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Olympics 2024: how dark personality traits may affect the relationship between coaches and athletes who win gold this summer

    The coach-athlete relationship is key to achieving greatness in elite sports. And at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the margins between success and failure will be tiny.

    Our new research offers insights on how the dark triad personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy), which tend to be more prevalent among athletes, might damage the relationship between coach and athlete, affecting their performance.

    Studies have shown that athletes with a stronger relationship with their coach perform better. Elite athletes tend to be more satisfied with their own performance when they have a good relationship with their coach, too. They also report higher levels of intrinsic motivation for sport, where they are motivated by enjoyment and excitement. This kind of motivation is associated with increased persistence and better wellbeing.

    Coaches and athletes also report higher personal wellbeing when their relationship is better.

    Personality traits play a powerful role in the coach-athlete relationship. Coaches and athletes are more committed to each other when they are disciplined, reliable and high in conscientiousness.

    A 2014 study of Chinese coach-athlete relationships found that when coaches and athletes had sociable, talkative and outgoing personality traits, it benefited their relationship. Being irritable, self-conscious or anxious had a negative effect.

    Our research published in 2022 found that elite swimmers and their coaches could identify the role that their own, and their partner’s personality traits played in their relationship. We found actual personality traits did not seem to matter as much as an awareness of how the coach’s personality affected the relationship.

    In some partnerships, the athletes valued similarities in their personalities, while others felt that their differences helped “balance each other”.

    The study also found that both the coach and athlete understood that the interpersonal relationship was important for performance.

    We’ve recently expanded our research to explore the role of dark triad personality traits in the coach-athlete relationship. These traits are often thought of negatively due to their association with being ruthless (narcissism), manipulative (Machiavellianism) or lacking empathy (psychopathy).

    Athletes report higher levels of these traits than non athletes. Studies that include both athlete and coach samples tend to find they have broadly similar levels of dark triad traits.

    Athletes competing in individual sports are more likely to report dark triad traits than those in team sports. However, some studies seem to show dark triad traits may affect performance even for team sports professionals. For instance, a 2022 UK study found basketball players high in the dark triad traits performed better in a free-throw task than those with lower levels.

    Our new study examined how levels of these traits in both coaches and their athletes were linked to the quality of their relationship. When coaches had higher narcissism, they reported less cooperative behaviour towards their athlete. In other words, they may have been less responsive to the needs of their athlete.

    The relationship was better for athletes and coaches when they had different levels of narcissism – supporting the adage that “opposites attract”. Athlete-coach pairs with mismatched narcissism felt closer to each other, with higher levels of trust.
    Athletes high in psychopathy – associated with being ruthless – were less committed to and had less respect for their coach. Coaches high in this trait had lower levels of closeness, commitment and leadership.

    Machiavellianism was also linked with relationship quality. Coaches high in this trait – associated with manipulating and exploiting others – reported less cooperative behaviour in their relationship. In addition, athletes with high levels of Machiavellianism were less committed, felt more distant and were less willing to do their best for their coach.

    Our study shows that while dark triad traits may lead to higher performance in elite sports, they may undermine the quality of the relationship between coach and athlete.

    We only looked at this in a snapshot of time. It may be that over time the negative aspects of these traits impede the relationships, which lead to long-term performance. Within the study, coaches and athletes reported broadly similar levels of the dark triad traits to each other.

Building strong relationships

    Our research adds to the understanding of how coaches and athletes can build strong relationships to aid their performance. However, it isn’t our view that coaches and athletes with high levels of dark triad traits cannot have relationships that satisfy their needs and lead to high performance.

    But we would offer a couple of recommendations.

    First, the personality traits of both coach and athlete should be considered at the beginning of the relationship. For example, pairing an athlete high in narcissism to a coach with much lower levels of this trait could lead to a positive relationship. They should also seek the support of a sport psychologist, to help coaches and athletes understand who their partner is and how to get the best out of them.

    When you’re watching the Olympics this summer remember there is a team behind the new records and the crushing defeats. As the dark triad research shows, people’s relationships with their team can have deep power over their performance.

Disponível em: https://theconversation.com/olympics-2024-how-dark personality-traits-may-affect-the-relationship-between-coaches-and-ath letes-who-win-gold-this-summer-234295.

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    When Tinder (a mobile dating app) was launched on college campuses in America in 2012, it quickly became a hit. Although online dating had been around since Match.com, a website for lonely hearts, launched in 1995, it had long struggled to shed1 an image of desperation. But Tinder, by letting users sift through photos of countless potential dates with a simple swipe, made it easy and fun.

    Soon Tinder and its rivals had transformed dating. A report found that 30% of American adults had used an online dating service, including more than half of those aged between 18 and 29. One in five couples of that age had met through such a service. Usage surged during the pandemic, as lonely locked- -down singles searched for partners. The market capitalisation of Bumble, a rival to Tinder, surged to $13 billion on its first day of trading² in February 2021. Later that year the value of Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and scores of other dating services, reached nearly $50 billion.

