The ABCs of Sport Fandom: What We Know and Where We Should Go - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The ABCs of Sport Fandom: What We Know and Where We Should Go Daniel L. Wann, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Murray State University

Overview of Tonight’s Talk ◦ Why should we care about sport fandom ◦ The A ffective reactions of sport fans ◦ The B ehavioral reactions of sport fans ◦ The C ognitive reactions of sport fans ◦ Gazing into the crystal ball

Where are the Citations?

Why Should We Care About Sport Fandom ◦ Pervasiveness in society ◦ Television ◦ Radio ◦ Internet ◦ Movies (and not just sport movies)

Why Should We Care About Sport Fandom ◦ Sport fandom brings people together

Why Should We Care About Sport Fandom ◦ Sport fandom aids in meeting basic psychological needs ◦ Need to belong ◦ Need for distinctiveness

The Affective Reactions of Sport Fans

The Affective Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ Reactions to performance ◦ Disposition Theory ◦ Types of affective reactions: Why so much negativity? ◦ Negativity bias ◦ Maybe James Bond was right

The Affective Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ Reactions to nonperformance events ◦ Player injuries ◦ Schadenfreude ◦ Changing logos ◦ Teams leaving ◦ Paraphrasing Seinfeld

The Affective Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ The impact of affective reactions ◦ Sport outcomes: ◦ Positive Word-of-mouth ◦ Increased consumption ◦ Non-sport outcomes: ◦ Outlook on life ◦ Work performance ◦ Self-confidence ◦ Voter decisions ◦ Economic outcomes: ◦ Personal and societal

The Affective Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ Some final points about sport fan affect ◦ Sustained success (and failure) ◦ Affective forecasting ◦ Duration

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ Consumption ◦ Two powerful influences (we think) ◦ Team identification ◦ Fan motivation (e.g., eustress, escape)

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ Attempting to use identification and motivation to increase consumption ◦ Intentions rather than behaviors ◦ Correlation does not equal causation ◦ (e.g., self-esteem motivation and consumption) ◦ And what can we do with the information? ◦ Why I am a fan of the…

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ Sport fan aggression “I was surrounded by pimps, rapists, and murderers. It was like being in the stands of an L.A. Raiders game.” Lieutenant Frank Drebin, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ Fan aggression can be facilitated by many variables including: ◦ Modeling violent sports ◦ Arousal ◦ Deindividuation ◦ Names of rival contests ◦ Frustration from bad calls

The Behavioral Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ Three particularly powerful variables ◦ Alcohol consumption ◦ Team identification ◦ Dysfunctional fandom

The Cognitive Reactions of Sport Fans ◦ Coping through biased cognitions ◦ Self-serving attributions ◦ Biased perceptions and recollections ◦ Pessimism (proactive and retroactive)

The Future of Sport Fandom ◦ Gazing into the crystal ball ◦ Changes on the horizon that may impact the fan experience ◦ Topics needing greater attention from social scientists

The Future of Sport Fandom ◦ Changes on the horizon that may impact the fan experience ◦ Changing technology ◦ Safety (player and fan) ◦ Legalization of sport gambling

The Future of Sport Fandom ◦ Topics that need greater interest from social scientists studying sport fandom ◦ Changes in fandom across the lifespan ◦ Cross-cultural research ◦ Positive sport fandom ◦ Sport fandom and evolutionary processes

Thank You! dwann@murraystate.edu