...Male Adolescent Development Through Sports Adolescence is the period between childhood and adulthood, and there are a number of changes that take place. My goal for this paper is to address the influence that participating in sports has on the social development of males through adolescence. This is a time where individuals look to find their identity, and with new parental and peer influence, this can be a tough time. I found the interesting twist for this paper to be addressing how sports help or facilitate this development, because going through my adolescence, sports were very important. I feel that participating in sports gave entry to interactions with a number of new people, to keep you socially up to date. With involvement in a league, team, etc., people can establish who they want to be by establishing their relationships with others, and progressing towards a desired identity. In addition, being part of a team allows an individual to gauge themselves against their fellow peers, and see if they are on the same level, or feel inferior. Throughout this paper I am going to explore different steps and events that take place in the social development of adolescence of males in relation to sports. A starting point for social development of adolescence is finding an individual’s identity. At this adolescent stage, you are able to think more critically and abstractly than you do when you are younger (McGrath, 2009). Therefore you can find a deeper perception of yourself...
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...Abstract This paper explores a social psychology study that reports on results from research conducted on negative stereotypes and the effects it has on certain types of people. The study focuses on the phenomenon social psychologist call the “stereotype threat” or the concern of being at risk of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group (Stone et al., 1999). Similar studies have shown that when people are confronted with negative stereotypes about their social identity they tend to perform poorly on a task. On the other hand people tend to do well on tasks when the threat to their social identity is not present. This paper examines Stone’s, Sjomeling’s, Lynch’s and Darley’s experiment focused on whether traditionally non-stigmatized groups such as white college students would also experience distress when their social identity is threatened. Stereotype Threat The anxiety or concern of confirming negative stereotypes about one’s social group in any situation is referred to as the stereotype threat by social psychologist. Ever since it was first introduce by psychologist Claude Steele, the stereotype threat has become one of the most researched topics in the field of psychology, academics, and recently in athletics. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the study: “Stereotype Threat Effects on Black and White Athletic Performance,” conducted by Jeff Stone, Mike Sjomeling, Christian Lynch, and John Darley....
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...ARTICLES Sociology o Sport Journal, 1998, 15, 1-20 f O 1998 Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc. "Disciplining the Body": HIV-Positive Male Athletes, Media Surveillance,and the Policing of Sexuality Shari Lee Dworkin and Faye Linda Wachs University of Southern California This paper analyzes how mainstream print media polices sexuality through framings of HIV-positive male athletes. We analyze the HN-positive announcements of Magic Johnson, Greg Louganis, and Tommy Morrison. Specifically, we discuss differences between the framing of gay men (Louganis) and self-identifiedheterosexual men (Johnson and Morrison). First, there is an extensive search for the ways Magic Johnson and Tommy Morrison contracted HIVIAIDS. Media coverage emphasizes that "straights can get it too" through promiscuity and a "fast lane" lifestyle. Consistent with the historically automatic conflation of HIVIAIDS with gay identity, the media pose no inquiries into the cause of Louganis' HIV transmission. We close our discussion by focusing on the meaning of extending the signifier of HIVIAIDS beyond gay bodies to include working class and black male bodies. Media surveillance of sexual identity and the body reinforces hegemonic masculinity in sport while feeding into the current sexual hierarchy in U.S. culture. Cette Ctude porte sur la f a ~ o n les mCdias Ccrits surveillent et contr6lent la sexualit6 par dont le biais de leur traitement des athlktes masculins skro-positifs.Nous analysons les annonces de skro-positivitk...
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...Comparing and Contrasting Essentialist Approaches to Social Psychology with Social Constructionist Approaches to Social Psychology. A widely recognised definition of social psychology is “an effort to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others” (Allport, 1985). However, how to measure this, the research methods to be used and what constitutes useful evidence has caused much debate in the history of social psychology. This essay will compare and contrast the two epistemologies of essentialist and social constructionist approaches to social psychology and the research methods of quantitative and qualitative used in each approach. Essentialists’ view of the world is that the properties possessed by a group are universal in that group and do not depend on context. However, a member of a group may possess other characteristics that are not required to include it as a group member but, it must not have characteristics that preclude it from being a member of the group (Burr, 1995). For example, essentialists believe that personality consists of a number of traits and personality of an individual is established by the level of each of these traits. Essentialists also believe that these traits remain more or less stable over time and it is our personality that influences behaviour (Maltby, 2010). As essentialists are able to classify groups as such, they use quantitative research...
