No, I was presenting a potential counter to the idea that "I'm not sure whether 'team spirit' might be a projection in the minds of members or observers".

It might or might not be a projection in the minds of observers, but I don't think that it's relevant whether it is or not to the questions I'm asking, in the same sense that "are we conscious because we have a homunculus-soul inside of us, or because neurons give rise to consciousness?" isn't relevant to the question of "are we conscious?"

We know we are conscious as a bald fact, and we accept that other humans are conscious whenever we reject solipsism; we happen to be finding out the manner in which we are conscious as a result of our scientific curiosity.

But accepting an entity as "conscious" / "self-aware" / "sapient" does not require that we understand the mechanisms that generate its behavior; only that we recognize that it has behavior that fits certain criteria.