Differential reactions of virtual actors and observers to the triggering and interruption of psychological momentum

The present study compared virtual actors’ and observers’ perceptions of positive and negative psychological momentum (PM) and their responses to sudden interruptions of momentum. Participants with experience playing competitive table tennis imagined that they were playing a table tennis game (virtual actors), whereas participants who lacked experience playing competitive table tennis imagined that they were observing a table tennis game (observers). While viewing an audiovisual simulation of a table tennis match, participants were exposed to either an ascending (i.e., positive momentum) or descending (i.e., negative momentum) scoring sequence that was either suddenly interrupted or not interrupted at all. Participants’ PM perceptions were measured at the conclusion of the simulation. Results indicated that observers’ PM perceptions were lower than were virtual actors’ following the negative momentum sequence. More generally, interrupting positive momentum lowered PM perceptions, whereas interrupting negative momentum increased PM perceptions. Implications for the study of PM in sport are discussed.     

The ‘Enforcer’ in Elite-Level Sport: A Conceptual Critique

The role of the ‘enforcer’ in elite-level sports contests is a familiar one. Simply, the role involves establishing or restoring a ‘moral balance’ to the sporting encounter when it is absent – usually when match officials are thought to be failing to apply the laws/rules of the game. How the enforcer secures this outcome is more morally contentious as it may involve deliberate violations of the laws/rules of the sport. In this paper we consider the role of the enforcer in rugby union. First we interrogate some of the extant sports ethics literature and explore the notion of ‘fairness’ in the well-played game, including the role of the enforcer. Second, we illustrate conceptually how the ethos of elite sport as a moral discourse creates a theoretical platform from which to assess the intervention of an enforcer. Third, we address the role of match officials as members of the practice community from an institutional sense (what the international governing body for rugby union makes explicit) and from an empirical sense (what actually occurs or might occur) in the circumstances that precipitate the intervention of ‘enforcers’. We conclude that the conceptual tension between the laws and the spirit (ethos) of the game is reflected in the choices facing players when playing the game.     

Institutionalisation in E-Sports

Abstract

Following its economic impact and rising popularity, ‘e-sports’ has become a theme within the academic debate on sports. The current discussion revolves around the definitions of sports provided by the philosophy and sociology of sports and how in turn, this can be adapted to e-sports. The premise of this article is the analysis of ‘institutionalisation’, which is claimed to be an element of modern sport. The governance and production aspects of e-sports will be the main focus where the nature of video games with their fractured production process, the lack of a monopolistic international organisation and its relative novelty will be emphasised. Furthermore, the shaky ground on which the term ‘institutionalisation’ stands will be touched on. It will conclude that the current debate on the recognition of e-sports as a sport may experience certain pitfalls if it does not solve the fundamental problems regarding institutionalisation and ignores the production process of video games and e-sports.     

Hidden patterns of play interaction in soccer using SOF-CODER

Traditional methods for quantifying sport performances are limited in their capacity to describe the complex interactions of events that occur within a performance over time. The following article outlines a new approach to the study of actions between players in team sports—mainly, soccer. Since the observational design is nomothetic, point, and multidimensional, an observational and data-collecting instrument has been developed. The instrument is mixed and combines a field format with a category system for game events, as well as an ad hoc instrument that considers the game actions of one or both teams, each recorded according to the same criteria. The article also outlines a new approach to the analysis of time-based event records—in this case, sports performance—known as T-pattern detection. The relevant elements of the T-pattern detection process are explained, and exemplar data from analyses of soccer matches are presented to highlight the potential of this form of data analysis. The results suggest that it is possible to identify new kinds of profiles for both individuals and teams on the basis of observational criteria and a further analysis of temporal behavioral patterns detected within the performances.     

“Decisions,decisions, decisions”: transfer and specificity of decision-making skill between sports

The concept of transfer of learning holds that previous practice or experience in one task or domain will enable successful performance in another related task or domain. In contrast, specificity of learning holds that previous practice or experience in one task or domain does not transfer to other related tasks or domains. The aim of the current study is to examine whether decision-making skill transfers between sports that share similar elements, or whether it is specific to a sport. Participants (n = 205) completed a video-based temporal occlusion decision-making test in which they were required to decide on which action to execute across a series of 4 versus 4 soccer game situations. A sport engagement questionnaire was used to identify 106 soccer players, 43 other invasion sport players and 58 other sport players. Positive transfer of decision-making skill occurred between soccer and other invasion sports, which are related and have similar elements, but not from volleyball, supporting the concept of transfer of learning.     

