Brazil's football warriors: Social bonding and inter-group violence

Identity Fusion and Aggressive Behavior Among Chinese Freshmen: The Chain Mediating Role of Depressive Mood and Sleep Quality

Aggressive behavior is considered one of the indicators of maladjustment and increases during the transition to college. Previous studies have demonstrated that having identity fusion with particular social groups significantly predicts college adjustment among freshmen. However, the relationship between identity fusion and aggressive behavior in college freshmen has rarely been studied. Thus, guided by the frustration-aggression theory, this study aimed to explore the association between identity fusion with class and aggressive behavior among Chinese college freshmen and examine the potential mediating roles of depressive mood and sleep quality. A cross-sectional survey study was carried out among 1,037 Chinese college freshmen (Mage = 19.56, SD = 1.068, 29.12% males). Class identity fusion, depressive mood, sleep quality, and aggressive behavior were measured via four self-reported questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to test the mediation model. Analyses showed that identity fusion was negatively related to depressive mood and aggressive behavior and positively correlated with sleep quality. The results also revealed that the direct effect of identity fusion on aggressive behavior was significant, and identity fusion can indirectly affect aggressive behavior not only through the mediation effect of depressive mood but also through the chain mediation effect of depressive mood and sleep quality. Moreover, the mediating effect of depressive mood varied by gender. These findings suggest that strategies that help freshmen promote identity fusion and those that alleviate depressive mood and sleep problem may help reduce aggressive behavior.

Antisocial behavior in football matches: Do changes in alcohol sales policy increase violent acts?

BACKGROUND

The violent behavior of football fans is constantly associated with their drinking habits. Aiming to reduce its impact, policy makers often ban the sales and consumption of alcohol beverages during matches. Nonetheless, there are few papers that empirically analyzed such relationship, and our paper aims to shed light on this question.

METHODS

Out dataset comprises 4,560 matches from the first and second tiers of the Brazilian League, where 245 exhibited at least one antisocial behavior from fans. Ordered logistic regressions are used as method.

RESULTS

Our empirical findings evidence that the sales of alcoholic drinks do increase the likelihood of severe antisocial behavior. We also observed a higher likelihood of violent cases when the home club loses its match as well as during crowded matches.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that the change in the alcohol police in Brazil did show a significant association with the likelihood of antisocial behavior among football fans. However, since the magnitude of such effect is small, further research is needed to examine the potential benefits of this policy change.

Dental injuries in Swiss soccer supporters: A comparative study of regular fans, ultras, and hooligans for public health strategies

OBJECTIVES

Violence among soccer supporters continues to pose a significant public health concern in many parts of the world. In Switzerland, hooliganism is largely uninvestigated. This study aimed to examine incidents of violence and associated dental injuries among different groups of soccer supporters, as well as assess the impact of intoxicants on their behavior, using survey data from regular fans, ultras, and hooligans in the Swiss Football League.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A cross-sectional survey using a standardized questionnaire was conducted among distinct factions of soccer supporters in the Swiss Football League in 2022. A total of 165 participants self-identified as belonging to one of three subgroups: "regular fan," "ultra," or "hooligan." Data were gathered on physical altercations, dental injuries, possession of mouthguards, intoxicant use, and medical assistance. Descriptive statistics, logistic regression models, and significance tests were used for data analysis (α = .05).

RESULTS

Hooligans had a higher frequency of dental injuries resulting from fights than ultras and regular fans. Hooligans with 11-20 fights per soccer season had a 9.6 times higher probability of dental trauma than those with 0-5 fights (p = .048). Possession of a mouthguard was associated with a lower risk of dental injuries for hooligans but an increased risk for ultras. Additionally, hooligans were found to differ significantly from other groups in their consumption of amphetamines and cocaine (p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

The study found a strong link between physical altercations and dental injuries among soccer supporters. To promote better prevention, there is a necessity for enhanced educational initiatives facilitated by dentists to amplify the dissemination of mouthguards. Furthermore, it is crucial to raise awareness regarding their proper fitting to minimize the occurrence of combat-related dental injuries. Health authorities and other stakeholders should take a comprehensive approach to addressing some of the root causes of violent behavior, which include alcohol abuse and illicit substance consumption.

