AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN SPORT

Aggression; Form of behavior that intends to destroy property or injure another person; Intent to harm or injure always present; Grounded in disregard for well-being of self and others; Consequences can be psychological or physical; Research distinguishes between 2 types of aggression: Hostile/Reactive Aggression; Instrumental Aggression

HOSTILE/REACTIVE AGGRESSION

Primary goal to inflict injury or psychological harm on another human; Intent to make victim suffer; Reinforcement for behavior is pain & suffering that’s caused; Behavior is accompanied by anger; Examples: Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield; Luis Saurez; Elizabeth Lambert; Needville Softball Catcher

INSTRUMENTAL AGGRESSION

Primary goal to achieve external reward or external goal; Intent to harm victim is present, but is not ultimate goal; Aggressor views act as instrumental in obtaining primary goal – behavior is a means to an end (scoring, winning game, drawing foul, stealing ball, establishing dominance, etc.); Sometimes referred to as “strategic physicality”; Tactic often employed by low achiever profile athletes; Obtaining goal reinforces behavior; Most aggression is instrumental, but hostile acts are featured more in media coverage; Examples: sliding hard to break up double-play in baseball; hard foul to prevent opponent from scoring easy lay-up in basketball; hard slide tackle in soccer, etc.

ASSERTIVENESS

No intent to harm; Involves use of legitimate physical or verbal force; Done within spirit of the rules; Involves unusual effort and energy; Any resulting harm is incidental; Examples: diving for loose ball; inside pitch to prevent hitter from gaining advantage in baseball/softball

VIOLENCE

Acts of physical aggression; Physical assault with no regard for well-being of others; Illegal, outside the rules of play; Beyond hostile aggression; Example: Marty McSorley

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Aggression is learned behavior; Athlete observes others model aggression, then gets reinforced for exhibiting similar behavior; Acts of aggression lay foundation for more aggression; Pattern continues until broken by behavior modification; Research support: Stephens (2001) – likelihood to aggress predicted by players’ perception of team’s pro-aggressive norms; Viseck & Watson (2008) – study w/ hockey players from different competitive levels; participants viewed video clips of 5 examples of aggressive behavior on ice; perceived legitimacy of aggressive acts increased with age & competitive level

REVISED FRUSTRATION-AGGRESSION THEORY

Frustration increases likelihood of aggression by increasing arousal & anger; Heightened arousal & anger result in aggression when socially learned cues are present; Frustration creates readiness for aggression; Stimuli/situation associated with aggression must be present for aggressive behavior to occur; Interactional Model: Considers athlete’s level of arousal/anger in context of socially learned environmental cues to explain behavior; Has research support

SUMMARY

Most aggression in sport is instrumental; Neither instrumental or hostile aggression is acceptable behavior; Aggression is learned behavior; Aggressive behavior can be understood as interaction of traits, situation, and socialization; Behavior modification can be used to decrease likelihood of aggression occurring