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Abstract
Objectives
The current investigation examined the mediating role of an athlete's birthplace (e.g., North America, Europe) on the use of aggressive behavior in professional ice hockey. In doing so, the study attempts to uncover whether or not the use of aggressive behavior in professional ice hockey is better understood according to within-competition determinants (e.g., score differential) or should be explored in the future using broader social factors (e.g., cultural socialization).
Design and method
The study was archival in nature and utilized the penalty records from the first 200 games of the 2003–2004 NHL regular season. A total of 2185 penalties were recorded and categorized according to Widmeyer and Birch's [1978. Results from an aggression questionnaire administered to professional hockey players at Huron Hockey School. Unpublished manuscript, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont.] and Widmeyer and McGuire's [1997. Frequency of competition and aggression in professional ice hockey. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 28, 57–66] hockey aggression criteria.
Results
The results indicated that North American players committed significantly more aggressive, and non-aggressive, acts than did their European counterparts. However, the distribution of both group's aggressive acts were relatively similar when examined according to the determinants under investigation (e.g., score differential). Subsequent analyses revealed that no significant performance differences existed between the two groups, indicating that either style of play is conducive to success in the NHL.
Conclusion
These results appear to refute the commonly held notion that aggressive behavior is a natural by-product of the frustration inherent within hockey, and also that such behaviors facilitate performance. Rather, these behaviors may be better explained as learned responses that are modeled and reinforced differently for each athlete. Moreover, that these early learning experiences play an important role in shaping the future behavioral repertoires of these athletes, and are therefore deserving of future attention.
Introduction
Violent and aggressive behaviors have become relatively common in the sport of ice hockey, with a substantial body of literature concerned with the determinants and consequences of these behaviors (McMurty, 1974; Pascall, 2000; Tenenbaum, Stewart, Singer, & Duda, 1997). However, studies interested in these intentionally harmful behaviors have focused solely on the conduct of North American ice hockey players, and thus have neglected a large segment of the sport's participants (e.g., Europeans). This investigation attempts to address this limitation by examining the use of aggressive behavior with an international sample of professional ice hockey players.
One of the barriers facing researchers interested in examining hockey aggression cross culturally lies in the fact that Europeans and North Americans play the game of ice hockey under considerably different conditions. More specifically, the European game of ice hockey is played on international size ice surfaces (200′×100′), while the North American game is played on the NHL size ice surfaces (200′×85′). At first glance this may not seem like a substantial difference, but in a game where physical contact and a confined playing surface are believed to be at least partially responsible for aggressive behavior, such a difference is significant (Wennberg, 2004). Also, the Europeans play by the international ice hockey rulebook, which includes differences in the use of the red line (e.g., no two line passes in Europe) and also the degree to which certain infractions are penalized. This second difference may not necessarily be due to a different conceptualization of the infraction, rather the formal punishment associated with these indiscretions. For example, fighting is almost entirely absent from the European game of hockey, whereas it is a relatively frequent occurrence in North American hockey games. According to the IIHF or European rule book, athletes engaged in fisticuffs will be assessed a 10min misconduct penalty, whereas the NHL or North American rule book, only stipulates a 5min penalty. Nevertheless, such external and confounding factors have made the direct comparison of North American and European hockey very difficult.
In light of the fact that aggressive behavior has never been empirically studied cross-culturally, it is interesting that a marked difference in the exhibition of aggressive behavior is believed to exist between North American and European hockey players (Beacon, 1998; Buczkowski, 2000; Grossman & Hines, 1996; McCreath, 2002). These behavioral differences are currently anecdotal; however, such speculations do provide the impetus to examine these behaviors using a more diverse sample of players.
Fortunately for the study of aggressive behavior in hockey, the national hockey league (NHL) has become increasingly more heterogeneous over the years, with European born players currently accounting for over one-third of the NHL roster (IIHF, 2001). As a result, aggressive behavior in hockey can now be examined using an international sample of players participating under common competitive conditions (e.g., rink size, penalty infractions). In doing so, the influence of previously cited influential factors (e.g., score differential, player position) may be re-evaluated on a more diverse sample of athletes, with broader social explanations (e.g., socialization, cultural values) concerning the etiology of aggressive behavior in hockey also being explored.
Currently, two theoretical frameworks dominate the research concerned with aggressive behavior in hockey. Both explanations are supported by a body of literature, yet neither has included an international sample of players. As a result, the current study may also help advance our theoretical understanding of the etiology of these sporting behaviors.