Positive Social Interaction and Psychological Kinship Mediate the Effect of Identity Fusion on Psychological Well-Being in South-South Migrants

The present study provides evidence of how positive social interaction and the perception of psychological kinship are mechanisms by which identity fusion with the host country is associated with the psychological well-being of Venezuelan migrants in Chile. The sample consisted of 323 Venezuelan migrants, of whom 147 (45.5%) were men. The participants were residents of the city of Santiago, Chile. The variables assessed were psychological well-being, identity fusion with host country, positive social interaction, and psychological kinship. Structural equation modeling was performed to estimate the proposed mediation model. The estimation method used was robust weighted least squares estimation. The first model showed that people who felt more fused with the host country had higher levels of psychological well-being. On the other hand, the second estimated model indicated that both positive social interaction and psychological kinship fully mediate the relationship between identity fusion with the host country and immigrants’ psychological well-being. It is not the mere sensation of feeling merged with the host country that increases the psychological well-being of migrants, but rather it is the positive social interactions and feeling that members of the host country are like family that are the components that link the fusion with the host country and the psychological well-being of Venezuelan migrants in Chile.

Chinese football violence: An extended theory of planned behavior model to predict fans’ violent behavioral intentions

This study introduced deindividuation (DI) variables and constructed a mechanism model of football fans’ violent behavioral intentions (FVBI) in China based on theory of planned behavior (TPB). Specifically, taking Chinese football fans as the research subjects, we used a structural equation model (SEM) to explore the specific effects of subjective norms (SNs), perceived behavioral control, DI, and attitude (AT) on violent behavior intentions. Our results showed that SNs (β = -0.132, P &lt; 0.01) had a significant negative predictive effect on FVBI, while perceived behavioral control (β = 0.297, P &lt; 0.01), DI (β = 0.239, P &lt; 0.01), and AT (β = 0.416, P &lt; 0.01) had a significant positive predictive effect. However, we found that AT was the most important factor that predicted the FVBI and played a mediating role between SNs and FVBI, between perceived behavior control (PBC) and FVBI, and between DI and FVBI as well.

The Fusion-Secure Base Hypothesis

Identity fusion is traditionally conceptualized as innately parochial, with fused actors motivated to commit acts of violence on out-groups. However, fusion's aggressive outcomes are largely conditional on threat perception, with its effect on benign intergroup relationships underexplored. The present article outlines the fusion-secure base hypothesis, which argues that fusion may engender cooperative relationships with out-groups in the absence of out-group threat. Fusion is characterized by four principles, each of which allows a fused group to function as a secure base in which in-group members feel safe, agentic, and supported. This elicits a secure base schema, which increases the likelihood of fused actors interacting with out-groups and forming cooperative, reciprocal relationships. Out-group threat remains an important moderator, with its presence "flipping the switch" in fused actors and promoting a willingness to violently protect the group even at significant personal cost. Suggestions for future research are explored, including pathways to intergroup fusion.

Why do people self-sacrifice for their country? The roles of identity fusion and empathic concern

Identity fusion with a group, a feeling of connection with it, is a good predictor of extreme pro-group behavior, an action to favor or protect the group, including self-sacrifice. Relational ties and personal distress (self-oriented emotional reaction; e.g., anxiety, distress) toward ingroup members in need have been evaluated separately as mediators of the relationship between identity fusion and pro-group self-sacrifice. Another mediator could be empathic concern (other-oriented emotional reaction; e.g., compassion, sympathy), but it has not been considered in the literature. We related those three mediators in a model. The objective was to analyze whether relational ties mediate the relationship between identity fusion and pro-country self-sacrifice whereas both empathic concern and personal distress mediate the association between relational ties and pro-country self-sacrifice. We expected that identity fusion with the country leads to more relational ties, which in turn evokes both empathic concern and personal distress, and those emotional reactions promote more and less pro-country self-sacrifice, respectively, with more effect of empathic concern than personal distress. We considered the country as the group reference because it is the most used in identity fusion research. In a sample of university students (N = 539), the results supported this model: Identity fusion promoted relational ties, which in turn evoked empathic concern and personal distress. Then, the last two variables predicted more and less self-sacrifice, respectively, with more effect of empathic concern than personal distress. We discussed the theoretical implications of the model, especially the relationship of identity fusion with empathic concern and personal distress-traditional explanations for pro-group behavior-considering the different motivations associated to both emotional reactions. Despite the limitations associated with the measurements, the data supported the model that relates variables not previously explored jointly.