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...Sports sponsorship and consumer purchase intention： From the perspective of consumer brand awareness 1.0 Introduction Sports sponsorship has long been crucial sources of funds for sports, literature and art as well as the social events. And after 30 year of development, sponsorship marketing has gradually become a global industry. It is widely acknowledged that sports sponsorship enhances the consumer's perception of a brand via big events. However, the study on to what extent the sports sponsorship would influence consumer purchase intention is rare. This essay is established in the purchase intention of consumers, from which to explore consumer brand awareness, and then analyze the relationship within sports sponsorship and consumer brand awareness and purchase intention. This article will be analyzed from two parts; the author would analyze the consumer's brand attitude in the first part: from the cognition to the emotion, from the action and reaction, aiming at get a better understanding of the relationship between the brand and the consumer. Later in this essay, the author would discuss the influence sports sponsorship marketing might have upon consumption. Brand effect is able to zoom in during the process of sponsorship marketing, however, sports sponsorship motivation has become a key point that consumers value a brand, in the process, the enterprise needs to show the "altruistic" instead of "self-interest"...
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...My Cultural Identity I have never took my cultural identity into consideration before this essay. I've learned that cultural identity is what you believe and the way you live your life. My cultural identity could be related to the informational text “What is Cultural Identity?” by Elise Trumbull and Maria Pacheco. Which talked about defying the words cultural identity. Also the personal essay “ Two Kinds” by Amy Tan that has also taught me about my cultural identity in comparison with other people. With that in mind, parts of my cultural include my love of music, my passion for sports, and my obsession for spicy food. The instrumentation of music is what I connect to most. When I played the trumpet I really felt music. I love how the different...
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...HAS121 Personal reflection on development Brittany Berry (5067285) The three concepts of self and identity, attachment and relationships and context and socialisation are interwoven concepts that greatly influence each other. A sense of self-concept and identity is created through attachment and relationships, which is influenced, by social context and socialisation. Context and socialisation also influences self-concept and identity. In looking at these three themes collectively, it is evident that your past interactions influence your future interactions which influence your self concept and how you want to be in the future. In order to explore these themes, I have focused on the core characteristics of my relationship with my mother and two different socialisation outcomes of my childhood, to fully explore the impact that these themes have on an individual. The first core characteristic of my relationship with my mother is using her as a secure base; to an infant, a secure base is the attachment figure that they use as a point of safety that allows them to engage and explore their surroundings. As a child, my mother was used as a secure base, particularly in social settings, as I would engage more with other people when I was with my mother. This has resulted in me being more comfortable exploring new and different situations when I am with someone that I am familiar with. This definitely influenced my socialisation, especially my trait of being assertive. This attachment...
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...arts, sports and media both reflect and influence culture. Word Count: Introduction: 24529 24530 In the world today, virtually every individual is part of a culture Art, sports and media heavily influence and reflect culture as it permeates everyday lives of society. Arts, sports and media coincide and go hand in hand with each other defining who we are today through a variety of different ways. Sport reflects and influences culture immensely and holds a variety of different meanings across different cultures. Internationally Australian culture is perceived as laid back, with hot summers, drinking beers and watching or participating in sports. It refers to “the values, ceremonies and way of life characteristic of a given group and the place of sport within that way of life” (Jarvie, 2006). Cricket is one of Australia’s most popular summer sport that has been around since the colonial days. It is one of the many sports that clearly identify our Australian culture with the influence from media advertisements in local newspapers to television, Foxtel, radio and internet, “it is part of the social and cultural fabric of different localities, regions and nations” (Jarvie, 2006). A case study that was conducted by Nathan Saad on the Sydney cricket ground (SCG), demonstrates the roles of understanding the significance of sport in Australian cultural identity. This...
