Welcome to Trash Talk in Sport
Thank you for your interest in Trash Talk in Sport. This website is currently being refurbished. Please try back soon for more trash updates, or email Dr. Ben Conmy at drconmy@trashtalkinsport.com.
The Background
What is Trash Talk?
As all athletes are well aware, there is often a ‘game within the game’ in their respective sports. Something the fans never hear, coaches can’t control, and the training room cannot prepare you for.
How do you know trash talk exists?
Trash talking in sport is currently an unknown quantity. Anecdotal evidence exists through the pages of websites, magazines, newspapers, and a myriad of urban myths passed from coach to athlete to journalist throughout the annals of sports history . . . but there is no science.
Measuring Trash Talk
Maybe there is no way to accurately manipulate trash talk in a competitive environment or perhaps some understanding of this prevalent feature of contemporary sport is worth some more serious consideration. Ben Conmy, the creator of Trash Talk in Sport, is currently working on experimental designs at Florida State University to examine this further.
Which one are you?
Recent News
29 APR 09It’s best to shut up and fight
“A lot of times people talk trash with a certain intent, perhaps to motivate themselves, but it often has what we call a ‘paradox effect’ in that it inspires the other person to go to performance levels they never dreamed of,” Conmy said. “It lights a fire . . ."
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26 DEC 07Angry Broncos upset by Rivers’ trash talk
Bailey says Charger talks too much, and ‘you're really not a great
player’ . . .
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24 JUL 06Psychology: Trash-Talk Triumphs
Zinedine Zidane says he head-butted Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final (getting himself ejected) because the Italian defender . . .
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