On the evolution of language and generativity.

One of the properties that most conspicuously distinguishes human language from any other form of animal communication is generativity. Language with this property therefore presumably evolved with the Homo line somewhere between H. habilis and H. sapiens sapiens. Some have suggested that it emerged relatively suddenly and completely with H. sapiens sapiens, and this view is consistent with (a) linguistic estimates as to when vocal language emerged, (b) the relatively late "explosion" of manufacture and cultural artifacts such as body ornamentation and cave drawings, and (c) evidence on changes in the vocal apparatus. However, evidence on brain size and developmental patterns of growth suggests an earlier origin and a more continuous evolution. I propose that these scenarios can be reconciled if it is supposed that generative language evolved, perhaps from H. habilis on, as a system of manual gestures, but switched to a predominantly vocal system with H. sapiens sapiens. The subsequent "cultural explosion" can then be attributed to the freeing of the hands from primary involvement in language, so that they could be exploited, along with generativity, for manufacture, art, and other activities.     

Exploring parent-athlete sport related communication outside of the sport environment with the Electronically Activated Recorder

ObjectivesThe purpose of the current study was to explore parent-athlete sport-related conversations as they naturally occurred in the private contexts that surround youth sport. A secondary aim was to understand whether male and female guardians communicate differently in sport, and whether these differences are shaped by the contexts in which they appear.DesignWe used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) to gather snippets of parents' and athletes' daily social interactions in the contexts that surround youth sport. A total of 220 audio files were gathered in the car ride to and from competition, the ice hockey arena, and at their home base (i.e., family residence of local teams and hotels for out-of-town teams) over the course of a 3-day competitive ice hockey tournament. Conversations were inductively coded using reflexive thematic analysis through a critical realist lens.ResultsHigher order themes included (a) performance-related dialogue; (b) the opportunity to discuss other social agents, and (c) parental social support. Frequency analysis revealed more instances of negative evaluations and technical instruction from fathers, whereas positive encouragement was more prominent from mothers.ConclusionThese findings present novel insight into the nature of parent-athlete interactions outside of the immediate sport-competition environment. We encourage scholars to consider the EAR for future investigation of the youth sport environment.     

On boxing: Notes on the past,present and future of a sport in transition

Boxing is a sport in transition and has been under increasing attack for about 30 years. This article examines the current status of boxing, questions the basis for criticism of the sport and draws parallels between boxing and nineteenth century prize fighting (bare-knuckle boxing). Finally, it speculates briefly about the future of the sport in light of attempts to enact legislation that would ban boxing. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 8th Annual Meeting of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, Edmonton, Canada, November 4–7, 1987.     

On boxing: Notes on the past, present and future of a sport in transition

Boxing is a sport in transition and has been under increasing attack for about 30 years. This article examines the current status of boxing, questions the basis for criticism of the sport and draws parallels between boxing and nineteenth century prize fighting (bare-knuckle boxing). Finally, it speculates briefly about the future of the sport in light of attempts to enact legislation that would ban boxing. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 8th Annual Meeting of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, Edmonton, Canada, November 4–7, 1987.     

On the evolution of adjudicated contests and the principle of invidious

Limited resources (e.g. jobs research grants, welfare, attention) are often allocated to those who desire them according to assessments of merit or deservingness made by presumably neutral judges. The resulting adjudicated contests are, in principle, more fair than other means of allocation: market economies, violence, privilege, kickbacks, etc. However, as adjudicated contests evolve they tend to attract an increasing number of qualified contestants. If resources do not expand to reward these contestants, additional tests of merit or deservingness are often invoked to make increasingly small contestant discriminations. These additional tests are shown to be breeding grounds of invidious selection vitiating the principle of fairness that characterizes the contests in which they are employed. The causes and consequences of invidious selection are discussed, as are some possibilities of their avoidance.     

Justice in sport

An attempt is made to articulate what is seen as a ‘thin’ interpretation of justice in sport and how this is understood in terms of ‘thick’ interpretations in various sociocultural settings. In this way, it is argued, sport can be better understood as a dynamic social practice.

First, a thin interpretation of justice is formulated. Sport's structural goal is to measure, compare and rank competitors according to their performances. The rule systems of sport are based on more general norms that describe how this goal can be reached in reliable and valid ways. A thin interpretation consists of norms for equal opportunity to perform and meritocratic norms that describe what inequalities are to be measured in sport and how they are to be rewarded. Secondly, various socio-cultural understandings of the thin interpretation are discussed. Five ideal-typical thick interpretations are given: the purist, the cynic, the rationalist, the supporter and the consumer. These positions represent different and to a certain extent contradictory interpretations of the thin justice scheme. Some positions even seem to reject it. This scheme indicates potentially radical changes in sport as we know it.     

