What Motivates People to Do and Watch Sports ...

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Evolutionary Psychological Science DOI 10.1007/s40806-016-0071-7

RESEARCH ARTICLE

What Motivates People to Do and Watch Sports? Exploring the Effect of Sex, Age, Partner Status, and Parenthood Menelaos Apostolou 1 & Rafael Lambrianou 1

# Springer International Publishing 2016

Abstract People exhibit a strong interest in doing and watching sports. This interest has triggered intensive theorizing and empirical research on its evolutionary origins. The present research advances this line of work by testing existing and novel predictions derived from evolutionary hypotheses on the motivation to do and watch sports. Study 1 identified 36 motives for doing sports, including being entertained and to show-off abilities, and 27 motives for watching sports, including to support one’s team and to improve mood. Study 2 applied principal components analysis to classify these motives into nine broader motivation domains with regard to doing sports and into six broader motivation domains with regard to watching sports. On this basis, several predictions derived from evolutionary hypotheses were tested on each domain of motivation. In several domains, significant main and interactions effects of sex, age, partner status, and being a parent were found, which are consistent with the predictions of the evolutionary hypotheses.

2004), watching (Gantz et al. 2006), and reading about (Quinn 2009) sports. This interest is found across different cultures and across different times (Deaner and Smith 2013; Guttmann 2004; Kyle 2006) and has initiated theorizing about its evolutionary roots (Miller 2000; Zahavi and Zahavi 1997). Recently, there have been several attempts to understand the evolutionary roots of such interest (Apostolou 2014; Balish et al. 2013; Lombardo 2012) which were followed by testing specific hypotheses (Apostolou 2015; Apostolou et al. 2014; Deaner and Smith 2013; Deaner et al. 2012, 2014). The purposes of the current work are to advance this line of research by identifying the primary domains of motivation to do and to watch sports, and to test existing and novel predictions derived from hypotheses on the evolution of sports in these domains.

Keywords Evolution of sports . Spectator lek hypothesis . Motivation to do sports . Motivation to watch sports . Parental choice

A sport can be defined as an organized activity which requires physical skill, where two or more individuals or teams compete to win, according to agreed-on rules (Deaner et al. 2015; Deaner and Smith 2013). There have been several evolutionary hypotheses which attempt to account for the motivation to do and watch sports. In particular, it has been argued that individuals are motivated to engage in sports in order to display their physical abilities to interested parties who look for mates for themselves and their children, to improve their skills, and to form useful coalitions (for an extensive review, see Deaner et al. 2015). An evolutionary framework which encompasses all these hypotheses indicates that there are considerable fitness benefits (i.e., increases in survival and reproductive success) in doing and watching sports, which predicts a strong motivation for engaging in such activities—a prediction which is

Introduction People exhibit a strong interest in sports which is manifested in the considerable time they allocate in doing (Guttmann

* Menelaos Apostolou [email protected]

1

University of Nicosia, 46 Makedonitissas Ave., 1700 Nicosia, Cyprus

Hypotheses on the Evolution of Sports

Evolutionary Psychological Science

consistent with the strong interest that people across different cultures and times exhibit in doing and watching sports (Deaner and Smith 2013; Guttmann 2004; Kyle 2006). It indicates further that the interest or motivation to do and watch sports is not homogenous, but it entails several domains. Consistent with the latter prediction, literature confirms that sport motivation is multidimensional. In particular, on the basis of the review of the literature and open-ended questionnaires, Li (1999) identified 31 motives that drive people to have physical exercise, and classified these into eight domains. In a similar vein, Rogers and Morris (2003) developed a 73-item self-report measure of motives for participation in recreational exercise, which consisted of eight subscales. Nevertheless, these motivation categories refer predominantly to motivation to have physical exercise and may not necessarily apply to doing sports, while specific motives for doing sports may not have been identified. Furthermore, on the basis of a review of the sports sociology literature, Wann (1995) produced a scale consisting of 23 items which motivated sports-fun behavior. On this basis, Trail and James (2001) produced a scale which assessed nine domains for the motivation to watch sports. Trail and James’ analysis, however, may not have adequately captured the motivation to watch a sport, as the motives they assessed were predominantly based on literature review instead of qualitative research on participants’ responses. Accordingly, the first goal of the current research is to extend this literature by identifying the different domains of the motivation to do and watch sports by using different methods. The second, and main goal of the current research, is to test predictions on the different domains of motivation, which are derived from specific evolutionary hypothesis.

