Raise Your Hands: The Influence of Post-Fight Nonverbal Pride on Fight Decisions

At the completion of martial arts competitions (e.g., boxing) between two competitors, both competitors are often observed raising their hands in victory, ostensibly to influence the judges' decision on who won the fight. Previous research suggests that nonverbal pride is spontaneously displayed after success, including after martial arts competitions. However, no empirical work has tested whether these nonverbal behaviors influence judgements of who won the fight or whether those judged to have won garner social influence. In Study 1, 158 adults watched a video of a genuine boxing match and were randomly assigned to view one of the fighters displaying nonverbal pride while the other displayed a neutral posture after the fight ended, but before a winner was declared. Consistent with the primary hypothesis, the fighter displaying pride was significantly more likely to be perceived as winning the fight. However, contrary to the secondary hypothesis, participants were neither more willing to train with the pride displaying target, nor showed any preference for studying for an exam with him, suggesting pride displaying targets did not garner more influence. In Study 2, the generalizability of the observed effect was tested by behaviorally coding 252 videos of actual boxing matches for pride and assessing actual judges' decisions, which revealed a strong effect, such that those showing the most pride after the fight but before the winner was announced were those who actually won the fight. The results of these studies suggest that post-fight behavior can have an impact on decisions of victory.