Competition decreases exercise potential for aggression reduction: a psychophysiological experiment.
Exercise is often used as an intervention to reduce aggressive behaviour. However, despite this widespread use, it is unclear under what conditions exercise can reduce aggressive behaviour. Competition is believed to increase aggressive behaviour through aggressive thoughts, feelings, and physiologi...
| Publicado en: | International Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology Vol. 24; no. 6; pp. 1081 - 1104 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jul2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195593397&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195593397 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 1612197X UXG jtl: International Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology issn: 1612197X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2026 vid: 24 iid: 6 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 195593397 10.1080/1612197X.2025.2500496 ppf: 1081 ppct: 23 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 689KB tig: atl: Competition decreases exercise potential for aggression reduction: a psychophysiological experiment. aug: au: Borges, Uirassu Schwalb, Florian Javelle, Florian Hartmann, Ulrike Pels, Fabian Chermette, Chloé Kleinert, Jens affil: Department of Health and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany NeuroPsychoImmunology Research Unit, Department for Molecular and Cellular Sports Medicine, Institute for Cardiovascular Research and Sports Medicine, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany su: Aggression (Psychology) Sports competitions Physical activity Behavioral research Psychophysiology Testosterone Vagal tone Adrenocortical hormones sug: subj: Aggression (Psychology) Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities Sports competitions Physical activity Behavioral research Psychophysiology Testosterone Vagal tone Adrenocortical hormones keyword: competitive reaction time task dual-hormone hypothesis general aggression model heart rate variability neurovisceral integration model competitive reaction time task dual-hormone hypothesis general aggression model heart rate variability neurovisceral integration model ab: Exercise is often used as an intervention to reduce aggressive behaviour. However, despite this widespread use, it is unclear under what conditions exercise can reduce aggressive behaviour. Competition is believed to increase aggressive behaviour through aggressive thoughts, feelings, and physiological responses. This study aims to investigate the acute effects of competitive vs. non-competitive exercise on regulating competition-induced aggression by considering both behavioural and physiological measurements. Seventy-three male students took part in the randomised controlled trial. After a competition-based aggression induction, participants were asked to exercise on a bicycle ergometer at moderate intensity in two conditions: against a fictitious opponent (competition group) or alone (individual group). After exercise, aggressive behaviour was measured using the hot-sauce paradigm. As physiological indices of aggression, testosterone, cortisol, and cardiac vagal activity were measured at different time points. The competition group showed more aggressive behaviour after exercise than the individual group (t(71) = 2.12, p =.037, d = 0.50). However, there were no differences between groups at a physiological level. The study indicates that engaging in exercise without a competitive stimulus can lead to less aggressive behaviour than exercising with a competitive stimulus. Nonetheless, this effect may not be strong enough to cause differences at the physiological level. These findings show the potential of non-competitive exercise to reduce aggression. However, manipulation of competitive settings should consider potential factors to further optimise this effect, by inducing physiological reaction such as the intensity of aggression and the intensity of exercise. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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