( 2018:129) describe trash-talking as “a novel construct in the organizational behavior literature” that their work on the relationships between trash talk, creativity, and ethical behavior “introduce” ( 2018:139). Academic attention to trash-talk has been sufficiently sparse, though, that Yip et al.

Indeed, certain players (e.g., Muhammad Ali) often acquire reputations for being especially verbose with respect to “trash-talking” their opponents during competition (e.g., Albom 2009 Zirin 2005). Nevertheless, consistent with the fact that sporting events either produce winners and losers or, at least, rank-orderings among the contestants, it is understandable that verbal exchanges during competitions are often reported to be antagonistic.

2010) however, communication between players who are competing against each other has not been studied as closely. Prior research on communication among teammates has shown-sensibly-that it tends to be beneficial for players to engage each other both verbally and nonverbally during games (e.g., Kraus et al. Although in some sports (e.g., soccer), play is more continuous because there are fewer stoppages, team-level contests typically involve at least one intermission or half-time where teammates and coaches can talk to each other and, more basically, most sports usually provide opportunities for competitors to exchange words. North American football games, for example, typically run more than 360 min from start to finish whereas the “game clock” runs for 60 min and actual play occupies approximately 11 min (Biderman 2010). Much of the activity that comprises an athletic contest does not involve physical activity but, instead, features communication among players. Our findings highlight the ways in which competitors in physical sporting contests attempt to use language-often in ways that focus on players’ kin or reproductive interests-in pursuit of victory while establishing a baseline for future research into trash-talking. We also examined whether the anonymity provided by face-masked helmets in “combat sports” was associated with more trash talk than contact sports played without a helmet (e.g., wrestling) and found no consistent association with face masks. Our three main findings are: (1) Trash-talking is most commonly about the proximately important topic of playing ability while ultimately relevant topics such as physical appearance also appear to be common (2) Men appear to trash-talk significantly more than women, and consistently across topics and (3) contact sports such as football, hockey, lacrosse, and wrestling are associated with trash talk significantly more than other sports. Based on a preliminary review of trash-talk topics among student-athletes, we asked participants to indicate the frequency with which they have communicated or heard others talk about opposing players’ athleticism, playing ability, physical appearance, boyfriends, girlfriends, sexual behavior, parents, and home institution during competitions.

To contribute an empirical basis for examining the nature of “trash talk,” we present the results of a study of 291 varsity athletes who compete in the top division among US universities. Among the extra-physical aspects of team sports, the ways in which players talk to each other are among the more colorful but understudied dimensions of competition.

Trash talker