Comm students research how ‘Energy Generating Behaviors’ create school pride

Marquette Men's Basketball Head Coach Shaka Smart preaches the gospel of "EGBs," or energy generating behaviors, as a culture-building tool. Clapping. Slapping the floor. Loud encouragement of teammates. The theory is that these small actions spread from person to person, encouraging more energy generating behaviors in a virtuous cycle that elevates a group's performance.

The idea captivated Dr. Emily Cramer, associate professor of health communication in the Diederich College of Communication. She wanted to know whether the EGB principle could apply to fans as well as players.

"Communication research asks us to observe patterns in human interaction and behavior," Cramer says. "EGBs are such a great example of how the positive energy of the team transfers - both verbally and nonverbally - to the fans and the wider Marquette community."

Cramer had plenty of help in investigating whether EGBs can spread beyond a team and into a broader group of fans: the students in her Communication Research class. Students in the class designed a survey that they sent to dozens of their peers, asking them basic screening questions, such as whether they were a student-athlete and how many hours of Marquette sports they watched per week. Participants were then asked how frequently they engaged in EGBs and which ones they performed most frequently.

The researchers were operating on the assumption that EGBs fell into a category of behaviors known as emotional contagion.

"This experience really set me up for that higher-level work."

"It could be clapping or shouting or dancing - any behavior that is easily passed from one person to another can qualify as a contagion," says Oluwaferanmi Dahunsi, a master's student and the classes' teaching assistant. "You could be dancing by yourself and then suddenly, another person joins. Then two more people join. Then even more people come in. This is the same theory behind EGBs."

The class research found that fans most commonly engaged in EGBs when the in-arena cameras were close by in an attempt to get on the JumboTron. They also found something else: fans who reported high levels of in-person exposure to EGBs through attendance at sporting events were more likely to have an affinity toward Marquette as an institution.

"We were able to find the correlation between performing the EGBs and actually caring more about both the team and the school, which is exciting," says Alex Mite, a student in the class.

The research, which was consolidated into a final report and a formal poster, caught the attention of the men's basketball coaching staff. Smart invited the researchers to attend practice and introduced them to the players. Dahunsi, who is from Nigeria and had never seen a basketball game in person until attending Marquette, made sure to savor the experience.

"I saw my first few games right after coming to America, and I said to myself, 'Oh, wow, this is fun.' I think that's what sparked my interest in research as well: using my newly found interest in basketball for something outside of just entertainment," Dahunsi says.

"The team apparently really enjoyed our project and thought that we did good work on it," says Mite, who also interns with Marquette Athletics. "Being invited to practice was really exciting."

Communication Research went beyond just providing students with a one-off opportunity. For some, it sparked an enduring professional interest. Mite, a Class of 2026 graduate majoring in advertising and sports communication, plans on going to graduate school at Vanderbilt University, where she will use many of the same skills she learned in Cramer's class.

"I feel a little more prepared to do research in the future. This experience really set me up for that higher-level work," Mite says.