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 Affective reactions of sport fans The Behavioral reactions of sport fans The Cognitive 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
The Affective Reactions Reactions to performance Disposition Theory Types of affective reactions: Why so much negativity? Negativity bias Maybe James Bond was right
The Affective Reactions Reactions to nonperformance events Player injuries Schadenfreude Changing logos Teams leaving Paraphrasing Seinfeld
The Affective Reactions 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 Some final points about sport fan affect Sustained success (and failure) Affective forecasting Duration
The Behavioral Reactions Consumption Two powerful influences (we think) Team identification Fan motivation (e.g., eustress, escape)
The Behavioral Reactions 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
The Behavioral Reactions
The Behavioral Reactions
The Behavioral Reactions
The Behavioral Reactions
The Behavioral Reactions 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 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 Three particularly powerful variables Alcohol consumption Team identification Dysfunctional fandom
The Cognitive Reactions 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