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...that can easily be held accountable for the cultivation and spread of steroids. This “high-class” group can denote the contrary of ethics; that is, revealing actions which tend to expose a sense of narcissistic personal qualities that hinder our beliefs of what is right and what is wrong. At one point or another, performance enhancing substances outspokenly seem to enter every professional athlete’s mind. The issue of steroids or any performance enhancing drugs in this matter has significantly heightened recently and seems to be a legitimate issue within professional sports. In an attempt to meet expectations and standards, reduce the pressures to perform, and alleviate public scrutiny, many professional athletes are left quivering in fear whether or not to take the two-faced drug that’s so readily adhered to by many. In my attempt to explore the mainstream issue of steroids in professional sports, I wish to focus on three imperative aspects that will help assist in the configuration of such a prevailing concern. How do steroids operate in the body? The biological construction of steroids is essential and must be deconstructed in order to interpret and understand exactly what these drugs are, how they function, and their main objective. What drives athletes to such inhuman decisions to use performance enhancing drugs such as steroids? Every athlete who performs such a drug...
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...Explain and briefly evaluate how social class identities are created and reinforced in the contemporary UK Social class relates to the ways of life of similar social groups. The way of life involves both the culture and economic position of a group of people. Culturally it means the shared norms and values and economically it means the financial positions of the rich/poor. Both these aspects influence the way of life. Agents such as the family, media and peers create and reinforce class identities but postmodernists believe that the class system no longer exists as it has become fragmented within the contemporary UK. The family is one way of showing how social class identities are created and reinforce because the the family creates norms and values according to their social class status. During mealtimes the working class and middle class have different routines which can tell us what class they are from. For example the middle class usually eat dinner together with the family in the evening whereas the working class mealtimes are portrayed earlier to coincide with the end of the working day for manual workers. The family also represents class through how much parents take time out and devote time to a child’s school work. Reay (1998) shows that working class mothers have less time to devote to their children because they are more focused on balancing housework, childcare and paid employment but lacked understanding of the schooling system whereas mothers of the middle...
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...1. Introduction Today, the commercialisation of sports is developing gradually in a way that not only is importance given to manage sportsmen, but the preferences of consumers are being closely looked into before any decisions are made as well. Organisations, as a whole, face implications when it comes to fulfilling both of their needs evenly in order to be certain that the respective sports industry will continue to be stable and sustainable. Therefore, it is crucial for these organisations to explore the characteristics of their target market and acquire a deeper knowledge of their interests and preferences. As such, this report will explore and highlight the unique characteristics of sports fans as consumers, discuss the implications of sports marketing that may be faced by organisations and lastly be finished off with a personal reflection. 2. Sports fans as consumers People are known to be fans when they are seen to develop a diehard interest in a particular subject. It could involve sports, authors, musicians, celebrities and so on. According to Reysen and Branscombe (2010), a person can be considered a fan when they become passionate and enthusiastic about their particular interest and show loyalty to it. Both sports fans and normal spectators may share similar characteristics however, there are various factors which would clearly differentiate fans from spectators. For example, their degree of loyalty, commitment, emotional significance and value to the supporting...
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...Task 1 As social workers we live and work in very large complex and ever changing society therefore it may be very important as a social worker to know what social class her client, family or community belongs to, as this gives the social worker insight into how to intervene. Social class can be defined in a number of ways but the one that’s widely adapted by social workers is that social class is a large group of people whose economic circumstances, usually measured by their incomes, wealth and occupation, are broadly similar. There are three major social classes in the United Kingdom which include; the working class, middle class and the upper class. Socialists emphasize that social class is essentially an economic concept and they determine individual’s class on the basis of wealth income and occupation. However it is also important to say that there are other factors to consider when determining a person’s social class such as; their family social background, standard of living, home ownership, leisure pursuits, circle of friends and social connections and education. Broadly speaking most of the factors listed above are closely connected with one’s wealth, income and occupation. One may define Identity as who or what a person or thing is. Identity also helps to define who a person is; it is a self representation of a person’s interests, relationships and leisure activities. On the other hand belonging can mean to feel a sense of welcome and acceptance to someone or some...
