#12: Why We Like Sports

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People love to watch sports. The Superbowl, for example, is incredibly popular. About 111 million people, a third of everyone in the united states, watched the Superbowl in 2017. What is about our psychology that makes us love sports? Why do we tend to idolize individual players? Are we learning something when we watch sports? Find out all this and more on this episode of Minding the Brain!

Explore further:

5 Reasons Why Humans Can’t Do Without Sports

http://nautil.us/blog/5-reasons-why-humans-cant-do-without-sports

Beliefs in symbolic catharsis: The importance of involvement with aggressive sports

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233642306_Beliefs_in_symbolic_catharsis_The_importance_of_involvement_with_aggressive_sports

The Role of Uncertainty of Outcome and Scoring in the Determination of Fan Satisfaction in the NFL

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527002510376789

Testosterone changes during vicarious experiences of winning and losing among fans at sporting events

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938498001474

Examining the superstitions of sport fans: Types of superstitions, perceptions of impact, and relationship with team identification

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288259527_Examining_the_superstitions_of_sport_fans_Types_of_superstitions_perceptions_of_impact_and_relationship_with_team_identification

What do men want? Gender differences and two spheres of belongingness: comment on Cross and Madson

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9204778

Using sex and gender role orientation to predict level of sport fandom

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292719936_Using_sex_and_gender_role_orientation_to_predict_level_of_sport_fandom

Motivational Profiles of Sport Fans of Different Sports Motivational Profiles of Sport Fans of Different Sports

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265266108_Motivational_Profiles_of_Sport_Fans_of_Different_Sports_Motivational_Profiles_of_Sport_Fans_of_Different_Sports

Using sport fandom as an escape: Searching for relief from under-stimulation and over-stimulation

http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/11913231/using-sport-fandom-as-escape-searching-relief-from-under-stimulation-over-stimulation