Why Is Fan Verbal Aggression So Fierce: An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective

Fan-verbal aggression conflict is a worldwide universal phenomenon. As opposed to condemning fans as reckless or irrational, our work provides an evolutionary psychology perspective to give a possible explanation of this phenomenon. This paper points out that people in modern society join alliances for shared interests and then face an anti-exploitation mechanism. To preserve the right to gain resources and avoid losing benefits from an alliance, showing verbal aggression in public affirms ones role as a contributor rather than a cheater or free rider. Eventually, when conflict occurs, instead of mediating, getting involved or keeping silent are usually the only choices, leaving the dispute to heat up. We reveal this psychological computation from the theory of welfare tradeoff ratios. The group members WTR to the aggressor will be higher than their WTR to the non-aggressor. Participants in college with experience in idol chasing (N=500) will be involved.