0000000000307259
AUTHOR
Gordon W. Russell
When cooler heads prevail: peacemakers in a sports riot.
Male sports fans (N = 74) were asked to estimate the likelihood that they would intervene in a crowd disturbance in an attempt to stop the fighting. They also completed a battery of measures that included their attitude toward law and order, fight history, the false consensus effect, impulsivity, psychopathy, sensation seeking, anger, physical aggression and identification with their favorite team. Law and order, body mass, anger and the false consensus effect were positively related to peacemaking whereas sensation seeking was negatively related. A multiple regression analysis yielded a solution that accounted for 32.3% of the variance with anger and attitude toward law and order emerging …
Peacemakers: those who would intervene to quell a sports riot
Abstract Male spectators ( N = 129) attending a Finnish ice hockey game were asked to indicate their response to a fight erupting nearby in the stands. Fully 61.1% indicated they would watch, 26.2% would try to stop the fight, 5.6% would leave the area, 4.7% would encourage the fighters and 2.4% would join in. Peacemakers were compared with onlookers and found to be less physically aggressive. However, they were equally angry, impulsive and had equivalent histories of fighting. Compared with a category of troublemakers, peacemakers were less aggressive, angry and impulsive, and were taller.
Predictors of sports spectators' proclivity for riotous behaviour in Finland and Canada
Male spectators (N = 178) attending hockey games in Finland and Canada provided ratings of the strength of their motives for attendance. Of six plausible reasons, liking to watch player fights was rated least important by the Finns whereas it was third in importance for Canadians. Subjects also provided information with regard to their age, fight history, the number of accompanying persons and completed a measure of sensation seeking. With the exception of the number of accompanying persons, all variables were related in both countries to subjects self-reported likelihood of escalating a crowd disturbance. The results were discussed in the context of previous findings from a series of field…