Section snippets
Frustration–aggression hypothesis
According to the frustration–aggression hypothesis (Berkowitz, 1989), when an individual is blocked from achieving a particular goal (e.g., possessing the puck, winning), feelings of frustration often result. These feelings of frustration then increase the likelihood that an athlete will vent these emotions in an aggressive manner, with this aggression usually being directed towards the source of the frustration (e.g., an opposing player). For example, in a controlled laboratory setting, Leith
Social learning theory
In accordance with the social learning framework (Bandura, 1962), athletes learn and adopt aggressive behavior by observing others (i.e., models) perform these acts, and then decide to replicate these behaviors based on the consequences of that model's behavior (i.e., reward or punishment). Simply put, an individual who observes an athlete committing an aggressive act (e.g., fighting), and also observes them being rewarded for doing so (e.g., applause, financial compensation), will likely
Aggression–performance relationship
One of the most widely held, and unfounded, beliefs among North American hockey players, parents and coaches alike, is that aggressive behavior and performance are positively related (Widmeyer, 1984). These individuals believe that aggressive tactics provide their team with a psychological advantage, which inevitably translates into an overall performance advantage (Smith, 1975). However, the empirical research conducted on this hypothesized relationship has been equivocal.
At the individual
Data base
Data was collected from the first 200 games of the 2003–2004 NHL regular season. This represents roughly 1/4 of the entire season and is comparable to other investigations that have employed an archival design (Russell & Russell, 1984). All 30 NHL teams competed on multiple occasions during this time period. The relevant information was obtained from the official game reports posted on the NHL's official website (www.nhl.com).
For each infraction, information was recorded for both the player
Aggressive behavior
A total of 2185 penalties were issued across the 200 games under investigation. Of these, 1266 were classified as aggressive (Widmeyer & Birch, 1984; Widmeyer & McGuire, 1997) with the remaining 919 receiving a non-aggressive classification. The frequency distribution of the aggressive and non-aggressive infractions can be found in Table 2.
With respect to the exhibition of aggressive behavior, a significant difference was observed between European and North American players χ2 (1,
Discussion
The purpose of the current investigation was to assess whether European and North American hockey players differed in their use of aggressive behavior, as well as to examine if these different playing styles translate into subsequent performance differences. The results support the widely held notion that North American players are significantly more aggressive than their European counterparts. Not only did North American players commit significantly more aggressive penalties, but they also
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- A media analysis of a sport celebrity: Understanding an informal " team cancer" role as a socio-cultural construction
2012, Psychology of Sport and Exercise
Citation Excerpt :
In contrast to upholding the hockey moral code as truth, an opposing discourse emerged when discussing the sloppy seconds incident: the hockey moral code as an illusion and hypocrisy. In these media narratives it was suggested that given the actual practices within the sport such as misogyny, sanctioned aggression and unsportsmanlike trash talk on the ice (Gee & Leith, 2007) it was ridiculous to position Avery’s actions as unthinkable. As previously mentioned, sport sociology researchers have posited that sport is assumed to be a protected domain bound by moral and ethical values, but that belief is an illusion and myth (Coakley & Donnelly, 2009; Whannel, 2002).
Negative informal roles in sport such as a “team cancer” warrant further attention because of the association with athletes’ negative psychological experiences, impaired team processes, and reduced performance. The purpose of the current study is to extend understandings of the team cancer role by analyzing the socio-cultural context (i.e., sport media narratives surrounding a sport celebrity and key media incident) within which one “team cancer” was constituted in a professional sport context.
National Hockey League (NHL) star Sean Avery was the sport celebrity of interest. The key media incident was the “sloppy seconds” comment made by Avery regarding his former girlfriend. The comment was an attack towards the opposing team’s defenseman, who was dating her. Newspaper representations of the comment (n=62) were explored via ethnographic content analysis (see Altheide, 1996).
It was found that the depiction of the team cancer emerged differently depending on two paradoxical discourses found within the media: a hockey moral code as truth vs. a hockey moral code as hypocrisy. This paradox surrounding the morality of sport was exemplified within the two hockey moral code discourses surrounding the personification of Avery’s team cancer identity and the “sloppy seconds incident”.
This study adds to our understanding regarding how the media influences the construction of an informal team cancer role from one professional sport incident. This focus opens up a window of new understandings and possibilities for research and application beyond current theories and understandings of negative informal team roles in sport psychology.
Aggression among Slovak males training in martial arts versus other sports disciplines
2021, Ido Movement for Culture
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