The Olympic paradox: The Olympics and intergroup biases

The Olympics aim to promote peace and unity across the globe through sports. Ironically, however, we predicted that the Olympics could be associated with intergroup biases because the Olympics not only activate social/national identity as a citizen, but also highlight intense competition between countries. In support of this prediction, attitudes toward outgroups were negatively associated with international sporting events like the Olympics (Studies 1–2). Moreover, both behavioral intentions (Study 3) and actual behaviors (Study 4) toward outgroups were more negative during the Olympics than before the Olympics. During the Olympics, Koreans were less willing to donate money to help migrant workers and showed a tendency to discriminate against Southeast Asian job applicants. Interestingly, the association was observed for negatively stereotyped outgroups (e.g., Southeast Asians and Chinese), but not for favorably stereotyped outgroups (e.g., Canadians).