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...INCENTIVES AS A MOTIVATIONAL TOOL IN SPORTS 664 argued that an athlete’s motivation is very critical, but what is more critical is the understanding of what exactlymotivates athletes. Having a clear understanding of what motivates athletes accords the coach an opportunity todesign appropriate motivational climate in order to realize an athlete’s physical talent.Motivation and the use of rewards as a motivational tool for success have been widely studied in sports psychology (Ambrus & Egorov, 2009; Browning & Burr, 2009; Bucciol, Montinari, & Piovesan, 2011; Crifo etal., 2004; Dommeyer, Curt, Hirao, Ikeda, Linkletter, & Watanabe, 2010; Gould, Feltz, Horn, & Weiss, 1982;Hellandsig, 1998; Mallett & Hanrahan, 2004).A former NBA (National Basketball Association) basketball star, Tim Hardaway, was promised a huge bonus if he made a lot of assists in games. The bonus was entirely based on passing the ball. Hardaway passedthe ball a lot, particularly towards the end of the season. When interviewed, the former start admitted that to gethis bonus he had sometimes passed even when he should have shot the ball. He was highly driven by themonetary bonus. Hardaway is a typical example of the effects of rewards in sports.Given incentives, athletes will do what they are told to do in order to get the monetary incentive. “Showme the medal” was a slogan introduced by the Chinese Sports Department in order to best capture the spirit of the Chinese sports apparatus. Leung and Yang (2006) observed...
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...Long Term Effects of Concussions in Sports: Disease, Depression, and Social Effects When discussing the very popular and controversial topic of concussions in sports, there are many questions raised from the public about the effects of these concussions on ones life. For the past few decades, the sporting world has been dealing with head injuries in sports and finding new and better ways to deal with and prevent them. With most people involved in sport now knowing the severity of head injuries and there long term effects, it is not uncommon to hear more and more long term effect stories and how these injuries have impacted athletes’ lives. Psychological changes, brain disease, social declination, and even suicide caused from depression have been documented in recent years and has the public growing more and more curious to what the long term effects of head injuries are and what the best way to deal with them is. For professional athletes, the “loss of identity is evident”(Caron 175) and some may even lose their whole livelihood due to head injuries. In this paper I will be examining the aforementioned long-term effects of psychological changes, brain disease, and deterioration of social abilities. Long term effects of head injuries are an epidemic and by identifying these effects and being aware of symptoms or signs may help us better understand them. In recent years, psychological problems have been identified as one of the most prevalent effects caused by concussions...
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...Interpersonal Competencies Written Assignment The main character in the case study, Sammy, showed inability in inter- and intrapersonal communication. He is facing various daily life problems including defining his self-value and identity, getting along with parents and managing personal emotions. The first problem is that Sammy failed to develop self concept (i.e. Who he is, what he wants to do) but blindly follows his parents’ opinion to persuade further study in college. Based on Identity Statuses Theory, Sammy is experiencing identity diffusion (Marcia,1966) in which he failed to attain commitment (occupational belief) and crisis (actively exploring and making conscious decision to understand his own identity). Besides, he has low self-esteem (i.e. the value he placed on himself) as he consider his classmates are more competent in both sports and academic performance than he does. He feels inferior at school. In order to overcome Sammy’s identity crisis, he should try to explore his own identity by constantly questioning himself about his own value, beliefs and academic pursuit to clarify his occupational and social roles. He can join various extra-curricular activities such as sports and music to discover his inborn talent. He might not be good at sports but he might be good at music or arts and crafts. To boost self-esteem, he needs to gain approval from peers to develop sense of belongingness. He could join more class activities and be generous (e.g. share his study notes or...
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