Mapping handball players’ reactions to aggression during a sporting event

Abstract

During sporting events, players’ reactions to opponents’ aggression vary in widely different ways. Some players are able to exert strong selfcontrol. Other players immediately react to the first aggressive act. Still other players adopt middle-ground behaviors. We examined whether it was possible to find empirical support for these qualitatively different ways to react to aggression. Handball playing was chosen because it involves a lot of physical/social interactions. Fifty amateur players were presented with a set of scenarios containing information about: the number and kind of previous aggressive acts that have affected the player; the current team’s score; the coach’s attitude to aggressive behavior among players; and the risk of being sanctioned in case of retaliation. They were asked to rate, separately, the level of anger they would experience in each case and the probability that they retaliate. Through cluster analysis, three qualitatively different ways to react to aggressive behavior during sport events were found; they were called Self-Control (44%), Depending on Circumstances (30%), and High Reactivity (14%). Implications for coaches and referees are discussed.