The influence of the Chinese sport system and Chinese cultural characteristics on Olympic sport psychology services

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of sociocultural factors on Chinese Olympic sport psychology services.Design and methodsFifteen sport psychology consultants (SPCs), who served Chinese national teams for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, participated in this study after the Olympics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted within three months of the closing of the Olympics, followed by a hybrid approach to inductive and deductive thematic analyses.ResultsTwo general dimensions of sociocultural influence on Chinese Olympic sport psychology services were identified: (a) the Whole-Nation System and (b) Chinese cultural characteristics. They consisted of eight higher order themes, which comprised 26 lower order themes. This study revealed that Chinese sport psychology services were enhanced by recognizing the features of the Whole-Nation System (e.g., resource centralization and top-down management) and the successful blending of these features with Chinese cultural characteristics (e.g., holistic thinking style, keeping face and interpersonal order) into the psychological service.ConclusionsSociocultural factors had a marked influence on Chinese Olympic sport psychology services, which enabled Chinese SPCs to provide a culturally competent service (e.g., prioritizing collective interests, respecting the authority of administrative officials and coaches, and keeping face with others) for the Beijing Olympic Games.     

The link between children's sport participation and self-esteem: Exploring the mediating role of sport self-concept

Background and PurposeSport participation is positively associated with indices of adjustment, such as self-esteem, among adolescent participants. Less is known about the processes through which younger children benefit from their sport participation. The purpose of this investigation was to test whether children's sport self-concept mediated the longitudinal associations between time spent in individual- and team-oriented organized sport activities and later self-esteem.MethodsWe used four waves of data from the Childhood and Beyond Study collected from three cohorts of elementary school-aged children (N = 987), their parents, and their teachers.ResultsFindings indicated that children who spent more time in team sports, but not time in individual sports, reported higher sport self-concept, which, in turn, was associated with higher self-esteem than their peers. Multi-group analyses suggested that these relations did not vary across gender, sport ability, sport importance beliefs, or peer acceptance.ConclusionsStudy results suggested that the relations between time spent in sports and children's sport self-concept depends, in part, on whether the time was spent in team or individual sports. This investigation highlighted the value of examining mediating processes so as to better explicate the association between time in sports and self-esteem.     

运动行为领域中的调节匹配

调节匹配理论认为个体更倾向于采用与自身调节定向方式相匹配的行为策略, 并且当个体处于调节匹配状态时, 其行为表现会更好。通过梳理近年来运动领域关于调节匹配的研究发现, 调节匹配可以对运动行为的多个方面产生影响, 如促进运动员的运动表现、提高运动员的决策效能、增强体育锻炼参与度等。未来研究应注重对运动中调节匹配研究内容的扩充, 探讨调节匹配的内在机制, 并完善调节匹配的研究方法。     

On the epigenetic evolution of species-specific perception: the developmental manifold concept

As evolution proceeds, natural selection operates to preserve adaptive phenotypes. The adaptive phenotypes are produced during the course of individual development. Thus, natural selection favors animals that have had a particular developmental history, including, but not restricted to, their genes. This point is demonstrated by the importance of normally occurring embryonic sensory stimulation in the development of instinctive perception in two species of ducklings.     

Scientific origins of adolescent sport

The prominence of sport in the American secondary school curriculum owes much to 19th-century child development theories, the most prominent of which (Von Baer's Law) originated in embryology, the forerunner of modern psychology. Von Baer's Law held that embryonic development formed a condensed record of human development, that the embryo in the womb represented in miniature the overall organic evolution of man. The "law" held that youth passed through the same developmental gradations ontogenetically that the human race passed through phylogenetically; that youth repeated in their development approximately the development, from barbarity to civilization, of the human race. Indeed, they stood at a primitive developmental level and simply passed through a stage the human race had passed through thousands of years earlier. Von Baer's Law became a scientific rationale for sport in American schools, most particularly, football, which was believed to be spirited enough to "satisfy the racial claim" and mitigate against antisocial aggressiveness.     

Moral development and form of participation, type of sport, and sport experience

The present study investigated aspects of moral development in sport, according to the form of participation, type of sport, and sport experience. 510 participants, 14 to 49 years of age (M=24.9, SD=8.3) who came from organized competitive sports included athletes (n=327), referees (n=138), and coaches (n=45) in football (n = 161), handball (n = 198), and basketball (n = 150). Years of sport experience ranged from 1 to 6, 7 to 14, and 15 to 30 years of participation in sports. The Defining Issues Test was given; analysis showed no significant differences in development of moral reasoning among participants across different types of sports, forms of participation, and years of experience in sport.     

