Touching Behavior in Sport: Functional Components, Analysis of Sex Differences, and Ethological Considerations

Little research exists regarding sex differences in touching behavior in sport or recreational settings. This study investigates sex differences in amounts, types, and factors influencing same-sex touching in a sport context. Subjects were 119 members of four men's college varsity baseball teams and 52 members of three women's college varsity softball teams. All touches performed on-field between team members were recorded and classified using an ethogram designed for this study. As hypothesized, statistically significant differences were found in the following areas: females performed more touching behaviors than males, almost half of the behavior types observed were performed more frequently by one sex than the other, males performed touching behaviors more frequently at away than home games, females performed touching behaviors more frequently at home than away games, and females performed more touching behaviors than males after negative game events. The findings and implications are discussed in relation to the touching behavior literature, ethology, and comparative psychology.     

Cognitive Chrono-Ethnography (CCE): a methodology for anticipating future user needs

This paper proposes Cognitive Chrono-Ethnography (CCE), a new study methodology for understanding people's in situ behavior selections in daily life. People select their next behavior to maximize their satisfaction for a given behavioral needs. They appropriately coordinate available cognitive resources to make the best decisions by using their knowledge of past experiences and by processing input from the environment and individual intrinsic state. When a study field is specified, CCE starts by defining critical parameters for understanding people's behavior by considering the nature of behavior selection processes in the field in question, and then designing ethnographical field observations by taking into account the fact that their results will be described in terms of the specified critical parameters. The participants' behavior is recorded, followed by a series of structured retrospective interviews for the purpose of describing their present behavior and obtaining their history of behavioral development. Analysis of the interview results aid in developing models of present behavior selections and their chronological changes in the past. These models serve as defining future needs of persons who follow the same developing paths with a certain amount of delay, e.g., a few years of delay. This paper describes a CCE study of spectators of professional baseball games at a ballpark who have become frequent visitors to a baseball stadium in 5 years.     

Ageing and maximal physical performance

Elite master athletes with long-term devotion to physical training offer an economical means of investigating the effects of ageing and habitual exercise on maximal physical performance. Ideally, individuals with optimised living habits throughout their lives could serve as a human model of ‘primary’ or ‘inherent’ ageing, where age-related changes are not confounded by sedentary life-style and associated chronic diseases. A limitation of this approach is the selection bias as those with inherently high physical capacity and good health participate in competitive sports. The age-related decrements remain obvious, but the record performances of master athletes competing in running and jumping events are preserved at an extraordinary high level until old age. Similarly, underlying capacities such as muscle strength, power and endurance remain far above the age norms, thus providing superior functional reserves for activities of daily living. Nevertheless, even the best records may overestimate the age decrements. It is obvious that the older champions have never trained and performed as well as the current younger athletes, and that the performance of individual athletes retaining or increasing their training volume and intensity show smaller decrements over the years. The plasticity of individual development is preserved in later life thus making it possible, at least for some time, to modify the age-associated decline in the different aspects of maximal physical performance.     

CUSTOMER RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Most studies of racial discrimination concentrate on identifying the existence rather than the source of discrimination. In contrast, this paper tests directly for racial discrimination by major league baseball customers by examining the market for baseball cards. In Tobit regressions, the market prices of cards consistently reflect player performance records and other demand variables. When interactive race-productivity variables are included in the models, a significant and complex pattern of fan discrimination against black pitchers and black hitters is found. Discrimination against latin players is not found.     

Firm-specific human capital, job matching, and turnover: evidence from major league baseball, 1900–1992

The two dominant labor market turnover hypotheses, the firm-specific human capital model (FSHCM) and the job-matching model, suggest different patterns of player mobility in major league baseball. The matching hypothesis predicts greater mobility of players in positions that require substantial team production. A better match may offer large productivity gains. Alternately, the FSHCM predicts players in positions requiring the greatest amount of teamwork will benefit from specific knowledge, making them less likely to change teams. We examine the frequency distribution of trades by player position from 1900–1992 and find the FSHCM provides the best explanation for turnover in this industry.     

The Response of Social Work to the Depression,by Jacob Fisher. Schenkman Publishing Co., Cambridge,Mass., and G. K. Hall and Co., Boston, 1980. $23.95.266 Pp.

Abstract

This article presents an innovative refinement in the use of group process records for educational purposes, reviews the history of Rothman's Committee for the Preparation of Teaching Materials, and discusses the Committee's development of a comprehensive framework for teaching records. The teaching record fosters student attentiveness to practice context and complexities, regard for ongoing self-evaluation, and interest in cooperative learning. Teaching records also provide a structure for integrative learning through the identification, elucidation, linkage, and illustration of practice concepts and principles. The five key parts of the teaching record—major teaching themes, overview of group characteristics, group process record, teaching points, and teaching strategies—are described, and excerpts from an illustrative teaching record of a session with nursing home residents are presented.     

