Seneca News

laura cavanagh

June 14, 2019

The Toronto Raptors are the 2019 NBA champions and according to Professor Laura Cavanagh, we are much happier now that the team has made franchise history.

Cavanagh, Program Co-ordinator of the Behavioural Sciences diploma program, was interviewed on CBC’s The National yesterday about the impact of the team’s success on fan psychology. Turns out, as social animals, we are wired to feel more happiness when our team does well — that’s true for diehard fans and also bandwagon jumpers — and that supporting a team can shape our identity and leads to stronger feelings of belongingness.

Cavanagh also did an interview on CTV News Channel earlier this month on the same topic.