Sport as strategic action: A Habermasian perspective

The purpose of this paper is to explore the moral status of sport through a conceptual structure borrowed from Jürgen Habermas's philosophy and social theory. Habermas distinguishes between communicative and strategic action as two ways in which social action may be coordinated. While the former relies on the building of mutual understanding between social agents, the latter entails one agent manipulating others, as if they were mere objects to be treated instrumentally. In an initial model of sporting practice, it is suggested that sport primarily involves strategic action and in particular encourages the undermining of one's opponent's autonomy. This model is subject to criticism, by scrutinising Habermas's interpretation of the Wittgensteinian notion of a language game, and thus the relationship between communicative language-use and strategic games playing. It will be suggested that games playing has more in common with language-use than Habermas acknowledges, thereby opening up a space for genuinely communicative and expressive action within sport. In conclusion, it will be suggested that the moral significance of sport lies in the fact that its communicative and expressive potential can only be exercised against the moral threat of the dominance of strategic action.     

Testing the triple-match principle among Dutch elite athletes: A day-level study on sport demands,detachment and recovery

ObjectivesDetachment, getting a physical, cognitive, and emotional break from the effortful demands of training and competition, is a recovery experience that can buffer the adverse effects of high sport demands on health and well-being. The matching hypothesis states that recovery strategies are most effective when they match particular sport demands. The main aim of this study was to investigate the matching hypothesis with respect to the relation between daily sport demands, detachment, and recovery state among elite athletes.DesignA one-week online daily diary study was conducted. Multilevel regression analyses tested within-subject associations between daily sport demands, detachment, and recovery state at bedtime, while controlling for recovery state in the morning.MethodSixty-eight elite athletes completed a daily diary survey after waking up (T1) and at bedtime (T2) across eight consecutive days.ResultsResults showed that daily physical detachment was positively related to daily physical recovery, whereas daily emotional detachment was positively related to daily cognitive recovery and emotional recovery. Moderating effects of daily detachment on the relation between daily sport demands and daily recovery state occurred more often when there was a match between specific types of sport demands, detachment, and recovery state rather than when there was less match or no match.ConclusionsFindings indicate that physical and emotional detachment are effective recovery strategies for elite athletes. Moreover, it is important that detachment matches the type of effort that has been spent to find the strongest stress-buffering effects.     

Emotional experiences in youth tennis

ObjectivesTo explore adolescents' emotional experiences in competitive sport. Specifically, this study sought to identify, 1) The emotions adolescents' experience at tennis tournaments, 2) The precursors of the emotions they experience, and, 3) How adolescents attempt to cope with these emotions.DesignCase-study.MethodFour adolescent tennis players competed in four or five tennis matches under the observation of a researcher. Immediately following each match, participants completed a post-match review sheet and a semi-structured interview. A further semi-structured interview was completed at the end of the tournament. Review sheets, notes from match observations, and video recordings of matches were used to stimulate discussions during final interviews. All data were analyzed following the procedures outlined by Miles and Huberman (1994).ResultsParticipants cited numerous positively and negatively valenced emotions during matches and tournaments. Participants' emotions seemed to be broadly influenced by their perceptions of performance and outcomes, as well as their opponent's behavior and player's perceptions of their own behavior. Participants described various strategies to cope with these emotions, such as controlling breathing rate, focusing on positive thoughts, and individualized routines. Further, if participants perceived them to be facilitative, negative emotions could be beneficial for performance.ConclusionThis study provided original insights into the complexity of adolescent athletes' emotional experiences at competitions and highlights the critical need for further in-depth examinations of youth sport to fully comprehend the experiences of young people. Most notably, the findings highlight the necessity of considering the impact of both intra- and interpersonal influences on adolescents' emotional experiences, while also accounting for temporal changes.     

High and mighty: Height increases authority in professional refereeing

Throughout the animal kingdom, larger males are more likely to attain social dominance. Several lines of evidence suggest that this relationship extends to humans, as height is positively related to dominance, status and authority. We hypothesized that height is also a determinant of authority in professional refereeing. According to the International Football Association Board, FIFA, football ("soccer") referees have full authority to enforce the laws of the game and should use their body language to show authority and to help control the match. We show that height is indeed positively related to authority status: referees were taller than their assistants (who merely have an advisory role) in both a national (French League) and an international (World Cup 2010) tournament. Furthermore, using data from the German League, we found that height was positively associated with authoritative behavior. Taller referees were better able to maintain control of the game by giving fewer fouls, thereby increasing the "flow of the game". Referee height was also positively associated with perceived referee competence, as taller referees were assigned to matches in which the visiting team had a higher ranking. Thus, height appears to be positively related to authority in professional refereeing.     