Marginal revenue and labor strife in major league baseball

An improved model of baseball player performance and revenue generation shows that, overall, major league players are paid more than the marginal revenue they generate from spectators at the ballpark. Broadcast revenue is shown to be a factor in player salaries, although this revenue is not sensitive to individual player output. Under the current bargaining procedure, collective action in baseball is therefore viewed as the only way to entice owners to pay players for the broadcast revenue they generate.     

Arbitrator bias and self-interest: Lessons from the baseball labor market

Their desire for enduring employment is commonly assumed to induce arbitrators to make fair awards. We find, however, that in major league baseball's unique institutional setting, selfinterested behavior by arbitrators has led to bias against players and preservation of monopsony rents for team owners. We apply a standard model of arbitrator behavior to all 391 arbitrated cases in baseball since 1979. Under conditions that should lead to an even split in awards to teams and players, probit analysis indicates that arbitrators favor teams 61 percent of the time. Furthermore, bias against African-American and Latinborn players is even more pronounced.     

POINT SHAVING IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL: A CAUTIONARY TALE FOR FORENSIC ECONOMICS

Point shaving is the practice by favored teams of attempting to win by less than the point spread to yield profits for gamblers who bet on the underdog. Consistent with point shaving, strong favorites are anomalously likely to win by less than the spread. To distinguish between innocent and criminal explanations, we (1) exploit information in line movements and (2) isolate games without betting lines to identify games where point shaving is implausible and document similar patterns. The data are better explained by strategic efforts to maximize the probability of winning. These findings highlight the importance of methodology design. ( JEL L83, K42)     

Relationship between state anxiety and success rate in game performance, coach's evaluation among Japanese university volleyball players

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between state anxiety and individual athletic game performance. The subjects were 54 male players of 4 teams (The average age was 20.5 (SD=1.09) years), who participated in the Kanto university men's volleyball league games in the spring of year 2010. The subjects were asked to respond to a Japanese version of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), which was measured at 4 time periods (the day before, the day of game, just before the game, just after the game) for each of a total of 40 games (each team played 10 games). The results were as follows: (1) Relationships between state anxiety and success rate in game performance (spike, reception, block) showed different correlation depending on each game performance. (2) The group of players who performed well in games collected by coaches scored lower than the more badly-performing group in the score of state anxiety on the day of game and just after the game. (3) The temporal change of the score of state anxiety from just before the game to just after the game was different depending on whether they performed well or not in games.     

INCIDENCE AND CONSEQUENCES OF RISK‐TAKING BEHAVIOR IN TOURNAMENTS—EVIDENCE FROM THE NBA

We empirically explore the relevance and efficiency of risk‐taking behavior in tournaments. We use data from the National Basketball Association (NBA) and measure risk‐taking by the fraction of three‐point shots in basketball games. We examine how point differences between teams during games affect their subsequent risk‐taking behavior. It is found that teams that are trailing are more likely to increase their use of three‐point shots. We additionally analyze the consequences of this change in behavior. Enhanced risk‐taking is inefficient in the vast majority of cases and is only beneficial if a team is trailing by a rather large margin. We discuss possible explanations for these decision errors. (JEL M5, D81, J30)     

From intertext to outcome: an archeology of classic video game narrative

In modern digital games, open worlds, multiple character selection and abilities, and an ever-changing cast of online characters present limitless possibilities for story generation. Classic games from the Golden Age of video games (1977–1984) offer far fewer possibilities—most often a singular character, and a singular, inevitable outcome. The player loses after expending multiple lives to linearly conquer levels and achieve a high score. This is the in-game narrative, driven by the economic necessity of maximizing returns from arcade machines; console games in the same period were not bound by the same design goals and constraints. Classic games have rich, contextual narrative connections, including intertextual relations, transmedia storytelling, and transfictional expansions. The immersive engagement (twitch) of the player in the arcade game is both immediate and performative, as is the discourse of play, and it produces an outcome narrative, focused on level achievements, duration, and/or score, as well as key gameplay events. This is complemented by the individual situational narrative (including business and technical aspects) regarding the circumstances of play. Both formal narrative analysis (for contextual and in-game narratives) and anecdotal interviewing (for individual situational and outcome narratives) are used to construct a narratological archeology analysis model with examples.     