Personality and Team Identification Predict Violent Intentions Among Soccer Supporters

Soccer supporter violence remains a persistent global problem. The majority of research examining the psychological underpinnings of soccer supporter violence have focused primarily on the role of team identification. Relatively little research has examined the role of basic personality traits and willingness to engage in violence amongst soccer supporters. In a study amongst Swedish soccer supporters (N = 247), we examined whether honesty-humility and team identification predict violent behavioral intentions; examining if collective narcissism mediates these associations. Honesty-humility negatively predicted violent intentions, and team identification predicted violent intentions. Collective narcissism partially mediated these associations. When both Honesty-humility and team identification are accounted for though, collective narcissism did not predict violent intentions. Such findings have implications for the design of violence prevention interventions amongst soccer supporters.

Identity fusion predicts violent pro-group behavior when it is morally justifiable

Identity fusion is a visceral feeling of oneness with a group that predicts extreme pro-group behaviors. However, the effects of fusion depending on the nature of such behaviors -violent versus nonviolent- and the factors that may incline strongly fused individuals to display them still remain unexplored. To fill this gap, we performed two correlational studies in which we examined whether moral beliefs regarding the justifiability of violence moderate the relationship between fusion with the family (Study 1), or with the country (Study 2), and willingness to engage in violent and nonviolent pro-group acts. Results showed that strongly fused participants were more willing to act violently than weakly fused participants, but only when their beliefs in the moral justifiability of violence were high. In contrast, their willingness to engage in nonviolent acts was not influenced by moral beliefs.

Outgroup threat and the emergence of cohesive groups: A cross-cultural examination

Evolutionary models and empirical evidence suggest that outgroup threat is one of the strongest factors inducing group cohesion; however, little is known about the process of forming such cohesive groups. We investigated how outgroup threat galvanizes individuals to affiliate with others to form engaged units that are willing to act on behalf of their in-group. A total of 864 participants from six countries were randomly assigned to an outgroup threat, environmental threat, or no-threat condition. We measured the process of group formation through physical proximity and movement mirroring along with activity toward threat resolution, and found that outgroup threat induced activity and heightened mirroring in males. We also observed higher mirroring and proximity in participants who perceived the outgroup threat as a real danger, albeit the latter results were imprecisely estimated. Together, these findings help understand how sharing subtle behavioral cues influences collaborative aggregation of people under threat.

The evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation

Identity fusion represents a strongly-held personal identity that significantly overlaps with that of a group, and is the current best explanation as to why individuals become empowered to act with extreme self-sacrifice for a group of non-kin. This is widely seen and documented, yet how identity fusion is promoted by evolution is not well-understood, being seemingly counter to the selfish pursuit of survival. In this paper we extend agent-based modelling to explore how and why identity fusion can establish itself in an unrelated population with no previous shared experiences. Using indirect reciprocity to provide a framework for agent interaction, we enable agents to express their identity fusion towards a group, and observe the effects of potential behaviours that are incentivised by a heightened fusion level. These build on the social psychology literature and involve heightened sensitivity of fused individuals to perceived hypocritical group support from others. We find that simple self-referential judgement and ignorance of perceived hypocrites is sufficient to promote identity fusion and this is easily triggered by a sub-group of the population. Interestingly the self-referential judgement that we impose is an individual-level behaviour with no direct collective benefit shared by the population. The study provides clues, beyond qualitative and observational studies, as to how hypocrisy may have established itself to reinforce the collective benefit of a fused group identity. It also provides an alternative perspective on the controversial proposition of group selection - showing how fluidity between an individual's reputation and that of a group may function and influence selection as a consequence of identity fusion.

High and highly bonded: Fused football fans who use cocaine are most likely to be aggressive toward rivals

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A sample of 1486 British football fans completed an online survey.

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More fans reported using cocaine than the national average.

