War, Sports and Aggression: An Empirical Test of Two Rival Theories1

Abstract

This paper investigates relationships between war, sport and aggression. Two rival models of behavior are tested: the Drive Discharge Model and the Culture Pattern Model Two test strategies are used: a cross‐cultural correlation study and a diachronic case study of the U.S. War and combative sports are found to be positively correlated, thus discrediting aggression as a drive in humans and supporting it as a learned cultural behavior pattern.