Daniel L. Wann

PRELIMINARY VALIDATION OF THE SPORT FAN MOTIVATION SCALE

Factors believed to be motivations responsible for sport fandom include eustress, self-esteem, escape, entertainment, economic, aesthetic, group affiliation, and family needs. However, these factors have been untested empirically, and a valid and reliable measure of sport fan motivation has been unavailable to researchers. The current two studies were an attempt to develop such a measure. The construction and validation of a 23-item Likert-scale measure, the Sport Fan Motivation Scale, are described. Discussion centers on possible uses for the instrument.

The Positive Social and Self Concept Consequences of Sports Team Identification

As a result of increased geographic mobility, industrialization, and the like, traditional social and community ties have declined. Conversely, sports spectatorship has continued to flourish. We argue that strong identification with a specific sports team provides a buffer from feelings of depression and alienation, and at the same time, fosters feelings of belongingness and self worth. In effect, sports team identification replaces more traditional family and community-based attachments to the larger social structure. Three studies find support for these notions, using basketball and baseball fans. The relationship between degree of team identification and team success was also examined; it was only significant for individuals who identify with teams geographically removed from themselves. Discussion focuses on the positive implications of sports team identification for self-esteem maintenance and the social ties it creates.

In-Group or Out-Group Extemity: Importance of the Threatened Social Identity

Some researchers have found that out-group members are responded to more extremely than in-group members; others have found the reveres. The pre authors hypothesized that when importance of group membership was low, out-group extremity would be observed. That is, when the targets actions have few or no implications for the perceives identity, out-group extremity will occur. In-group extremity was expected when perceivers are high in identification with the in-group. The presence of a threat to ones identity was predicted to intensity the in-group extremity effect for highly identified persons only Evaluations of a loyal or disloyal in-group or out-group member were made by highly identified or weakly identified in-group participants under threatening or nonthreatening conditions. The results confirmed the predicted pattern of effects. Implications for sports spectators and other self-selected group members are discussed.

Attributions of Highly Identified Sports Spectators

Abstract Previous research examining the tendency for sports spectators to internalize team successes while externalizing team failures has been inconsistent. Several studies have found support for this success/failure attributional bias, but others have not. The current study tested the hypothesis that the success/failure bias would be found among American spectators who were high in identification with a target team but that spectators low in identification would be only minimally biased in their attributions concerning competition outcome. The results of a study testing 90 basketball fans varying in degree of identification supported the hypothesis.

Role of Identification with a Group, Arousal, Categorization Processes, and Self-Esteem in Sports Spectator Aggression:

Previous attempts to account for the occurrence of spectator aggression have employed one of the long-standing theories of aggression (i.e., instinctual theories, drive reduction models, and the social learning perspective). While support for some aspects of these theories has been documented, a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon might direct research to more fruitful avenues. Such an analysis is proposed in this review. In addition to incorporating well-documented concepts such as physiological arousal and modeling, this new viewpoint includes the motivational aspects of team or group identification, the cognitive component of categorization, and the esteem-enhancing consequences of aggressive behavior. A model of the variables leading to spectator aggression is presented, and it is contrasted with prior theoretical viewpoints. Public policy implications for aggression reduction among sports spectators are discussed.

Aggression among highly identified spectators as a function of their need to maintain positive social identity.

enerally, research and writing in sport psychology aimed at under standing spectator aggression has approached this phenomenon from one of three long-standing theories of aggression: instinctual models (e.g., Fenichel, 1945; Freud, 1920; Lorenz, 1966), drive reduction models (or more specifically, the frustration-aggression hypothesis, see Berkowitz, 1989; Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, & Sears, 1939), and social learning theory (Bandura, 1973; LeUnes & Nation, 1989; Russell, 1983). Likewise, sport sociologists have also actively examined spectator aggression. For example, Mann’s typology of sports riots (1979), Webb’s (1986) discussion of soccer hooligans, and theories of crowd and collective behavior (e.g., Le Bon, 1960; Smelser, 1963; Turner, 1964) have all added substantially to our understanding of spectator violence. While a detailed discussion of these psychological and sociological theories, which are

THE INEQUITABLE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF MEN'S AND WOMEN'S ATHLETICS AT SMALL, MEDIUM, AND LARGE UNIVERSITIES:

The current investigation extended previous research on gender inequities in media coverage of athletics. Sports sections from three university-sponsored newspapers were examined. Researchers recorded the number of male and female authors, number of articles focusing on male and female athletics, number of lines focusing on male and female athletics, and number of photos focusing on male and female athletes. Results revealed that male athletics received greater levels of coverage than did female athletics and that the percentages of female coverage were less than the percentages of female students enrolled and the percentages of female varsity sports offered at the target institutions. The inequities were greater at the two larger universities. Discussion centers on reasons underlying the findings.

An examination of sport fandom in Australia: Socialization, team identification, and fan behavior

To examine sport fandom in Australia, a convenience sample of 163 university students (62% males, 38% females, M = 21.3) attending a large, multi-sector institution located in a western suburb of Melbourne voluntarily completed a 25-item questionnaire survey which included the Sport Fandom Questionnaire (Wann, 2002) and the Sport Spectator Identification Scale (Wann and Branscombe, 1993). Descriptive and inferential statistics revealed that males chose ‘friends’ as their most influential sport fan socialization agent while females ranked friends, parents and school about the same. Male socialization agents were very important for both sexes with ‘father’ chosen most influential. Males scored higher on every measure of sport fandom behavior including attending sports events, watching sports on television, listening to sports on the radio, engaging in a sports conversation with others, and accessing sport information via the Internet. Australian Football League teams were chosen ‘favorite team’ by 81 percent of the total sample; selection was unrelated to the respondent’s sex. Compared with similar data obtained from US, Norwegian and Greek university student samples, these Australian students were judged greater sport consumers and more heavily identified with the sport fan role and a favorite team.

Controllability and Stability in the Self-Serving Attributions of Sport Spectators

Abstract Spectators often attribute their athletic teams victories to internal causes and its losses to external causes (e.g., A. H. Hastorf & H. Cantril, 1954; R. R. Lau, 1984; L. Mann, 1974). This self-serving attributional pattern is most common among fans with a strong psychological attachment to their team (D. L. Wann & T. J. Dolan, 1994). The authors examined the relationships among identification, game outcome, and controllable and stable attributions. Their 1st hypothesis was that high-identification fans after a victory, compared with high-identification fans after a loss and low-identification fans after either outcome, would be more likely to exhibit self-serving attributional patterns by attributing their teams successes to controllable and stable causes. Their 2nd hypothesis was that high-identification fans would be more likely than low-identification fans to attribute their teams successes to internal causes and its failures to external causes. U.S. college students high and low in identification first watched their universitys mens basketball team win or lose a contest and then completed measures of identification and attribution. The results confirmed the hypotheses.

INFLUENCE OF SPECTATORS' IDENTIFICATION ON EVALUATION OF THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE PERFORMANCE OF A SPORTS TEAM

This is a report of a study designed to test the prediction that persons high in identification with a sports team would be more biased in their evaluations of that team than persons low in identification. The hypothesis was supported for memory and predictions of team records as well as for direct measures of past, present, and future team evaluations. Discussion focussed on the motivational processes underlying the relationship.