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Around 1% of fans reported cocaine use in stadia, but 30% had seen others use it.

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Identity fusion, an intense form of bonding, predicted aggression toward rivals.

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Cocaine use and identity fusion significantly interacted to predict aggression.

Background

Cocaine use among British football fans has yet to be quantified, despite its association with football-related aggression by the media. Identity fusion, a potent form of social bonding, is a well-established predictor of fan violence, which has never been investigated in relation to stimulant use.

Methods

British football fans (n = 1486) completed a self-selected online survey about how bonded they were to their club and fellow fans, their cocaine use, and aggressive behavior toward rival fans over the prior 12-months.

Results

Fans reported more cocaine use than the national average (6.19%). Of fans who attended stadia matches, 1.08% had used cocaine in stadia, and 30.05% had witnessed other fans take cocaine at matches. Fans who used cocaine reported significantly more aggression toward rivals than fans who did not. Cocaine and identity fusion significantly interacted, such that highly ‘fused’ cocaine users were especially likely to have behaved aggressively toward their rivals. Men were more fused and more aggressive than women.

Conclusion

Football mirrors wider society, be it in social issues or drug use. The widespread availability of cheap but high purity cocaine may be associated with fan aggression, especially among fans who are highly bonded to their clubs and fellow fans.

The Effects of Synchrony on Group Moral Hypocrisy

Humans have evolved various social behaviors such as interpersonal motor synchrony (i.e., matching movements in time), play and sport or religious ritual that bolster group cohesion and facilitate cooperation. While important for small communities, the face-to-face nature of such technologies makes them infeasible in large-scale societies where risky cooperation between anonymous individuals must be enforced through moral judgment and, ultimately, altruistic punishment. However, the unbiased applicability of group norms is often jeopardized by moral hypocrisy, i.e., the application of moral norms in favor of closer subgroup members such as key socioeconomic partners and kin. We investigated whether social behaviors that facilitate close ties between people also promote moral hypocrisy that may hamper large-scale group functioning. We recruited 129 student subjects that either interacted with a confederate in the high synchrony or low synchrony conditions or performed movements alone. Subsequently, participants judged a moral transgression committed by the confederate toward another anonymous student. The results showed that highly synchronized participants judged the confederate’s transgression less harshly than the participants in the other two conditions and that this effect was mediated by the perception of group unity with the confederate. We argue that for synchrony to amplify group identity in large-scale societies, it needs to be properly integrated with morally compelling group symbols that accentuate the group’s overarching identity (such as in religious worship or military parade). Without such contextualization, synchrony may create bonded subgroups that amplify local preferences rather than impartial and wide application of moral norms.

Ritual, fusion, and conflict: The roots of agro-pastoral violence in rural Cameroon

Herder–farmer conflicts in West Africa have caused thousands of deaths in recent years. Many conflicts are triggered by localized events that rapidly spiral out of control. What leads specific interpersonal conflicts to scale up into intergroup violence? We propose that such conflicts are rooted in identity and ritual dynamics. We present evidence that participants in Mambila traditions of masquerade initiation in Cameroon report especially strong identity fusion, a visceral sense of oneness with the ingroup. Results showed that men strongly fused to their ethnic ingroup were especially willing to fight and die for it. Overall, our findings provide evidence that when ordinary conflicts develop between groups that differ sharply on ethnic and religious lines, there is grave risk that fused persons will escalate violence. Understanding these processes may inform future development of new strategies to prevent or ameliorate intergroup conflicts of this kind.

Fusión de identidad: una revisión sistemática

El objetivo de la presente investigación fue realizar una revisión sistemática de los estudios empíricos que han reportado el uso de la teoría de fusión de identidad. Para esto, la revisión siguió los lineamientos y recomendaciones de la declaración PRISMA. Las bases de datos consultadas fueron Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Willey Online Library, EBSCO y JSTORE. En total, se revisaron 52 estudios empíricos, en español y en inglés, publicados entre los años 2009 y 2018, que cumplían con los criterios de selección. La mayoría de los estudios dan evidencia de que la fusión de identidad es un fuerte predictor de conductas extremas de sacrificio por el grupo, y también, se ha asociado generalmente a variables como la identificación con el grupo, el compromiso grupal, el apoyo social percibido, la lealtad incluso en condiciones de ostracismo, los sentimientos, afectos y emociones hacia el grupo, y la percepción de parentesco, entre otras. Al final se discuten sus implicaciones y limitaciones.