which leads to the prediction that those who have not solved the problem of gaining sexual access to a mate, i.e., they do not have a partner, would be more interested in doing sports than individuals who have solved it, i.e., they have a partner. Moreover, gaining access to the reproductive capacity of the opposite sex is a problem that predominantly young individuals have to solve, which predicts that younger individuals would be more interested in doing sports than older ones. Jointly, these arguments suggest that it is mainly young men with no partners who would be the more interested in doing sports. That is, a three-way interaction is predicted to arise between sex, partner status, and age. According to the courtship display hypothesis, men compete in order to signal their physical abilities to members of the opposite sex. Thus, women would be motivated to observe these competitions in order to be able to choose men with desirable qualities. This reasoning predicts that women would be more interested than men in watching athletic competitions. Furthermore, as the purpose of athletic competitions is to find mates, individuals who have solved their reproductive problem would be less interested in participating than those who have not. That is, people who have no partners would be more interested in watching sports than people who have partners. Similarly, since gaining access to the reproductive capacity of the opposite sex constitutes a problem that predominantly younger individuals have to solve, it is further predicted that younger individuals would be more interested in watching sports than older ones. In this respect, a three-way interaction between sex, partner status, and age is expected to arise, with younger women with no partners being more interested in watching sports. Parental Choice

Predictions Derived from the Evolutionary Hypotheses Courtship Display According to the courtship display hypothesis, sports constitute culturally invented courtship displays that reliably advertise the participants’ qualities to the opposite sex (De Block and Dewitte 2009; Miller 2000). Individuals take part in athletic competitions in order to signal reliably their capacities to members of the opposite sex (see Zahavi and Zahavi 1997), while individuals gather in order to evaluate possible mates. In this hypothesis, women invest more heavily in their offspring, and so they become the scarce reproductive resource over which men compete to gain reproductive access (Trivers 1972). This asymmetry places women in a position where they choose, and where men are chosen; in turn, this leads to the prediction that men would be more interested than women in taking part in athletic competitions (a summary of predictions can be found in Table 1). Here, people are motivated to do sports predominantly in order to secure a mate,

Within the parental choice variant of the courtship display hypothesis, individuals engage in athletic competitions in order to advertise their qualities to parents who look for in-laws; accordingly, individuals are interested in watching these competitions in order to evaluate potential marriage partners for their children (Apostolou 2014, 2015). This hypothesis was based predominantly on evidence from the anthropological and historical records, which indicates that in preindustrial societies mate choice is regulated, with parents choosing spouses for their children (Apostolou 2014). In more detail, conflicting interests over mating induce parents to control their children’s mating decisions (Apostolou 2014). Due to asymmetry in parental investment, the risk of becoming pregnant, and women being physically weaker than men, parents predominantly control the mate choices of their daughters than of their sons (Flinn 1988; Perilloux et al. 2008). Accordingly, parents are in a position to choose men as spouses for their daughters (Apostolou 2014). This predicts that men would be more interested than

Evolutionary Psychological Science Table 1

Predictions derived from the evolutionary hypotheses on sports

Doing sports

Hypotheses Courtship display Parental choice Spectator lek

Predictions Without Men more partner interested more than interested women than with partner

Younger more Young men with no interested partners than older more interested

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Development x of skills Watching sports Predictions

x

Women more Men more interested interested than men than women

Hypotheses Courtship display Parental x choice Spectator x lek x Allying with coalitions

x

Without partner more interested than with partner

Young men Younger without more partners interested more than older interested

Young women without partners more interested

x

x

x

women in doing sports in order to demonstrate their capacities to an interested audience. Since the motivation is predominantly to find a mate, individuals who have no access to a partner are predicted to be more interested in doing sports than those who have such access. Furthermore, since gaining sexual access is mainly a problem that younger individuals have to solve, it is predicted that younger rather than older individuals would be more interested in doing sports. Finally, according to this hypothesis, it is younger men with no partners who are mainly interested in doing sports in order to advertise their capacities; thus, a three-way interaction between sex, partner status, and age is also predicted to arise. In this hypothesis, predominantly male parents control the mating decisions of their female children, and they look for desirable qualities, including athletic abilities, in prospective in-laws. According to this hypothesis, men would be also interested in watching sports in order to monitor the competition, which predicts that men would be more interested than women in watching sports. With respect to age, it is expected

