I or We? How Self-Categorization Shapes Decision-Making in Team Sports.

According to the Social Identity Approach, self-categorization shapes whether individuals view themselves as unique persons or as group members, influencing performance outcomes. To examine how social identity affects a key objective determinant of performance—decision-making—we conducted an experiment with ten professional basketball players. They watched 14 immersive video clips twice under two randomized conditions: personal identity and social identity. After each clip, players mimed and verbalized the decision they would take in this situation in a real game. In the personal identity condition, they competed individually in an individual decision-making challenge and were asked to choose the decision that maximized their own performance. In the social identity condition, they were acting on behalf of their team in a collective decision-making challenge and were instructed to prioritize choices that benefited the team’s overall performance. To reinforce these identity states, the personal identity condition included individual photographs, jerseys displaying each participant’s name, and an individual questionnaire, whereas the social identity condition included team photographs, jerseys displaying the team’s name, and a team questionnaire. Across 275 decisions, players shot significantly less (Δp = −0.307, p <.01) and tended to pass more (Δp = 0.240, p =.063) in the social compared with the personal identity condition, with no significant effect of condition on reaction times. These findings add to evidence showing that psychosocial factors shape decision-making in team sports, suggesting that social identity meaningfully influences athletes’ choices and should be integrated into decision-making models.