Background Stereotyping among Football Fans: Terror Management Perspective Abdulkadir Kuzlak, MS & Nuray Sakallı-Uğurlu, PhD Middle East Technical University, Department of Psychology, Ankara, Turkey Method Results & Discussion Violence and stereotyping are common among Turkish football fans and these turn into harmful acts against property and most importantly human life. Terror Management Theory (TMT) states that the unique human awareness that each human will die one day not only make us plan ahead but also behave differently, mostly negatively, when reminded with our own death. When participants are primed with Mortality Salience (MS) they evaluate other group members more negatively (Greenberg et al., 1990) The main purpose of this study was to understand whether stereotyping among football fans is rooted on existential concerns. Presented stereotyping difference between MS and dental pain (DP) conditions partially explain stereotyping among football fans. Subjects. 186 students from Middle East technical University 122 females whereas 64 males with a mean age of 21.47 (SD = 2.3) from various departments. Materials. Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) – Mortality Salience Manipulation – Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) – Word Search Puzzle – Stereotypical Thinking about Football Fans Scale (Developed within this study) – Sport Spectator Identification Scale (Wann, & Branscombe, 1993) Design and Procedure. Between subjects experimental design with 6 conditions (3x2, affiliated teams x experimental conditions) Self-esteem measured – Primed with MS or DP – Stereotyping toward supported or opponent team fans are evaluated – Identification with supported team measured FB fans reported significantly more interpersonal relations stereotyping towards FB fans in MS than in DP condition, F(1, 38) = 4.79, p = .035. Although it was expected that negative stereotyping would be higher in MS than in DP conditions, a positive out-group stereotyping was found. GS fans reported more competence stereotyping toward FB fans in MS than in DP condition, F(1, 81) = 3.14, p = .080. Findings seemingly contradict the previous results of TMT studies which were negative evaluation toward out-group members. But TMT literature shows that participants try to justify their worldview, in this sense GS fans justify that they perceive FB fans as competent in MS condition and FB fans justify GS fans are less competent in MS condition. Positive in-group stereotyping also corresponds with TMT findings. Beside, for DV, a scale without pessage was used which is different from most of the TMT studies. A study using pessage-like-DV and using highly identified football fans would be better for future research. References Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press Wann, D. L., & Branscombe, N. R. (1993). Sport fans: Measuring degree of identification with their team. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 24 (1), 1 - 17 Watson, D., Clark, L. A. & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of a brief measure of positive and negative affect: The PANAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54 (6), 1063 - 1070. Doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063. Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Rosenblatt, A., Veeder, M., Kirkland, S., & Lyon, D. (1990). Evidence for terror management theory II: The effects of mortality salience on reactions to those who threaten or bolster the cultural worldview. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58 (2), 308 - 318. Doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.58.2.308. Insult Items: Contemptible – Loser – Turncoat – Liar – Worthless – Prick – Studpid – Coward – Feminine Competence Items: Successful – Strong – Talented – Skillful – Self- confident - Fast Interpersonal Relations Items: Familiarity – Pure-minded – Calm – Adaptive - Positive Higher interpersonal relations stereotyping was made toward supported team fans Higher compet