The NEXT: Way to Explain Rivalry Games

Ah, The New Scientist chimes in.

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"We're more willing to contribute money towards this group effort because we're competing against a rival university!"

If you've got 20 minutes of spare time and a thirst for knowledge, read this entire article. If you can only spare about 42 seconds, check this pull-out:

"Male undergraduates were more willing than women to contribute money towards a group effort—but only when competing against rival universities. If told instead that the experiment was to test their individual responses to group cooperation, men coughed up less cash than women did. In other words, men's cooperative behaviour only emerged in the context of intergroup competition."

When you're watching Wolverines vs. Buckeyes this Saturday, or Oregon State vs. Oregon next Saturday, or even USC vs. UCLA on December 6th and the camera cuts away to a group of dudes, arms interlocked, chests spelling out B-E-A-V-E-R-S, singing together…well, now you know science has also chimed in on the topic. And why they were willing to drop dime on the paint.

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