Persuasion: An experimental study of team decision making

This paper studies persuasion within teams and investigates why teams commonly take, by some measures, better decisions than individuals. The analysis is based on data from electronic communication within teams of two players. Thanks to the experimental design, changes of an individual’s decision can be attributed to the content of the team partner’s message. The results for knowledge-related and strategic problems show that individuals’ decisions change upon receiving more informative and sophisticated arguments and remain the same otherwise. This individual behavior is an essential part of the information aggregation in teams and can explain the advantage of teams in decision making and in games.     

Recruiting High‐risk Activists: Exploring the Roles of Structural and Cultural Factors

What motivates activists to leave the security of their country and the comforts of home to risk their lives on someone else's behalf? This paper summarizes the current literature on how individuals get involved in transnational social movements, including those that require them to put their lives on the line. I begin by outlining structural explanations for participation and specifically discuss how prior contacts and biographical availability draw new recruits into activism. Then, I discuss cultural explanations, which emphasize meaning‐making and collective identities in the recruitment process. Finally, I outline scholarly attempts to bridge structural and cultural explanations as well as offer recommendations for future research.     

Reimagining Nursing Homes: The Art of the Possible

Long-term care (LTC) needs to be reconceptualized. The current efforts to reinvent the nursing home perpetuate a flawed model of care. The heritage of the nursing home as the dominant model for LTC needs to be reexamined. The basic LTC building blocks—housing, services, and medical care—can be combined in various ways to meet consumers' needs and preferences. We need innovative solutions that can offer reasonable service while recognizing the value of acceptable risk taking. Modest personal care should not come at the price of surrendering one's autonomy.     

MIDWEEK EFFECT ON SOCCER PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM THE GERMAN BUNDESLIGA

The home advantage phenomenon is a well‐established feature in sports competitions. In this study, we examine data from 2,013 soccer matches played in the German Bundesliga during the seasons from 2007–2008 to 2016–2017. Using a very rich data set, our econometric analysis that is based on matching methods reveals that the usual home advantage disappears when the game is in the middle of the week instead of being on the weekend. Our results indicate that, as the midweek matches are unevenly allocated among teams, the actual schedules of the Bundesliga favor teams with fewer home games in midweek. The study also shows that these soccer‐specific findings may have some implications for the design of contests in general. (JEL D00, L00, D20, Z20)     

Whose job is poverty? the problems of therapeutic intervention with children who are sexually violent

Children who commit sexually violent acts have been identified in increasing numbers since the 1980s. Professionals who practise therapeutic intervention with this group have struggled to find explanations for their client's deviant behaviour. Current explanations for, and discourses on, the occurrence of sexual violence minimize the effect of poverty in the therapeutic arena. The most difficult and worrisome child clients for participants of this research are the poor ones, yet the practice of counselling is unable to address structural disadvantage. This leads to a poverty culture explanation for sexual violence and child abuse which recognizes poverty yet pathologizes the individual. The identification of a new problem—children's sexual violence—the individualized case‐based approach to intervention and current social policy minimize the continuing and persistent problem of poverty. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Towards a ‘virtual’ world: Social isolation and struggles during the COVID‐19 pandemic as single women living alone

This article is a personal reflection of how the current COVID‐19 pandemic affects our working lives and wellbeing, as single female academics who live alone in the UK. We offer a dialogue of our daily lives of being confined at home with lockdown measures extended. In particular, we focus on the experience of, and coping with, isolation and loneliness. Is isolation making us more socially connected? Through ‘virtual’ working and changing learning environments for us as teachers and learners, we explore changes in our working life and subsequent changes in the domestic environment. By capturing our lived experiences, we create an intellectual and safe space to voice our emotional struggles — as ‘invisible’ isolated individuals containing and consuming loneliness on our own. We foster alternative conversations as to how we might engender new perspectives from single female academics to combat social isolation in the workplace.     

SASA! Together: An evolution of the SASA! approach to prevent violence against women

One in three women globally will experience intimate partner violence (IPV) with devastating consequences for individual survivors, their families and communities. While prevalence remains high, violence against women is not inevitable and community mobilization approaches have emerged as particularly promising for transforming the gender inequitable norms and practices that underlie violence. The SASA! Activist Kit to Prevent Violence Against Women (SASA!), developed by Raising Voices in 2008, provides a theory-based approach for mobilizing communities to transform power imbalances between women and men through critical discussion and positive action. In this article, we provide the rational for revising SASA! after ten years of program learning and formal research. We aim to contribute to the knowledge base around what works to prevent IPV by describing the core enhancements in the revised version--called SASA! Together—and linking these changes to Raising Voices’ program learning and broader advancements in the field. In addition, we reflect on how current debates—such as how best to “scale up” violence prevention programs—were considered and resolved in SASA! Together. The paper concludes by sharing lessons learned that may provide guidance for future revisions development and revisions of evidenced-based programs.