x

Individuals with Men with children more children more interested than interested than individuals with no women with children children

x

x

x x

that younger individuals have a strong motivation to watch sports in order to monitor competition, and older individuals in order to choose in-laws. Nevertheless, this hypothesis does not make a clear prediction about the direction of the age effect. A more directional prediction is a three-way interaction between sex, partner status, and age. In particular, individuals who have not solved their reproductive problem (i.e., they have no partner) would be more interested in monitoring the competition than men who have solved their reproductive problem (i.e., they have a partner). As gaining reproductive access is predominantly a problem that younger individuals have to solve, a three-way interaction is predicted to arise, with younger men with no partners to be more interested in watching sports. The parental choice hypothesis predicts further that individuals who have children would exhibit a stronger interest in watching sports. In a preindustrial context, it is usually the fathers who control mate choice and choose spouses for their children, and an interaction effect between the sex of the

Evolutionary Psychological Science

parent and being a parent is predicted to arise, with men who have children to be more interested in watching sports than women who have children. Spectator Lek According to the spectator lek hypothesis, sports constitute physical competitions for status, which is different from combat or warfare, because they reduce the risk of physical harm to competitors and reveal more publicly and efficiently crucial qualities, such as strength, endurance, and fighting ability (Deaner et al. 2012; Faurie et al. 2004; Lombardo 2012). This hypothesis proposes that boys and men congregate in dedicated areas to compete in sports in order to display their qualities and gain status, and at the same time, other nonparticipating males monitor their performances in order to evaluate potential competitors and allies (Lombardo 2012). Thus, in this hypothesis, men are under stronger selection pressure than women to display their capacities to members of the same sex, who would choose them as allies and would avoid them as enemies. This argument predicts that men would be more interested than women in doing sports. Furthermore, men who have not solved the problem of gaining sexual access to the opposite sex would fight more intensively in order to gain such access than men who have sexual access. In addition, as it is usually younger men who need to solve the reproductive access problem, younger men would fight more intensively than older men. Accordingly, this hypothesis predicts a three-way interaction between sex, partner status, and age, with younger men without partners being more interested in doing sports than the rest. Note that this hypothesis predominantly concerns men, so it does not predict main effects of partner status and age irrespectively of sex; that is, it predicts such effect only for the male sex. On the basis of this hypothesis, it can be further predicted that men would be more interested than women in watching sports. Moreover, since male-male competition predominantly arises from gaining access to the reproductive capacity of the opposite sex, a three-way interaction is predicted to arise between sex, partner status, and age: Men who have not yet solved the problem of getting access to a mate would be more interested in watching sports than men who have. Since gaining access to the reproductive capacity of the opposite sex is predominantly a problem that younger individuals have to solve, it is expected that the stronger interest in watching sports would be exhibited by younger men who have no partners. Development of Skills Hypothesis According to the development of skills hypothesis, sports are seen as a way to cultivate the development of skills crucial for other activities, such as warfare or cooperatively hunting large

