Sports And Aggressiveness Term paper

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Sport and aggressive behavior, Do sports create aggressive behavior, or simply

attract people who are already aggressive? Aggression and sport have gone

together as long as sports have been around, be it the players themselves, to

the parents, coaches, or spectators, they just seem to be an inseparable part of

each other. The term violence is defined as physical assault based on total

disregard for the well being of self and others, or the intent to injure another

person ( 2. Coakley). Intimidation usually does not cause physical harm, but

often is designed to produce psychological consequences, enabling one person to

physically over power or dominate another. These statements as defined by the

author, Jay J. Coakley, is what people today have made a must part on sport.

Pleasure and participation sports absolutely cannot be grouped with power and

performance sports when in relation to aggression.Pleasure sports are simply

played for pleasure. Score is usually not kept. The athletes participating are

usually on occasion doing it for fun and exercise. A majority of athletes who

have been playing sports since they were little, have probably been pounded into

their heads that to be successful in sport, you need to be aggressive, and at

some times, unnecessary. Also that to get what you want, you have to go at it

with all force. Not that this is wrong but, this attitude in today's society has

been a major problem factor to the athletes when they get older, to get into

trouble with the law. Those long-term effects of so called discipline, patterns

develops these destructive behaviors. (9. Montague) Although some people are

still in belief that aggressive behaviors in all forms, are grounded into

instincts, but they also relate these actions to sports. Their parents played,

who were known for their aggressive behavior, so the child feels that they have

to live up to that expectation.( 6. Storr) Athletes do have to be aggressive to

a point, so that the team can form a strategy to win. There is also a limit to

aggression when it turns into violence. People might say that it's not

aggression or violence, it's just adrenaline pumping. Adrenaline isn't even

similar to violence. Aggression, maybe, but nothing that would be harmful to

anyone else. This might be a factor to why contact sports are so popular. For

example, football, hockey, rugby, wrestling, and boxing. Contrary to predictions

of instinct theory, several studies show that contact sports exist and thrive in

the same societies that have high rates of aggression and violence.

Unfortunately, another belief is that contact sports teach discipline,

self-respect, and self-defense. (8. May ) Contact sports aren't a positive way

to teach these things. Being physically tough helps, but it also needs to be

left on the field when the game is over. This can also lead to the abuse of

family, girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, and any other person who gets in their

"way", because athletes use these sports as a way to get their

aggression and angers out. ( 10. Hauser, Powers, Noam ) Other's might argue that

it's skill, and not in the least way violent. Although we really can't give a

straight and to the point answer to the question "Is aggression an

Instinct?" We can say that in man, as in other animals, there exists a

physiological mechanism, when stimulated, it rises both subjective feelings of

anger and to physical changes, which relate to fighting. This is easily set off,

and like other emotional responses, it is very stereotyped, and instinctive.

Just like one person is like a very angry person; they resemble one another at

the psychological level. The way in which humans adapt to and control their

feelings of rage. ( 5. Toch) The mechanisms in which these body changes, the

functions that come about is still completely misunderstood. ( 5. Toch)

Experiments from animal's show that it appears that there is a small area from

the base of the brain in which the feeling of anger starts. This, from which is

sent to the nervous impulses that cause the blood pressure to rise. This area is

called the hypothalamus. Its function is to coordinate responses like anger. ( 3

Diamond) The relationship between anger, rage, and violence, and psychopathology

that is abnormal, or unnatural in human behavior and experience. People

demonstrate their anger reactions in different ways. Similar to most human

behavior, violence has a meaning that it only seems "senseless" or

"meaningless" to the extent that we are unable to understand it. Most

violence starts the fiery human emotions of anger and rage. Not all violent

behavior has its origins in anger and rage; some of it is learned, as mentioned

before. Some violence is driven primarily by as Friedrich Nietzsche referred as

"the will to power". In other words, rage. ( 3. Diamond) Rage is an

instinctual and defensive reaction to severe stress, or physical threat. This is

an automatic reflex that people share with animals. This response to serious

threat is referred to by Walter Cannon as the "fight or flight"

response. It's the first defense for the survival of the species. Any other

threat to the continued physical existence, a person would have the instinct to

try to leave, or if they can't, then physically defend them by attacking the

source of the threat. ( 7 . Hawkins, Fredman ) Relating to the fact that men are

more aggressive than women are, studies shown in several cases those

testosterone levels in young men especially are. The high levels of endogenous

testosterone seem to encourage behavior apparently intended to dominate, to

enhance one's status over other people. ( 9. Montague) Sometimes aggressive

behavior is aggressive, it's apparent intent being to inflict harm on another

person, but often dominance is expressed nonaggressively. Measurement of

testosterone at a single point in time presumably indicator of a man's basal

testosterone level, predicts many of these dominant behaviors. Numerous animal

experiments, this one particular to rodents, show that raising testosterone

increases aggressiveness. This is in relation to the dominance and antisocial

behavior related to the individuals. An individual can be said to act dominantly

if it's apparent intent is to achieve or maintain high status, to obtain power

influence, or valued prerogatives. Rodents do typically dominate aggressively,

but it isn't true of humans. Much of interpersonal behavior is overtly or subtly

concerned with managing dominance and subordination without causing physical

harm. It is harder to identify instances of aggression of a dominating motives,

things related to religious sacrifices. It is understood that motivations are

different from different situations for dominance and aggression. ( 1. Felson,

Tedeschi) Clinical science assumes that all men are capable of bloody

destructiveness. It maintains that image with most people who do away with their

hatreds and, and although There are some instances where this effort fails. Some

people are so shy about their aggressiveness that when they are provoked in the

least little way, they become so violent that they are unbearable. Even a slight

review of violent conduct suggests that violence isn't blind, and random.

Members of fighting gangs are frequently nonviolent when separated from their

members. Many extremely dangerous people seem to specialize in certain areas of

victims. This is in relation to taking the aggressiveness off the field. There

is...

Violent Men; an inquiry into the pychology of violence, Hans Toch 1969 6.
Human Aggression, Anthony Storr 19681. Aggression and Violence, social
interactionists perspectives. , Richard B. Felson and James T. Tedeschi 1993 2.
Sport in Society, Issues and Controversies 6th edition, Jay J. Coakley 1998 3.
Anger, Madness, and the Daimaonic; the pyschologists genesis of Violence, evil
and creativitiy. Stephen A. Diamond 1996 4. A History of Aggression Freud, Paul
E. Stepansky 7. The Creation of Deviance, Interpersonal and organized
determinants, Richard Hawkins, Gary Fredman, 1975 8. Power and Innocence, Rollo
May 1972 9. Man and Aggression, Ashley Montague 1968 10. Adolescents and their
Families Paths of Ego Development, Stuart T. Hauser, Sally I. Powers, Gil G.
Noam 1991 You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
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