Mainstream Psychological Theories Of Aggression In Sport

“Sports psychology takes some of the theories and applies them to what human beings do and think when they play sport and take exercise. I do not think there is a theory of sport psychology that is independent of ‘mainstream psychology’. It takes theories of psychology and applies them to sport.” Sport and exercise science an introduction et al Dean Sewell, Phillip Watkins and Murray griffin. (2005).
There are many different factors of psychology that affect sport performance. We’re going to talk about aggression. “There has a long been a lively debate about aggression in sport. The arguments seem to focus on whether there is too much or not enough aggression in sport, or whether sport would be much better with or without aggression”. (Ker,
Gaining approval by a coach or team member.” The golden rule of the behaviourism is of course, that if the behaviour is rewarded then the likelihood that is will be repeated is increased.” Sport and exercise science introduction et al dean Sewell, Phillip Watkins and Murray Griffin (2005). This can lead to concerns of crowd behaviour and how they can influence how the players act by cheering to aggressive behaviour, it can also affect the children growing up watching the sport if aggression is accepted and encouraged within the sport. “It is paradoxical that the more physical the sport is supposed to be the less it seems that aggression spills over into the crowd.” Sport and exercise science introduction et al dean Sewell, Phillip Watkins and Murray Griffin
Modelling suggests that individuals are more likely to model themselves on people they feel they can relate to, such as individuals in the same sport or of the same gender, and that as they observe their behaviour, they attempt to copy it. Reinforcement is important because if an individual’s behaviour is reinforced or rewarded in some way, it is likely that the behaviour will be repeated.” BTEC national sports and exercise science et al Mark Adams (2007). Bandura believes that the social learning theory can be applied in sport and aggression. This happens when a performer witnesses aggression by his idol and believes it is the correct thing to do in that situation, meaning whenever the performer is in that situation, they act the same as their idol did. This theory can be linked into the different types of aggression such as instrumental aggression; used during sport with the intent to harm your opponent, they can use this to stop an opponent from gaining an advantage and is often used as a tactic in sport. This links to social learning theory because whilst growing up and watching an idol future performers believe that what their idol does is correct. This means that if there idol often distributes instrumental aggression upon other opponents, then the performer is more likely to copy this act and apply it to their own game, which is bad for