Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Underdog versus favourite motivation

Underdog versus favourite motivation:
How do motivation dynamics differ between underdogs and favourites?

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Overview

Tennis Match Scenario

You are sitting in the crowd of a tennis match final, watching the ball go back and forth between the two competitors. One must win and one must lose. The first player holds multiple grand slam titles and has been the champion of many matches. They are a very loved and popular figure within the world of tennis. They are expected to win this game. The second player is new to tennis and this is their first finals that they have competed in. Not much is known about them but they are currently holding up against the first player. The second player is expected to lose. Which tennis player are you cheering for? The underdog or the favourite?

The terms underdog and favourite (sometimes known as the "top dog") have largely been and are most popularly used within the context of competition and their respective expectations of what the outcome will be. To commonly define what is meant by the underdog versus the favourite, the underdog is expected to lose while the favourite is expected to win (Kim et al., 2008).

Little research has been done on the internal and underlying motivations and experiences of the underdog and the favourite. Most research done on the underdog versus favourite is about the expectations of third parties, such as consumers of content, and what motivates the third party to align or cheer for the underdog or favourite.

The label of underdog or favourite is not determined by the individual's actual skills or talents but by how they compare in standing to other competitors in the specific scenario (Pettit et al., 2024).

Focus questions:

What are the motivations of the underdog and favourite?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the underdog's motivation?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the favourite's motivation?
What are the similarities and differences between the motivations of the underdog and favourite?

The Underdog's Motivation

The underdog is the individual or group that consumers or third parties expect to lose in a competitive environment. In relation to betting, the underdog will have the highest odds because of the expectation of the underdog losing. The payout of the underdog winning is usually larger than the favourite's because fewer third parties bet on the underdog. Without the involvement of money, third parties are more likely to root for or support the underdog (Kim et al., 2008). This is thought to be because of the desire to see the underdog win as the third party may self-identify with the underdog.

What Motivates the Underdog?

With the expectation that the underdog is going to lose, the underdog does not have much to lose when that expectation is fulfilled. Underdogs do however have much to gain if they were to win, especially if the win is against the favourite. The underdog is not pressured to meet expectations but instead to exceed them to gain more opportunities and advancements in social standing or in their career. To relate to Higgins' work in 1987 on Self-Discrepancy, winning is the ultimate goal and highest standard that the underdog will be motivated or aspired to achieve to gain a better standing within society. The underdog is striving for a positive outcome and it is suggested by Higgins (1987) that the aspiration of winning in competitors becomes an obligation or ideal. The underdog will have a promotion focus on their motivation.

Advantages of the Underdog

The goal of winning under unlikely circumstances stimulates the underdog's creative thinking in order to reach their goal (Boytos et al., 2017). This leads to the underdog to create many ideas and solutions.
Many third parties support or root for the underdog out of sympathy and emotional alignment. This support motivates the underdog to increase their performance (Goldschmeid, 2005).
Underdogs show increased performance when competing against against the favourite out of motivation to show that they are just as capable as the out-group (Lount and Phillips, 2007).
Many an underdog usually has faced trials of discrimination and disadvantages. The self-narrative of an individual who has faced prior discrimination and disadvantages shows an improvement in performance and efficacy through built-up resilience that drives motivation (Nurmohamed et al, 2021).
Embracing the label underdog helps provide an effective psychological buffer (Cramer, 2005). If the underdog were to lose, there would be no large repercussions as the underdog was predicted to lose anyway (Pettit et al., 2024). This in turn helps the underdog keep being motivated as they are not disappointed in the results which could lead to performance loss.

Disadvantages of the Underdog

Lack of resources such as access to opportunities to improve skills or economic resources that become available through popularity and winning (Nurmohamed, 2014).

The Favourite's Motivation

The favourite is the individual or group that consumers or third parties expect to win in a competition. The favourite will usually have the lowest odds because of the expectation of winning, and therefore a smaller payout when said favourite wins. When gambling, individuals usually favour the favourite as it is thought of as the safe or trusted choice concerning the chance of losing or gaining money (Paul & Weinbach, 2005.)

What Motivates the Favourite?

From defining what is commonly meant when an individual is labelled as the favourite, it would not be surprising if it was assumed the motivation of the favourite is to win. However, it has already been established that the favourite was expected to win. From this, it can be understood that favourites actually have little to gain by winning, especially against the underdog. This outcome of winning would not be surprising or change the opinion of the third party about the favourite's abilities or prowess. However, there is a lot to lose if the favourites were to lose against the underdog. This can be translated to that the favourite is not necessarily motivated to win, but instead motivated to not lose. The favourite's goal is not to win a positive outcome but to eliminate a negative outcome by losing (Molden, Lee, & Higgins, 2008) (see Figure 2). The goal of winning is a prevention focus of security which derives from the perspective of Regulatory Focus Theory by Higgins in 1998.