Fractal Structure of Event Segmentation: Lessons From Reel and Real Events

We investigated fractality in the segmentation of cinematic and live events. Four movies from distinct genres were first analyzed and found to be fractal, albeit in different regions of the fractal range. In Experiment 1, viewers parsed the films' events, attending to short or long timescales, using a button box to indicate break points. The temporal structure of film viewing was found to be fractal regardless of the scale of attention and to reflect the differing fractal editing structure of the films. Experiment 2 found event segmentation to be fractal in a natural setting, a basketball game, as well. An additional parallel between reel and real events was uncovered: fractal indices were at the higher end of the range for both the film genre intended to be anxiogenic and the more suspenseful portion of the basketball game. We argue that the fractal structure of perception reflects the fractal structure of events whether the events are in film or in nature. We speculate that fractal structure has implications for understanding subjective experience and, ultimately, the correspondence between films and the world.     

eSport Gaming: The Rise of a New Sports Practice

Over recent years, the eSport phenomenon has grown in players and audience. The broadcast of certain eSport events have become worldwide mass events. Conceiving eSport gaming as an actual sports practice is not yet common, but it is current issue that deserves careful attention. This article stands on the idea that eSport gaming could be considered a sport and it examines some reasons on that regard. First of all, the piece will elucidate what the practice of gaming involves and if there are reasons to consider the claim that it can be an actual sports practice. Secondly, it will address the distinctive features that eSport gaming as a sport may have. Thirdly, it wants to explore and explain an example of an eSport worldwide success which is the case of League of Legends. And finally, it will introduce and briefly discuss some sports issues this new sports practice would encounter in the near future and which might derive into policy matters.     

A PSYCHO-PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF FOULS AND INTENTIONS IN CONTACT SPORTS

This paper examines the notion of fouls in sports. In the first part of the paper, we examine some actual distinctions and classifications between different kinds of fouls. In the second part we examine the significance, validity, and justification of these classifications from a normative perspective.The term ‘foul’ evokes negative connotation; some would say—negative normative connotations. Conventional wisdom suggests that typically to commit fouls is, by definition, to go against the rules or principles of the contest. Since sport contests are constitutive activities—this means that to foul is to go against the essence of the contest. In other words, to commit fouls seems not to play the game; it seems unsporting. Consider the following typical example: in a premiership match in 2014 Hull’s forward Nikica Jelavic spun around Company and had a clear path to the goal. Manchester City’s defender Vincent Kompany then held him back. Although immediately ejected from the game, it is noteworthy that Kompany was later banned from one match, rather than the usual three match suspension, because the foul was not violent or dangerous in any way. Nevertheless, the example shows that some fouls are considered unsporting even though they do not involve violent or dangerous play. If a player gets past her opponent and finds herself in front of the goal, and then her opponent hugs her forcefully from behind, then such a foul falls outside the bounds of play. It amounts to a refusal to accept the rules of the games. We explore this issue from both a philosophical and a psychological perspective. The first half of the paper shows how actual distinctions between fouls depend on awarding a normative role to intentions. In the second part, a difficulty regarding the possibility that intentions play this role is presented, and a solution is proposed. It will emerge that some fouls are a legitimate part of the game. According to the proposed view, some actions that are forbidden by the official rules of football are illegitimate when performed with intention of a certain kind. Specifically, we will argue that it is legitimate for a player to play so as to take the risk of fouling, so long as fouling is not her intention. When fouls are committed with such a state of mind, they are a part of the game. Furthermore, whereas intention is necessary for illegitimate fouls, it is not sufficient. We will argue briefly that there are also legitimate intended fouls, since some deals or exchanges—fouls in return to penalties—are considered an integral part of the game, and that this view of (some) fouls is legitimate.     

Sportsmanship

What is sportsmanship? Following Keating, we may say that sportsmanship is conduct befitting a person involved in sports. This raises the question of what kind of activity exactly sport is. This is notoriously difficult to answer, but roughly speaking, sport is a rule-governed activity that is about excellence, an understanding of how to play the game, and, in competitive sports, winning. Accordingly, there are four elements of sportsmanship: fairness, equity, good form and the will to win. These four elements are equally important and not reducible to one another. Yet, the will to win is in systematic conflict with the other three elements. Hence, sportsmanship is not only compromised of these four elements, but also requires that a balance be held between them.     

Two Kinds of Brain Injury in Sport

Abstract

After years of skepticism and denials regarding the significance of concussions in sport, the issue is now front and center. This is fitting, given that the impact of concussions in sport is profound. Thus, it is with trepidation that one ventures to direct some attention onto brain injuries other than concussions incurred through sport. Given a closer look, however, it may be that considering various kinds of brain injuries, with different causes, will help us better understand the range and seriousness of brain injuries in sport. My focus is on emotional trauma in sport. I argue that severe emotional pathology is evidence of underlying brain injury. Any attempt to minimize the significance of emotional disturbance that results from emotional trauma as ‘merely’ psychological in nature is thus misguided.     