    Today roughly 350 million people around the world have a dating app on their phone, up from 250 million in 2018, according to a research firm. In June 2024 Tokyo’s government even said it would launch a matchmaking app of its own to pair up singles in the city. Yet lately online dating has lost its spark. The apps were downloaded 237 million times globally in 2023, down from 287 million in 2020. According to a research firm, the number of people who use them at least once a month has dwindled from 154 million in 2021 to 137 million in the second quarter of 2024.

(www.economist.com, 08.08.2024. Adaptado.)

1 to shed: to get rid of something that is no longer wanted.
2 trading: the activity of buying and selling things.

The dangers of preconceived judgement:
look beyond stereotypes

People often say “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, and it holds true in many aspects of life. We are all
guilty of making snap judgements about others based on their appearance, actions or even just a brief
encounter. But have you ever wondered why it’s important not to judge someone before getting to know
them? Do you ever consider that?
[5]   Imagine that you are at a party and, out of the corner of your eye, you spot a person with a unique
hairstyle and an outfit that screams “fashion forward”. Your brain, always ready for action, instantly springs
into snap judgement mode. “They must be an avant-garde artist or a fashion model”, it enthusiastically
proclaims. This is thin slice judgement! It refers to the action of making lightning-fast judgements based
on minimal information. An example is when you are at a job interview, and the person in the hot seat
[10]   glances at your handwriting before making a quick assessment of your personality. It sounds ludicrous,
but our brain has a way of magnifying minor details and turning them into grand narratives. As amusing
as it may seem, such judgements can have real-life consequences.
While snap judgements can provide an amusing story to share at parties, they can perpetuate stereotypes,
reinforce biases and limit our ability to see the true beauty in diversity. Instead of jumping to conclusions,
[15]   it’s better to lean into curiosity. Ask questions, seek out diverse perspectives and recognize that everyone
has a unique story to tell. By embracing our inquisitive nature, we can uncover the richness of human
experiences and challenge our own biases.
Empathy is the secret weapon against prejudice. To truly understand someone, you must put yourself in
their shoes and see the world through their eyes. Actually, prejudice is when we form an opinion or make
[20]   assumptions about someone without having all the facts. It’s like trying to write a book review after only
reading the first chapter. We should strive to give people a fair chance before passing judgement. Besides,
it’s essential to remember that nobody is perfect, and we should embrace diversity instead of assuming
we’re always right. Rather than acting as self-appointed judges, we should approach people with empathy
and understanding.
[25]   Practicing self-compassion and recognizing our own imperfections can help us show more compassion
towards others. Harsh judgement can stem from a variety of factors, such as insecurity, fear or simply our
own experiences and biases, but it’s okay, we’ve all been there! What’s important is to take a step back and
reflect on why we are quick to judge. And, if we always do that, it’s time to think outside the box.

PATRICK TURNER
Adaptado de appgecet.co.in.

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On the surface, there is little to distinguish the Woolf Social Club from any other hipster hangout in Seoul, South Korea. Customers perch on wooden stools at formica tables, tapping on laptops while they sip their coffee. Records and cds line the walls, soft jazz trickles from speakers. On the white wall above the bar, in big black letters, is the statement: “More dignity, less bullshit”.

It is only on closer inspection that you realise this is more than just another coffee shop. On the mugs are cartoon drawings of Virginia Woolf, an angry wolf roaring from her shirt. A bookshelf contains South Korean feminist novels and works of self-help (titles include “Lessons on Being Unmarried”) alongside “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir and “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood. On the wall is a poster for an exhibition of feminist art at a nearby gallery.

“I wanted a space for like-minded women to meet and talk,” says Kim Jina, a 47-year-old former advertising executive and politician who founded the café six years ago. Kim was inspired by Woolf’s dictum that in order to write fiction, a woman needed “five hundred [pounds] a year and a room with a lock on the door”. That is, financial independence and a place to think. The café’s casual vibe is deliberate: she wanted to avoid creating barriers to entry for women who were merely curious, rather than fully committed to the movement. Besides, she adds, “If I limited myself to feminist customers, I could never make a living.”

South Korea, even its trendy capital, is a difficult place to be a woman. The wage gap between the sexes is the highest in the rich world. Traditional expectations about gender roles, beauty standards and the way women should conduct themselves remain pervasive. “Misogyny surrounds you so naturally that you barely even notice it,” says Kim. “I had no role models, so my idea of how a successful woman should be came straight from ‘Sex and the City’.” For much of her 20s and 30s, she spent most of her money on make-up and expensive handbags, partying every weekend and dreaming about meeting her version of Mr Big, the rich, smooth-talking love interest of the show’s main character, Carrie.

