THE EFFECT OF THE AUDIENCE ON THE HOME ADVANTAGE

According to a social psychological model for the home advantage, a su pportive audience encourages the home team to play up to potential, wh ile an unsupportive audience has the opposite effect. The audience's b iased behavior results in an increase in penalties on the visiting tea m. The model was tested by conducting a content analysis of 56 matches shown on Finnish television between July 1984 and March 1986. The con tent analysis of each match registered the audience's clear reactions (N = 126), goals, and penalties over a 5-minute playing time. The resu lts did not confirm our theoretical model. When the audience supported the home team, the team scored more points and made more fouls than t he visiting team. At the same time, the home team also scored more poi nts when the audience supported the visiting team.