Montesquieu hypothesis and football: Players from hot countries are more expressive after scoring a goal

Abstract

Analysis of sportsmen behavior enabled the authors to conduct simultaneous analysis of emotional expression of people from many distinct countries and cultures. In the study, participants from Nigeria and Poland watched all the goals scored in group matches of the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups and assessed the emotions players expressed after scoring each goal on three scales (happiness, anger, and excitement). Based on the assessment of the participants, emotional expression of football players from 51 countries was analyzed. Basing on “Montesquieu hypothesis”, it was shown that players born in warmer climates (controlling for HDI of their country) express more excitement and happiness after scoring a goal. Further cross-cultural differences were also found. The results are discussed in context of previous cross-cultural studies regarding emotional expression. © 2013, Versita. All rights reserved.