“I never worried about misogyny because I thought being sexually attractive was a form of power,” says Kim. “But eventually I realised that men with real power don’t wear make-up and expensive dresses.” Her epiphany came when she was passed over for promotion in favour of a male colleague. “My boss said, ‘He needs it more than you because he has a wife and a child to take care of,’ and I realised that I had been wrong to think that all I needed to do was work hard and be good at my job.”

Kim’s burgeoning feminism crystallised in the summer of 2016, after a woman was murdered in a public toilet in an upmarket part of Seoul. The killer initially claimed that he had done it because he had been ignored by women. “I lived right around the corner, and I thought: that could have been me,” says Kim. Like many other women, she was upset by media coverage that ignored the misogynist motives for his crime and blamed it entirely on his mental-health problems.

The murder prompted South Korean women to come together, initially in online communities, and discuss how to fight back against sexism. Then they took to the streets. In 2018 there was a series of protests against the widespread practice of recording illegal footage of women by hiding small cameras in public toilets or changing rooms.

Kim founded the Woolf Social Club in 2017. “I thought, we talk to each other on the internet, but it would be good to have a physical space in which to do that,” she says. “If you walk around Seoul, you see all these cafés aimed at couples, where women look pretty and lower their voices. I wanted a space where they could raise them.”

[Fonte: Lena Schipper. “Virginia Woolf is inspiring South Korean feminists”. In: The Economist, 09/05/2022, www.economist.com/1843/2022/05/09/virginia-woolf-is-inspiringsouth-korean-feminists. Adaptado. Data de acesso: 27/08/2023.]

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Read Your Way Through Salvador

By Itamar Vieira Junior and translated by Johnny Lorenz. July 19, 2023.

I was born in Salvador, in the Brazilian state of Bahia, and lived in the general vicinity until I reached the age of 15. But it was when I left that I really came to know my city. How was I able to discover more about my birthplace while traveling far from home? It might sound rather clichéd but, I assure you, literature made this possible: It took me on a journey, long and profound, back home, enveloping me in words and imagination.

To understand the formation of our unique society and, consequently, the cityscape of Salvador, one should read, before anything else, "The Story of Rufino: Slavery, Freedom and Islam in the Black Atlantic," by João José Reis, Flávio dos Santos Gomes and Marcus J.M. de Carvalho. Rufino was an alufá, or Muslim spiritual leader, born in the Oyo empire in present-day Nigeria and enslaved during his adolescence. "The Story of Rufino" is an epic tale, encapsulating the life of one man in search of freedom as well as the history of the development of Salvador itself, a place inextricably linked with the diaspora across the Black Atlantic. Another book for which I have deep affection is "The City of Women," by the American anthropologist Ruth Landes. It offers an intriguing perspective, focusing on matriarchal power in candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian sacred practice, and revealing how the social organization of its spiritual communities reverberates across the city.

If you want to feel the intensity of life on the streets of Salvador, these two books, both by Amado, are indispensable: "Captains of the Sands" and "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands." The first is a coming-of-age story in which we follow a group of children and adolescents living on the streets and on the beaches around the Bay of All Saints. Written more than 80 years ago, the book was banned and even burned in the public square during the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas in the first half of the 20th century. As a portrait of Salvador, it is still relevant and reveals our deep inequalities. "Dona Flor and her Two Husbands" is one of Amado's most popular novels, translated into more than 30 languages and adapted many times for theater, cinema, and television. The book is a kind of manifesto for a woman's liberation. Dona Flor possesses great culinary talent, and oppressed by a patriarchal society, finds herself divided between two men, one being her deceased husband. While the novel captures the daily life of the city in the 1940s, it is also a wonderful guide to the cuisine of Salvador, with its African and Portuguese influences.

I invite readers to travel into the interior of Bahia, many hours by car from Salvador to the region known as the Sertão, whose name translates loosely to "backwoods." Two books can also transport you there, and they are sides of the same story: "Backlands: The Canudos Campaign," by Euclides da Cunha, and "The War of the End of the World," by Mario Vargas Llosa.

"Backlands" is one of the most important works in the history of Brazilian literature. It is a journalistic telling that introduces us not only to the brutal War of Canudos, but also to the intriguing landscape of the Sertão, a place so full of contradictions. In his writing of the conflict, da Cunha tells the story of the genesis of the tough sertanejo: a mythic, cowboyesque figure of the drought-stricken, lawless interior. "The War of the End of the World" is an essential epic that amplifies the narrative of "Backlands," bringing a more imaginative, creative aspect to the story of Antônio Conselheiro, the spiritual leader of a rebellion, and of the multitude that followed him to their deaths.

[Fonte: "Read Your Way Through Salvador". In: The New York Times, 19/07/2023, .Adaptado, Data de acesso: 01/09/2023.]

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Fonte: https://www.peanuts.com/about/charlie-brown. Acessado em: 25.09.0223