BASKING IN REFLECTED GLORY, CUTTING OFF REFLECTED FAILURE, AND CUTTING OFF FUTURE FAILURE - THE IMPORTANCE OF GROUP IDENTIFICATION

Although a large amount of research has investigated the indirect impr ession management tactics of basking in reflected glory and cutting of f reflected failure, none had investigated the potential importance of group identification. Study 1 of the current research tested the pred iction that persons maintaining their association with an unsuccessful group would be higher in group identification than those not associat ing with the group. This prediction was supported. However, contrary t o expectations, persons belonging to a successful group were less like ly than those belonging to an unsuccessful group to publicly announce their association. It was believed that those identified with the succ essful group believed that the group may experience failure at a later date and thus, were more concerned about protecting their future ego than enhancing their current ego. This new impression management tacti c, labeled cutting off future failure, was documented in Study 2. Disc ussion centers on the implications of the current research for past wo rk on impression management.