Lectures on Tap - "The Psychology of Sports Obsession: Dark Side of Fandom"

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🧠 Lecture: "The Psychology of Sports Obsession: Dark Side of Fandom"

🎤 Speaker: Professor Gina Antoniello

Join us for a provocative evening as Professor Gina Antoniello takes us inside the dark side of sports fandom, where loyalty can become obsession, rivalry can turn into hatred, and the emotional power of sport can push ordinary fans toward extraordinary behavior.

Drawing from sport sociology and social psychology, this lecture explores why fandom feels so powerful—and when it turns dangerous. Antoniello will unpack tribalism, in-group/out-group bias, moral disengagement, identity fusion, fan entitlement, and the psychological mechanisms that allow people to justify behavior they’d condemn anywhere else.

From hooliganism and stadium violence to online harassment, parasocial fixation, and the blurry line between passionate supporter and obsessive fan, you’ll examine how sport can create intense belonging—and how that same force can fuel exclusion, aggression, and deviance.

Professor Gina Antoniello is Academic Director and Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport and a longtime leader in the professional sports industry, with experience at organizations including the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets.

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