Making Sense of the Philosophy of Sport

Beginning from an earlier claim of mine that there was really no such area of study as the philosophy of sport, Part One of the paper reconsiders the place previously given to David Best’s distinction between purposive sports and aesthetic sports. In light of a famous cricketing event in the 1977 contest between England and Australia (‘The Ashes’), in which Derek Randall turned a cartwheel after taking the winning catch, the paper clarifies that not all aesthetically-pleasing events taking place in sporting competitions can be understood as the aesthetic in sport. Then, in Part Two, the force of the claim that philosophy is one subject is explored. The conclusion is that a focus just on the philosophy of sport is necessarily inappropriate, since it will present the student with only cases from sport to then apply to sport. Rather, one’s understanding must be informed by (much of) the breadth of philosophy. Charles Travis’s view of occasion-sensitivity provides a clear example of appropriately contextual appeal. Part Three of the paper returns to the need for an institutional account of sport, one recognizing that there is no one occasion on which a particular sport is played; and hence no single set of conditions which can uniquely identify that sport. Thus, soccer played with one’s children typically differs from elite soccer: but both are (genuinely) soccer. When one turns to the appreciation of sport (in the light of Stephen Mumford’s excellent Watching Sport: Aesthetics, Ethics and Emotion [2012a]), one recognizes that, in order to genuinely appreciate sport, one cannot detach oneself from the outcome as completely as Mumford’s extreme purist seems to. But reflection on that case may also return us to contextualism by moving us away from attachments to the complete or the exceptionless in our accounts of spectating as of sport: maybe there is no one thing that occurs in all the relevant cases.     

Engaging in distancing tactics among sport fans: effects on self-esteem and emotional responses

The authors examined the effects of distancing tactics on self-esteem and emotions, following a win or loss of one's favorite team. They measured state self-esteem and emotional responses of basketball fans as they exited the sport arena after their team had won or lost an official game. Half of the fans were given the opportunity to increase or decrease their association with the team before the measures of self-esteem and emotions; the remaining fans were given the opportunity after the measures. The fans tended to associate more with the team after team success than after team failure. In addition, self-esteem and positive emotions were higher, and negative emotions lower, when measured after, rather than before, the opportunity to increase or decrease association with the team. Those effects were more pronounced among high-team-identification fans than among low-team-identification fans. The results suggest a distinction between the short- and long-term effects of game outcome on the willingness to associate with one's team. In the short term, willingness to associate with the team may oscillate in accordance with team performance, even among high-team-identification fans; in the long term, only high-team-identification fans may maintain their allegiance to the team.     

The Moral Philosophy of Raimond Gaitaand Some Questions of Methodin the Philosophy of Religion

Raimond Gaita's moral philosophy is distinguished by, among other things, its attention to the role of embodied, enacted witness in disclosing certain moral values, and its understanding of the emotions as forms of thought. In this paper, I consider how Gaita's insights on these matters may be applied to certain questions in the philosophy of religion, paying particular attention to the nature of religious experience and 'the problem of evil'. I suggest that Gaita's discussion of how we come to recognise moral values or 'meanings' can be extended to the question of how we might recognise religious meanings. On this view, religious experience may take the form of an appreciation of the meaning borne by a material context (rather than, for example, some supra-sensory encounter with a supernatural agent), and our sense of the goodness or otherwise of the world may be answerable to the authoritative example of particular lives.     

Developmental change in young children's use of haptic information in a visual task: the role of hand movements

Preschoolers who explore objects haptically often fail to recognize those objects in subsequent visual tests. This suggests that children may represent qualitatively different information in vision and haptics and/or that children’s haptic perception may be poor. In this study, 72 children (2½-5 years of age) and 20 adults explored unfamiliar objects either haptically or visually and then chose a visual match from among three test objects, each matching the exemplar on one perceptual dimension. All age groups chose shape-based matches after visual exploration. Both 5-year-olds and adults also chose shape-based matches after haptic exploration, but younger children did not match consistently in this condition. Certain hand movements performed by children during haptic exploration reliably predicted shape-based matches but occurred at very low frequencies. Thus, younger children’s difficulties with haptic-to-visual information transfer appeared to stem from their failure to use their hands to obtain reliable haptic information about objects.     

One Play Cannot be Known to Win or Lose a Game: a Fallibilist Account of Game

This paper discusses what it means to be a good sport. It offers an account of sportsmanship rooted in the proper understanding of the limited role each participant plays during a specific sporting contest. It aims at showing that, from a fallibilist perspective, although it may perhaps be logically possible for a single play to win or lose a sporting event, it makes epistemologically no sense to single out a particular game action, moment or decision as the crucial one which determined victory or defeat. Our view, we shall argue, is consistent with the empirical nature of sporting activities. Since there can be no such a thing as a perfect game, and because no single known human mind is in a position to know with any degree of certainty how each act of game-playing relates to the outcome of a whole game, it makes almost no sense to assign whole-game success or failure to single acts of brilliance or failure.