Aggression in sport: the influence of neutral exercise on aggression, testosterone, cortisol, and cardiac vagal activity

Aggression and violence are significant phenomena in sports (Coulomb-Cabagno & Rascle, 2006). Although sport and exercise have been hypothesized to reduce aggressive behavior, it is still unclear whether this causal relationship exists, especially what mechanisms can explain this putative effect (Kleinert & Kleinknecht, 2012). Studies suggest that the way how sport affects aggression depends on various factors, for instance, the type of exercise (Chermette & Pels, 2020). It has already been shown that sports with little or no physical contact with an opponent can reduce aggressive feelings, but aggression was measured subjectively (Pels & Kleinert, 2016). With the aim of further and causally addressing the unclear relationship between exercise and aggression, our study investigates the acute effect of exercise on aggression from a psychophysiological perspective. We expect that a neutral form of exercise, namely exercise on an ergometer, can reduce aggressive tendencies in men compared to a non-exercise activity. Aggressive tendencies are operationalized via increased aggressive feelings on a subjective level as well as increased aggressive behavior, increased testosterone levels, decreased cortisol levels, and decreased cardiac vagal activity on an objective level. Reactive aggression is induced using the point subtraction aggression paradigm (Geniole et al., 2017). The present study spans methods of neuroendocrinology, affective neuroscience, and sports psychology to explore the foundations and mechanisms of aggressive behavior as well as to test a potential intervention method against aggression in sports. Results of this study will be presented at the conference.