When refs miss fouls fans and athletes both get frustrated Things happening on the field of play being missed Ex The replacement refs let the game get out of hand Referees control what is happening on the field The rougher the game the rougher the crowd when losing the fans can get out of control at an away game if you re the away team your frustration can build up home team advantage people with an aggressive trait what a place to act out ones aggression at a football game where else can you behave that way and not be considered an idiot Media in general are merchants of chaos likes to report whatever it can that will sell likes to report chaotic situations has played a major role in glorifying violence Byrant and Zillman have asked why the public tolerates such extensive violence in their favorite sport soccer hooligans people attend soccer games anyway 3 possible theories why people accept this behavior o cathartic affect catharsis hypothesis when people watch sport and see a lot of violence in it the media will play the violent act over and over and over its shocking at first but then its not such a big deal By seeing it over and over again it will help us control our aggressiveness that s the idea o Domineering theory kind of enjoy a little violence enjoy it we have an aggressive behavior about us to dominate others Like to see others dominate the opposition Enjoy the dominance o Hype theory focuses on the drama of sport Think of how many sports stations we have we love it Aggressiveness is seen as the ultimate in competition Fascinated with high risk sports Professor at Boston University John Cheuffers developed a fascination with international soccer Saw the problems and developed this whole new notion of crowd psychology violence becomes a characteristic of sporting events which sports had the most dangerous fans o when soccer players fought the fans fought More fighting when players fight as soccer games Soccer has the most dangerous fans o football has the second most dangerous fans 49 chance that fans will start fighting when there s a fight on the field o baseball has the number 3 most dangerous fans o ice hockey is the 4th most dangerous fans in a hockey game you expect the players to fight Some people go to the game expecting people to fight giggle sport went to a fight and an ice hockey game broke out LOL o alcohol is the number one reason why fights with fans break out at a baseball game opportunity to partake in several adult beverages throughout the whole night that s why baseball is in the mix At the 7th inning alcohol is cut off 3rd quarter its cut off in football its interesting you have to cut off the drinking because of the history Analyzed tried to understand crowd behavior o How John would have people collect data by sitting in a certain section they would watch everything everybody is doing They would take notes and include times of the game and game clock Then they d compare their notes with what was happening on the field of play at that exact time systematic way zeroing in on particular group of fans would ask the usher which fans get more excited and follow what those fans were doing ushers would tell the observers who are regulars at the game then asked those regulars to wear heart rate monitors compare it to times during the games when did heart rate go up and what was happening at the field of play at that time o Temperature above 95 or below 55 fans usually behave ok Too hot or too cold to react o noise some stadiums have a decibel level If it s over 85 and sustained for long periods of times headaches and irritation occur can have an impact on how fans behave A decibel level of 110 can really cause some pain and agitation Other things affecting fans behavior Crowd control o scoring a lot of scoring going on fans involved in that Scoring scoring scoring keeps them occupied When one team is beating up on another team that can cause a problem o any minimal discomfort parking can lead to frustration o Keep alcohol consumption in control number 1 way o bathrooms having to wait in line can make you cranky Have toilet paper make it clean lots of stalls o ushers get familiar with a lot of spectators they will talk to someone who gets a little too drunk and out of control establish some kind of relationship with them 3 dominate forces categories have emerged that individuals look for we have this passion in sport explain why we behave how we do identification we like to identify with our super hero Personal involvement identify with certain sports stimulation we like to be stimulated and excited Get jacked up over sporting events Live vicariously through teams Emotional pleasure when your team wins sucks the life out of you when your team loses achievement go around saying we re number 1 Love when our team wins That achievement factor Social learning theories that help explain why people behave the way the do in a crowd fashion Aggression love to watch our team be aggressive and play aggressively Aggression is reinforced by aggression modeling share the same interest in teams that our parents do Learn to model the behavior of your parents Aggressive parents serve as models for aggressive acts from their children Coaches yell at refs players yell at refs then fans yell at refs media media plays that aggressive act over and over again A fight on the field of play means attendance goes up at the next game I get 2 events a fight and a game feel like they re getting their moneys worth 4 ways that violence in sport can start Contagion theory impulsive or counter productive behavior becomes infectious One person throws things multiple people throw things convergence theory common interests come together and are brought to a feverish pitch People go to games looking for problems hooligans things coming together a game becomes a forum for this behavior in the mood to cause a problem emergent theory the reputation of a sporting event emerges over a period of time Drop quarters dump beer on the person that picks it up UMD Crew at soccer games wide value theory crowd behavior can escalate in healthy or unhealthy ways Structural conduciveness there s a pillar in your view you re pissed cause you can t see the game Things can escalate from the nature of the sport that allows you to act out