In this study, the role of psychological commitment to the team and fanaticism on aggression were examined. In the research, personal information form, psychological commitment to the team scale, fanaticism scale for football fans, and aggression inventory were applied to the participants. This study was conducted with 336 volunteer participants between the ages of 18-60. The independent groups t-test and Spearman Rho correlation coefficient were used in data analysis. As a result of the research, it was found that as the psychological commitment to the team and fanaticism levels increase, the aggression level increases. In addition, it is seen that the aggression levels of male participants are higher than female participants. It is thought that the research findings will contribute to the development of policies to be created to prevent aggression in sports.
TopIntroduction
By comparison with previous periods, nowadays, it is seen that more attention and value is given to sports by the society. Studies in the fields of sport psychology and sociology show that sports is a reflection of the social structure. Similarly, It is seen that football, as a branch of sports, ceased to be a game belonging to a certain subculture with the modernization process and has become a popular sport branch and entertainment tool in which the masses are dragged (Çepe, 1992; Gürel Kayaoğlu, 2000).
Nowadays, it is seen that sports have become a rapidly developing industry that has an audience all over the world. In this context, with its social function and increasing economic impact, football has ceased to be a worldwide sport and has found a great place in this industry. For these reasons, the value of the competitions is increasing all over the world, and the teams need to get better results and show higher performances depending on these results. In addition, due to the fact that football plays such an important role all over the world, In addition to being a source of earning for individuals, football has features such as a tool that provides local economic development, social cohesion, education, personal development and cultural transfer (Özen, Eygü & Kabakuş, 2013; Yıldız, 2012).
Sport is a game and entertainment tool with rules and principles, aiming to be stronger and achieve success. Although there are competition and competition phenomena in nature in football as in other sports fields, people can meet on common grounds thanks to football. In addition to these positive evaluations about football, it is observed that undesirable situations such as aggressive behavior and acts of violence have emerged. Studies show that sports can have negative effects as well as positive effects on people. Violence, aggression and bullying are the leading behaviors seen in sports and have negative effects on individuals. Negative behaviors such as violence seen in sports cause damage to common denominators such as friendship and brotherhood. (Karaca, 2020; Yetim, 2000).
When the literature is examined, it is seen that aggression is defined in different ways. Budak (2003, p. 648) defines aggression as “any physical, verbal or symbolic behavior that is caused by situations such as anger, hostility, competition, frustration, fear, and aims to harm, stop, prevent or protect oneself.” In another definition, aggression is defined as harming the person physically, emotionally and psychologically (Kirsh, 2006; Tenenbaum, Stewart, Robert, & Duda, 1997). According to Erten and Adalı (1996), aggression is a strong, violent, effective act with the aim of dominating, defeating, and directing; and is a hostile behavior with the aim of disrupting or preventing a job. Social psychologists also evaluate aggression as behaviors that aim to cause physical or psychological pain (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2010). Aydos & Oral (2002) stated that people will react to situations of anger, anger, hostility and injustice they have experienced and that these reactions can happen by brute force or verbal attack on the person they face.
Louw, D. A., Ede, & Louw, A. E. (1998) state that there are two types of aggression learned in early childhood. In purposeful aggression, the first of these, aggression is done to achieve something. According to this view, while children generally do not behave aggressively deliberately, it is defended that they can display behaviors such as yelling, pushing, and attacking to achieve something. Hostile aggression occurs in the form of deliberately hitting the other person, kicking or humiliating them by insulting them. Buss (1961) divided aggression into three groups as physical and verbal aggression, active and passive aggression, and direct and indirect aggression. While physical aggression refers to the physical actions taken by the person in order to harm himself and his environment; verbal aggression is explained by the person's verbal and psychological harm to the other party. On the other hand, active aggression is defined as the behavior that made to cause a person to suffer and hurt the other person; passive aggression is evaluated as preventing harm. While direct aggression is defined as the aggression that occurs as a result of the behavior performed to anger and provoke the people in front of them; indirect aggression is defined as indirectly damaging the target of the person (cited in Walker & Richardson, 1998). Some researchers divide aggression into reactive aggression and proactive aggression. While proactive aggression is defined as harming the other party in a planned, voluntary and deliberate way, reactive aggression is defined as aggression to protect itself against a threat or provocative action (Pulkkinen, 1996).