Self-determination in sport commitment

The study tested utility of self-determination and sport commitment theories to understanding young athletes' sport commitment. 343 young athletes (M= 13.5 yr., SD= +/- 1.1) from soccer, basketball, volleyball, handball, and water polo teams volunteered to participate. All completed the Sport Motivation Scale and the Sport Commitment Questionnaire. Pearson correlations showed a strong relationship between commitment and intrinsic motivation scores. In contrast, extrinsic motivation scores were not significantly correlated to commitment, whereas amotivation scores showed a negative correlation to commitment. Path analysis resulted in strong positive association of intrinsic motivation and commitment. Amotivation had small negative relation to commitment. According to the model tested, social constraints and involvement opportunities were not significant contributors to sport commitment. An alternative model supported the mediating role of enjoyment to psychological commitment. The results showed that high self-determination is supportive of sport commitment, whereas low self-determination reduces sport commitment.     

When winning is everything: On passion, identity, and aggression in sport

ObjectivesTo examine the interplay between harmonious and obsessive passion and aggressive behavior in sports. It was hypothesized that players who are obsessively-passionate about basketball should report higher levels of aggressive behaviors than harmoniously-passionate players in general, and especially under self threat.MethodsUsing the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al. (2003), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 756–767) as a guiding framework, basketball players indicated their level of passion and aggression during typical basketball situations using a self-reported questionnaire.ResultsIn Study 1, results demonstrated that athletes with a predominant obsessive passion for basketball reported higher levels of aggression on an aggression scale than athletes with a harmonious passion. In Study 2, harmoniously-passionate and obsessively-passionate athletes were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: self-threat and self-affirmation. We predicted that under self-threat, obsessively-passionate players should report higher levels of aggressive behavior than harmoniously-passionate players. However, no differences were expected between obsessively and harmoniously-passionate players in the self-affirmation condition. These hypotheses were supported.ConclusionsThe present findings reveal that having an obsessive passion is associated with aggressive behavior, especially under identity threat. Thus, the love for one's sport may lead to some maladaptive interpersonal behavior, especially if such love is rooted in a sense of identity that is contingent on doing well in that sport.     

Critical issues confronting the advancement of applied sport psychology

Abstract

Despite considerable progress over the last 10 years, applied sport psychology confronts several persistent issues that continue to limit the growth and development of the field. Specifically, issues requiring more comprehensive and proactive attention and initiatives include: the training of graduate students, the accreditation of graduate programs, the job market, and the establishment of systematic educational outreach programs. Suggestions are offered regarding how enhancements in each of the aforementioned issues can be initiated, and potential benefits gained by students, faculty, and the general public are identified and discussed. Given the climate in many academic institutions emphasizing program downsizing, sport psychology may be approaching and confronting one of the most crucial crossroads in its existence. Without direct efforts to assure academic credibility and public confidence in the standards of training and practice, sport psychology may fail to actualize a meaningful future role in the competitive field of allied health service provision.     

Retirement from sport and the loss of athletic identity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how a sample of elite athletes coped with distressful reactions to retirement from sport. As part of a larger research project, 15 former elite athletes were identified as having experienced severe emotional difficulties upon athletic career termination. Through use of a micronarrative methodology, it was determined that account making can be a significant moderator of distress during the career transition process. In addition, the quality of the account making was found to be related to present affect and overall success in coping with athletic retirement. Finally, changes in athletic identity were found to be significant determinants of adjustment for athletes upon career termination. Suggestions are presented for future research on treatment strategies for distressful reactions to retirement from sport.     

Stereotype threat affects the learning of sport motor skills

Studies have shown that stereotypical conditions can affect the performance of academic as well as motor skills (for a review see Chalabaev, Sarrazin, Fontayne, Boiché, & Clément-Guillotin, 2013). The objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of stereotype threat on the learning of a sport skill in women. Participants practiced 15 trials of a soccer dribbling task, and their learning was observed in immediate and delayed retention tests. Before practice, participants were divided into two groups which received instructions introducing the task as either involving athletic speed/power capacities, where women normally perform worse than men (stereotypical condition – ST), or as involving agility/coordination capacities, where women normally can perform similarly than men (nullified-stereotype condition – NST). They also filled out questionnaires measuring self-efficacy. Participants of the ST group showed significant lower motor performance and learning, as well as lower self-efficacy levels, than the NST group. The findings provide evidence that the learning of sport skills can be affected by stereotypical conditions. They add to the growing evidence of the impact of social-cognitive and affective factors on motor skill learning.