Devoted fans release more cortisol when watching live soccer matches

Why do some sports fans experience intense emotions when watching live matches? Identity fusion is a strong form of group alignment in which personal and group identities are activated synergistically to produce a visceral sense of 'oneness' with one's team. Here we examine the role of fusion (using a three-item state measure with high internal validity) in elevating salivary cortisol levels while watching football (n = 41). Our evidence was gathered at field laboratories during the 2014 sFIFA World Cup in Natal, Brazil, with live screenings of two Brazilian victories (Colombia, 2-1; Chile, 1-1 with penalties), and the historic semi-final loss to Germany (1-7). We replicated previous studies showing that salivary cortisol concentrations fluctuate during live football events and are related to group membershipbut we also extended them by showing that identity fusion is even more strongly related to cortisol concentrations than identification. We found an interaction between match outcome and cortisol, such that watching a loss, i.e. dysphoria, was associated with particularly high cortisol concentrations. While women were more fused to the team than men, there were no other gender effects. Taken together, these findings suggest that identity fusion modulates physiological reactivity, resulting in distinct psycho-physiological profiles during stressful events.

Is the Role of Ideologists Central in Terrorist Networks? A Social Network Analysis of Indonesian Terrorist Groups

This study aims to describe how group leaders operate with their social ties of jihadi terrorists, using social network analysis. Data was collected through documents and interviews from terrorist detainees who were involved in jihadi terrorism activities in Indonesia. We found that relational trust with operational leaders plays an important role in terrorist social networks. More specifically, operational leaders possess a higher degree of centrality and betweenness centrality compared to ideological leaders, as operational leaders happened to possess stronger social ties (with close friends or respected authorities). Furthermore, we also found that terrorist networks in Indonesia consist of a large group of cells with low density, where members are not strongly connected to each other. The only bridges that were strong in these social networks were those involving operational leaders. This study confirmed previous studies that terrorist groups operate in a cell system, but lead to a novel finding that ideological leaders may play a limited or indirect influence in operational networks.

Dying for the group: Towards a general theory of extreme self-sacrifice

Whether upheld as heroic or reviled as terrorism, people have been willing to lay down their lives for the sake of their groups throughout history. Why? Previous theories of extreme self-sacrifice have highlighted a range of seemingly disparate factors, such as collective identity, outgroup hostility, and kin psychology. In this paper, I attempt to integrate many of these factors into a single overarching theory based on several decades of collaborative research with a range of special populations, from tribes in Papua New Guinea to Libyan insurgents and from Muslim fundamentalists in Indonesia to Brazilian football hooligans. These studies suggest that extreme self-sacrifice is motivated by identity fusion, a visceral sense of oneness with the group, resulting from intense collective experiences (e.g., painful rituals or the horrors of frontline combat) or from perceptions of shared biology. In ancient foraging societies, fusion would have enabled warlike bands to stand united despite strong temptations to scatter and flee. The fusion mechanism has often been exploited in cultural rituals, not only by tribal societies but also in specialized cells embedded in armies, cults, and terrorist organizations. With the rise of social complexity and the spread of states and empires, fusion has also been extended to much larger groups, including doctrinal religions, ethnicities, and ideological movements. Explaining extreme self-sacrifice is not only a scientific priority but also a practical challenge as we seek a collective response to suicide, terrorism, and other extreme expressions of outgroup hostility that continue to bedevil humanity today.

Four things we need to know about extreme self-sacrifice

A comprehensive explanation of extreme self-sacrifice would ideally clarify not only the proximate mechanisms leading to this behaviour, but also its developmental origins, its functions (if any), and its history. The theoretical framework set out in my target article has something to say about all of these dimensions, and many of the criticisms raised in the commentaries can therefore be addressed under those four main headings. In my response, I also discuss a set of proposals for further extending the framework. Finally, I conclude by distilling from the discussion a host of novel questions requiring further investigation.