Are the winners or losers more violent?

After a game of football or any other competitive task, the winners are more aggressive , according to a recent study by Ohio State University (USA) that reveals that the winners of a competitive task act more aggressively against the people they target. They have defeated the losers versus the victors. "It seems that people who are victorious have a tendency to 'trample' the defeated," says Brad Bushman.

At first glance, the finding might seem counterintuitive: according to Bushman, losers are supposed to be aggressive and angry at those who have prevented them from "feeling competent and capable." However, the experiments reveal that, while the level of aggressiveness of the losers does not vary after knowing the result, the winners are especially violent, aggressive and attack their rivals if the opportunity arises. The conclusions of the work were published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science .

On the other hand, at the University of Kansas another previous study revealed that, when competing, winners experience an increase in testosterone levels higher than that of losers, although this fact should not be linked to greater aggressiveness.