game (Carroll 2000; Chick 2010; Sipes 1973). Lack of good physical condition in hunting and warfare increases the chances of injury and death (Carroll 2000; Sipes 1973). Therefore, individuals would seek ways to improve their physical fitness, one way being through engaging in athletic activities. In this hypothesis, in preindustrial societies, men are almost exclusively preoccupied with the hunting and the war effort (Lee and Devore 1968). This observation leads to the prediction that men would be more interested than women in doing sports as means to improve their hunting and fighting capacity. Still, if this hypothesis is conceived more broadly, so that sports develop skills for a range of physically or socially demanding activities, women can also benefit from doing sports, reducing in effect the extent of the sex difference (Deaner et al. 2015). In addition, younger individuals are more in need to develop skills than older individuals who are more experienced. Accordingly, it can be predicted that younger individuals would be more interested than older individuals in doing sports in order to improve their skills. Allying with Coalitions Hypothesis Within the allying with coalitions hypothesis, sports interest, and more specifically interest in monitoring sports teams, arises as a result of the activation of adaptations that would allow individuals to form and maintain coalitions with others in the context of small-scale warfare (Winegard and Deaner 2010). According to this hypothesis, individuals ally with sports teams when competition between sport teams exhibits characteristics such as coordinated aggressive action to perform a goal, that would have been relevant during warfare (Winegard and Deaner 2010). Warfare is predominantly a male area of specialization, which predicts that men would be more interested than women in watching sports. Since warfare can be seen as a malemale competition to monopolize access to resources, one such resource being women, a three-way interaction would also be predicted, with younger men with no partners being more interested in watching sports. A Note on the Evolutionary Hypotheses It is important to say that the predictions derived in the sections above need to apply to specific and not to all domains of sport motivation. For instance, all hypotheses predict a main effect of sex, with men being more interested than women in doing sports. However, if in one domain of motivation a main effect is found which is to the opposite direction (i.e., women are more interested than men), this is not evidence against the above hypotheses as long as this domain is not related to the display of abilities and improvement of skill.

Evolutionary Psychological Science

Moreover, the hypotheses on the evolution of sports employed to derive these predictions are not mutually exclusive, and they can be understood as depicting the different selection pressures exercised on the motivation to do and watch sports. In particular, individuals are under selection pressure to advertise their qualities to the following: members of the opposite sex, so as to be preferred as mates; parents of members of the opposite sex, so as to be preferred as in-laws; and members of the same sex, so as to be preferred as allies and to be avoided as enemies, and in order to develop their skills so as to become more effective hunters and fighters. In addition, individuals are under selection pressure to watch other individuals competing so as to choose desirable mates and in-laws, select useful allies and avoid dangerous enemies, and maintain coalitions with desirable groups.

Results In order to create a list of motives that drive people to do and to watch sports, motives with identical or very similar wording were eliminated by two independent graduate students (a man and a woman) who were recruited for this purpose. Accordingly, in cases where two or more motives were very similar, one was retained and the rest were dropped. Motives that contained multiple behaviors were also eliminated as these are difficult to interpret. Finally, motives with unclear or vague wording were also eliminated. If there was disagreement about retaining an item, this was resolved by consulting one of the authors. Overall, 36 motives for doing and 27 motives for watching sports were identified and are presented in Table 2.

Study 1 Study 2 Methods Methods Participants Participants Sixty-three Greek-Cypriots took part (31 women, 32 men). The mean age of women was 29.2 years (SD = 5.4), and the mean age of men was 32.6 years (SD = 8.2). Moreover, 37.2 % of the participants were in a relationship, 33.2 % were single, and 25.7 % were married. Finally, 18.2 % of the participants had children and 82.8 % had no children. Two research assistants were employed for the purposes of the current study. They recruited individuals who volunteered to take part in a research about sports (no payment was given). The prerequisite to participate in the study was to be an adult (18 years old or more). In order to recruit participants, the snowball sampling technique was used. The research took place in the Republic of Cyprus, and the participants came predominantly from the two biggest cities of the republic, namely Nicosia and Limassol. Materials The survey had three parts. In the first part, participants were asked to indicate as many as they could of the motives that have led them, or they are likely to lead them in the future, to do a sport. In an attempt to distinguish between sports and simply having physical exercise which does not involve any competition, following the word “sport,” participants were given in parenthesis football, basketball, and track and field as examples of sports. In the second part, they were asked to indicate as many motives as they could, that have driven them or are likely to drive them in the future to watch a sport. Finally, in the third part, demographic information was collected (i.e., sex, age, marital status, parent status). The order of presentation of parts 1 and 2 was counterbalanced across participants.

