Moral Behavior

Prosocial and antisocial behaviors take place in sport and correspond to proactive and inhibitive morality. These behaviors could have important consequences not only for the recipient's physical and psychological well being, but also for the quality of the overall sport experience. Thus, understanding the factors that lead to, or inhibit, these behaviors is important. Motivational variables stemming from achievement goal theory and self-determination theory have been associated with both prosocial and antisocial behaviors in sport, highlighting the important role of motivation on moral behavior. Moral disengagement, a strong positive predictor of antisocial behavior, could explain the effects of motivational variables on this behavior. Moral variables are also highly influential with both moral identity and empathy inhibiting antisocial behavior; anticipated guilt has been identified as a mediator in this process, underlining the significance of emotion on moral behavior. Finally, bracketed morality exists in sport, and may be a manifestation of the intergroup bias phenomenon.