2026-10-14T14:52:56Z https://www.scidb.cn/oai

10.57760/sciencedb.psych.000wt 2026-09-04T17:34:15Z

2026-09-04 Attitudes Between Sports Fandom Groups: Identification, Competition, and Contact Interventions doi:10.57760/sciencedb.psych.000wt en Conflicts in sports fandoms are frequent in the digital age. To reveal the social-psychological mechanisms behind this, this study is based on social identity theory and uses the minimal group paradigm. Through three progressive experiments, it examines in-group preference, out-group derogation, and implicit intergroup attitudes in sports fandom contexts, exploring the roles of group identification and intergroup competition, while testing the intervention effect of intergroup contact. Experiment 1a (N=64) used a one-factor within-subject design. Results from resource allocation and trait rating tasks showed that even randomly assigned virtual group labels could trigger significant explicit in-group preference and out-group derogation. Experiment 1b (N=50) used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and found significant implicit preference for participants' own fan groups. Experiment 2 (N=44) used a 2 (identification strength: high/low) × 2 (competitiveness: high/low) between-subject design, with results showing that group identification significantly positively predicted implicit in-group preference, but had no significant effect on explicit intergroup attitudes; the main effect of intergroup competition and their interaction were also nonsignificant. Experiment 3 (N=25) used a 2 (contact type: cooperative vs. confrontational) × 2 (measurement time: pre/post) mixed design, and results showed that imagined confrontational contact and imagined cooperative contact induced implicit intergroup preferences that were significantly negatively correlated (r=-0.766, p<0.001). Both types of contact had opposite activation effects within individuals, but no stable group-level intervention effect was observed. The study indicates that merely classifying groups can trigger intergroup bias in sports fandoms; high group identification strengthens unconscious in-group favoritism; and imagined intergroup contact has the potential for bidirectional activation. This study provides empirical evidence for understanding intergroup conflicts in sports fandoms and for guiding a rational sports culture. intergroup attitudes; group identification; intergroup competition; intergroup contact li yi jie Sun Meirong RESTRICTED dataset Science Data Bank