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Why We Root for the Underdog and Relish the Downfall of the Elite
The dance between empathy, entitlement, and the eternal cycle of success and downfall
We humans have a curious relationship with success and failure, triumph and defeat. One of the aspects of our psychology that fascinates me is our tendency to rally behind the underdog, rooting them on to greater and greater success, even while simultaneously harboring a macabre fascination for the downfall of those who have already “made it.” This duality in our emotional response reveals a complex interplay of factors rooted in psychology, sociology, and even evolutionary biology.
One reason we tend to rally behind the underdog is the innate human capacity for empathy. We connect with the struggles and challenges faced by those who are perceived as underprivileged or facing overwhelming odds. Most of us have felt like we were the underdog in one part of our lives or another.
Just look at virtually any based-on-a-true-story movie about a sports team: Rudy, Radio, Miracles on Ice, Remember the Titans, We Are Marshall, and Invicible come to mind off the top of my head.
When it seems a given that the top-dog team will triumph, but then a younger, less experienced, less well-funded, or less cohesive group comes in and…