Three research assistants were employed for the purposes of the current study, and they recruited participants using the same procedure as study 1. Here, 575 Greek-Cypriots took part (309 women, 266 men). The mean age of women was 34 years (SD = 12.1), and the mean age of men was 34.7 years (SD = 11.3). Moreover, 41.9 % of the participants were married, 33.4 % were single, 18.4 % were in a relationship, and 7.8 % were divorced. Finally, 21 % of the participants had children and 79 % had no children. Materials The survey had three parts. In the first part, participants were asked to rate how each of the 36 motives found in study 1 were likely to drive them to do a sport. Following the word “sport,” participants were given in parenthesis football, basketball, and track and field as examples of sports. In the second part, participants were asked to rate how each of the 27 motives found in study 1 were likely to drive them to watch a sport. In all cases, a five-point Likert scale was used: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Finally, in the third part, demographic information was collected (sex, age, marital status, parent status). The order of presentation of parts 1 and 2 was counterbalanced across participants. Results In order to classify motives in broader motivation domains, principal components method for factor extraction and direct oblimin as the rotation method were used. We employed the

Evolutionary Psychological Science Table 2

Factor loadings for doing and watching sports

Doing sports Factors Entertainment For entertainment

Table 2 (continued) Doing sports

Watching sports Loadings Factors

Loadings

Entertainment For the spectacle

0.532

Keeps me in good health 0.683

For entertainment

0.486

Helps me release tension 0.659 Relaxes me 0.609 I am passionate for a 0.428 specific sport

Offers me suspense To watch my favorite athletes Interest in a specific sport To gain further insight and knowledge about a sport I find the specific sport interesting To keep up-to-date with a given sport I am passionate about a specific sport Change mood

0.481 0.410

0.711

Improve looks

To improve my looks

0.819

Helps me to acquire a good-looking body Makes me feel good about my body To lose weight

0.718 0.687 0.583

Improve my mood To escape routine

Helps me improve my mood Makes me feel happy To make good use of my free time Improve self-discipline Helps me to have structure in my life Offers me discipline Helps me improve my mental condition It gives me a sense of freedom To improve my character

0.715

0.662 0.650 0.620

0.637

Helps me to change my 0.751 mood To get distracted from 0.748 thinking about my problems To escape routine 0.733

0.604

Help me release tension 0.509

0.590

To make good use of my free time Support my team I have bet on a specific team winning To support my team I enjoy watching my team winning

0.814

0.659 0.587 0.455

0.486

Reduce stress To reduce stress

−0.797

To get distracted from thinking about my problems Helps me to control my anger Helps me to fall asleep easier at night Socialization To be with my friends To socialize

−0.640 −0.618 −0.424

0.750 0.737

Support someone I know To watch someone I know competing To accompany my partner To support my country and its athletes To spend time with my family To encourage and support the athletes Curiosity and socialization Out of curiosity For socialization To see whether I would be interested in getting involved with a sport

Factors

Loadings Factors

Loadings

To make new friends

0.706

0.357

Out of curiosity

0.372

Following advice Following doctor’s advice for health reasons My parents prompt me Professional reasons For professional reasons Show-off and increase my standing I want people who know me to watch me win To increase my status among my friends and the people who know me To become desirable to members of the opposite sex To meet people of the opposite sex To gain the respect of my friends I like competition I like to get distinguished

To meet people of the opposite sex To be with my friends

0.336

–0.770 –0.370 0.595

0.758 0.730

0.658

0.652 0.534 0.395 0.394

0.742 0.498 0.418

0.381 0.352

Watching sports

0.780 0.760 0.648 0.597

direct oblimin instead of other rotation methods such as the varimax because the assumption of noncorrelated motives is unlikely to hold. The results suggested a nine-factor solution for doing sports and a six-factor solution for watching sports (eigenvalue > 1). The KMO statistic was 0.87 for the first case and 0.90 for the second case, indicating a very good sample adequacy. The factors and the respective loadings are presented in Table 2. The scales produced by using this procedure were checked by means of reliability analysis. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) ranged from 0.71 to 0.85, with a mean of 0.75 for doing sports and from 0.68 to 0.78, with a mean of 0.73 for watching sports.

0.437

Doing sports 0.793 0.449 0.381

In order to examine which motivation domains were more likely to drive someone to do sports, composites were computed by summing the motives shown in Table 2 for every domain. Each composite was divided by the number of items that composed it, and means and standard deviations were estimated. The results are presented in Table 3, where

Evolutionary Psychological Science Table 3

Means and contingencies for doing sports

Factors

Mean (SD)

Men

Women

Mean (SD)

Mean (SD)

p value

d

Partner Mean (SD)

Without partner Mean (SD)

p d value

Age

ηp2

p value

Sex*partner*age p value

ηp2

Total

3.21 3.23 3.20