Pepping’s research group investigated whether the way soccer players express their delight at a successful penalty influences the final result of a penalty shootout. “What’s nice about a penalty shootout is that the individual aim of scoring a penalty directly serves the group aim of winning the match”, said Pepping.
Pepping studied a large number of penalty shootouts during important soccer matches, but only as long as the score in the shootout was still equal. After every shot at goal, the player was assessed on the degree to which he expressed happiness and pride after scoring. This revealed that the players who expressed this clearly, for example by throwing their arms up into the air, usually belonged to the winning team.
“This enthusiastic behaviour infected the team with a positive attitude. Also important, the opposing team was made to feel that little bit more insecure”, Pepping said. This latter effect was shown by the finding that when someone cheered with both arms in the air, it was more than twice as likely that the next opponent would miss his penalty.
What’s very important is that the scored goal is celebrated with the people you want to infect. “If you cheer facing the supporters after you’ve scored a penalty, the supporters will get wildly enthusiastic. That’s all very fine, but they’re not the ones who have to perform at that moment. Your team members on the pitch are. It’s very important to celebrate together — that’s what makes scoring contagious”, Pepping said
The same principle is easy to project onto situations outside the sports field, according to Pepping. Even in an office situation you can motivate each other by dwelling on a good group performance and celebrating it with each other. That means that the whole team will share the feelings of pride and confidence, which raises performance levels.
According to Pepping, if you want to increase your chances of success, both on the sports field and in daily life, it’s important to ‘take the brakes off’. It’s natural to cheer in reaction to a victory. What’s more, when individual and group interests coincide it’s also a very functional reaction. More cheering means more success.
Reference
Moll, T., Jordet, G. & Pepping, G. (June 2010). Emotional contagion in soccer penalty shootouts: Celebration of individual success is associated with ultimate team success. Journal of Sports Sciences.
