Bangor University DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY the Motives For
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Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The motives for participation in high-risk sport Barlow, Matthew Award date: 2012 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 28. Sep. 2021 The motives for participation in high-risk sport by Matthew Barlow Thesis submitted to Bangor University in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Sport, Health, and Exercise Sciences, Bangor University. March 2012 i DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being currently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed . (candidate) Date . STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are explicitly acknowledged in the references. Signed . (candidate) Date . STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed . (candidate) Date . ii CONTENTS Chapter 1 - General introduction ___________________________________________ 1 Sensation seeking ___________________________________________________________ 2 Problems with sensation seeking research ________________________________________ 5 Emotion regulation & Agency_________________________________________________ 13 Summary and thesis structure _________________________________________________ 15 Chapter 2 - Ain’t no mountain high enough: Mountaineers’ great (agentic and emotional) expectations __________________________________________________ 18 Abstract ____________________________________________________________________ 18 Introduction ________________________________________________________________ 19 Study 1 _____________________________________________________________________ 23 Method ___________________________________________________________________ 26 Results ___________________________________________________________________ 30 Discussion ________________________________________________________________ 32 Study 2 _____________________________________________________________________ 37 Method ___________________________________________________________________ 37 Results ___________________________________________________________________ 37 Discussion ________________________________________________________________ 39 Study 3 _____________________________________________________________________ 40 Method ___________________________________________________________________ 46 Results ___________________________________________________________________ 48 Discussion ________________________________________________________________ 50 Study 4 _____________________________________________________________________ 55 Method ___________________________________________________________________ 55 Results ___________________________________________________________________ 57 iii Discussion ________________________________________________________________ 60 General discussion ___________________________________________________________ 64 Chapter 3 - Counter-phobia, exaggerated expectancies & romantic attachments in mountaineering _______________________________________________________ 72 Abstract ____________________________________________________________________ 72 Introduction ________________________________________________________________ 73 Counter-phobic attitude ______________________________________________________ 75 Exaggerated expectancies ____________________________________________________ 79 Romantic attachments _______________________________________________________ 80 Method ____________________________________________________________________ 82 Participants _______________________________________________________________ 82 Measures & Procedures ______________________________________________________ 82 Results & Discussion _________________________________________________________ 85 Counter-phobic attitude ______________________________________________________ 85 Exaggerated expectancies ____________________________________________________ 95 Romantic Attachments _____________________________________________________ 114 General summary ___________________________________________________________ 125 Chapter 4 - General discussion ___________________________________________ 127 Thesis summary ____________________________________________________________ 127 Theoretical & methodological implications ______________________________________ 130 Future directions already identified ____________________________________________ 131 Additional future directions for research _______________________________________ 135 Strengths & weaknesses of the thesis ___________________________________________ 143 Personal reflections _________________________________________________________ 144 References ____________________________________________________________ 145 iv Appendices ____________________________________________________________ 173 Appendix A: SEAS - While participating inventory _______________________________ 173 Appendix B: SEAS - After participating inventory _______________________________ 174 Appendix C: SEAS - Between participating inventory ____________________________ 175 Appendix D: Bibliography ___________________________________________________ 177 Appendix E: Sensation Seeking Scale Form V ___________________________________ 188 Appendix F: Semi-structured interview guide ___________________________________ 191 v LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Item-factor loadings for the between participation Sensation seeking, 34 Emotion regulation and Agency Scale (SEAS) from Study 1 and Study 2. Table 2. Item-factor loadings for the while participating Sensation seeking, 35 Emotion regulation and Agency Scale (SEAS) from Study 1 and Study 2. Table 3. Item-factor loadings for the after participating Sensation seeking, 36 Emotion regulation and Agency Scale (SEAS) from Study 1 and Study 2. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Lew and Tim, your guidance, support and wisdom have been truly invaluable, extending far beyond the research training itself. Thank you so much. My amazing wife Vicki, your unconditional support throughout this entire process was everything I could have asked for and more. I love you so much and cannot thank you enough. Mum, Dad, Ruth and my extended family, I am only at this point thanks to your love and inspiration. My dear friends, who helped me in your own special ways – be it through sharing sessions of riding, climbing, running, swimming, or consuming tea & cake with me – I am very grateful to you all. 1 Chapter 1 - General introduction It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. - William James, 1896, ‘The Will to Believe’ Taking a requisite “optimal amount of risk” has traditionally been viewed as beneficial, and even necessary, for the health and development of the species (Trimpop, 1994, p. 39). From this stand point, risk-taking may be an essential element of accruing the necessary resources for survival and self-advancement (Buss, 1988). However, the motives underpinning voluntary engagement in “unnecessary” (Furedi, 2006, p. 107) risk-taking, such as high-risk sport, have long fascinated and posed a problem for psychologists (Lester, 1983; Loewenstein, 1999). Indeed, what reward could possibly be worth voluntarily risking one’s health or life to attain? (Heimer, 1988). From a psychodynamic perspective conscious behaviours that are antithetical to a normal concern for self-preservation are symptoms of psychological conflicts established through early childhood experiences (Turp, 1999; Willig, 2008). As such, during the first half of the twentieth century, voluntary physical risk taking was viewed as evidence of underlying psychopathology within an individual (Adler, 1930; Deutsch, 1926; Fenichel, 1939, 1945/1987), such as having a death wish (Freud, 1926/1955). However, toward the middle of the twentieth century, Hebb (1955) argued that numerous human activities, including high- risk sporting activities such as skydiving and driving at high speeds, appear to be motivated by the desire to increase one’s level of stimulation and excitement (cf. Slanger & Rudestam, 1997). This idea can be traced back to one of the founders of experimental psychology Wilhelm Wundt (1893). Wundt (1893) suggested that along a continuum of intensity of stimulation and sensation, there was an optimal point at which the stimulus was regarded as most pleasurable. Stimulation above or below this point was judged as less pleasurable or 2 even aversive. Hebb & Thompson’s (1954) research with animals, led them to conclude that not only do mammals exhibit