Does exercise reduce aggressive feelings? An experiment examining the influence of movement type and social task conditions on testiness and anger reduction

Abstract

In the present study, it was assumed that a decrease in aggressive feelings is stronger with movements that are unlike aggressive actions compared with those that are similar to aggressive actions. Furthermore, cooperative exercise tasks were expected to lead to lower aggressive feelings compared with competitive tasks. After undergoing an induction of aggressive feelings, 60 participants were randomly assigned to one of six experimental treatment groups, each differing in “movement type” (rowing and combat exercise) and “social task condition” (cooperation, competition, and individualization). A significant reduction of aggressive feelings was only found for participants exercising individually in the rowing condition compared with the individual combat exercise condition. There were no sole effects of “movement type” and “social task condition.”