Analysis on the Motives Being a Fan or Fandom and the Possible Factor That Some Fans Performed Sasaengpaen/Fanatical Behavior

Abstract

As developments of technology and communication are spreading widely across the world, an increased number of people contacts with brand new objects, trends, and figures by using social media. In this way, people build relationships with figures that they might worship and claim their adoration from the perspective of a follower. These are what people called "Fans". However, it is common to see these fans overreacting to idol-related issues. It is to be asked what can be the psychological reasons that cause people to become a fan and what factors cause them to be insanely irrational. To solve these problems, this paper utilizes data from other researches through the strategy of literature analysis and discovered two motives and one factor that contributes to the topic of question. It is revealed that motives such as finding self-identification in a group, having a sense of belonging, recognizing idolatry as a way to reward oneself and escaping from real-life sufferings are the main reasons that motivate a person to become a fan. Excessive addictive idolatry within a group that leads to disinhibit behavior due to deindividuation is the possible factor that causes the insanity. This study can help people better understand fan culture. In addition, it indicates the factors that might lead to a potentially harmful behavior from the fanatics, which means to prevent the ongoing behavior of the fanatical fans and to alleviate the potential ones, in order to contribute to a peaceful fan world and society.