Advantages of the Favourite

external advantages of resources such as access to training opportunities and monetary resources (Nurmohamed, 2014)
When in a completive environment and facing an underdog, the effort of the favourite will largely increase in order to avoid potential negative comparison (Lount and Phillips, 2007). That is to say, the favourite does not want their favour to lower by being outperformed by the underdog.
The increased pressure to live up to the high expectations of the favourite that was set up by previous accomplishments motivates the favourite to maintain the position of winner (Doyle et al., 2022). This is to avoid the embarrassment of losing to the underdog who is predicted to lose.

Disadvantages of the Favourite

Lack of creative advantage, at least in comparison to the underdog. The favourite lacks creative thinking as they already have established methods that have secured them success (Boytos et al., 2017).
The favourite may develop 'success syndrome' (Tushman and O’Reilly, 1996) if a false sense of security in winning develops, which leads to the favourite overlooking or underestimating the underdog.
It can be emotionally stressful and demotivating for the favourite when people are rooting for their failure (Goldschmeid, 2005). This has been described as schadenfreude.
Increased feelings of performance anxiety and fear of losing which in turn will affect the motivation of the favourite negatively (Marr and Thau, 2014)

Test yourself

The Dynamic Between Underdogs and Favourites

Five studies done by Lount, Pettit and Doyle (2008) examine the motivations and efforts of underdogs and favourites within intergroup settings. These studies and the research done by these individuals highlighted the effects of regulatory fit and task or message matching when motivating the underdog or favourite.

The Similarities of the Underdog and the Favourite

The underdog and the favourite's motivation strength and performance increase when supportive tasks match regulatory fit (i.e. promotional/eager or preventative/vigilant) (Spiegel et al., 2004).

The Differences between the Underdog and the Favourite

Differ in Regulatory focus (Higgins, 1998) with the underdog being promotion-focused and the favourite being preventative.
The underdog is eager while the favourite is vigilant

Conclusion

The motivation of the underdog or the favourite is not better than the other, they are simply just different. While the goal of winning may look the same on the outside, the motivations behind winning are different.

References

Boytos, A., Smith, K., & Kim, J. (2017). The underdog advantage in creativity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 26, 96–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2017.10.003

Cramer, P. (2014). Defense Mechanisms: 40 years of Empirical research. Journal of Personality Assessment, 97(2), 114–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2014.947997

Doyle, S. P., Pettit, N. C., Kim, S., To, C., & Lount, R. B. (2022). Surging underdogs and slumping favorites: How recent streaks and future expectations drive competitive transgressions. Academy of Management Journal, 65(5), 1507–1540. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2019.1008

Goldschmied, N. (2005). The underdog effect: Definition, limitations, and motivations. why do we support those at a competitive disadvantage? https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-underdog-effect%3A-Definition%2C-limitations%2C-and-a-Goldschmied/cb76346c39a213359004281fd4e92412e551e1ab

Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319–340. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.94.3.319

Higgins, E. T. (1998). Promotion and Prevention: Regulatory focus as a motivational principle. In Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 1–46). https://doi.org/10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60381-0

Kim, J., Allison, S. T., Eylon, D., Goethals, G. R., Markus, M. J., Hindle, S. M., & McGuire, H. A. (2008). Rooting for (and then abandoning) the underdog. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38(10), 2550–2573. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00403.x

Lount, R. B., Pettit, N. C., & Doyle, S. P. (2017). Motivating underdogs and favorites. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 141, 82–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2017.06.003

Lount, R. B., & Phillips, K. W. (2007). Working harder with the out-group: The impact of social category diversity on motivation gains. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 103(2), 214–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2007.03.002

Marr, J. C., & Thau, S. (2014). Falling from Great (and Not-So-Great) Heights: How Initial Status Position Influences Performance after Status Loss. Academy of Management Journal, 57(1), 223–248. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.0909

Molden, D. C., Lee, A. Y., & Higgins, E. T. (2008). Motivations for promotion and prevention. Handbook of Motivation Science, 169–187. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316422250.066

Nurmohamed, S. (2014). Over or under? the motivational implications of an underdog image. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/107335

Nurmohamed, S., Kundro, T. G., & Myers, C. G. (2021). Against the odds: Developing underdog versus favorite narratives to offset prior experiences of discrimination. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 167, 206–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2021.04.008

Paul, R., & Weinbach, A. P. (2005). Bettor preferences and market efficiency in football totals markets. Journal of Economics and Finance, 29(3), 409–415. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02761585

Pettit, N. C., Doyle, S. P., & Lount, R. B. (2024). Underdogs and favorites: Past, present, and future. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 18(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12973

Spiegel, S., Grant‐Pillow, H., & Higgins, E. T. (2004). How regulatory fit enhances motivational strength during goal pursuit. European Journal of Social Psychology, 34(1), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.180

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