Running head: SOCIAL PERCEPTION ON PROFESIONAL ATHLETES 1 SOCIAL PERCEPTION ON PROFESIONAL ATHLETES 7 Social Perception on Professional Athletes Anfal Alomar Mississippi College Abstract In the society, there are quite a number of perceptions that you will find regarding the professional sporting. Normally, the professional participants tend to draw a lot of attention when they have won a race or any match. Other times, it is the negative things that will catch the attention of the general public. All the positive and negative aspects presented to the public are particularly what help in shaping the kind of perception that will be attributed to the professional athletes. In the society, the professional athletes are expected to portray good images as they happen to be the role model of the society in general as well as other participants who have not yet attained such positions (Pappas, 2011). There are particular athletes who have engaged themselves in bad behaviors which are considered totally negative and this changes the perception of the society towards the whole professional sport category. With increased variation in social perception towards the professional athletes, there is indeed the need to determine the connection of the negative behaviors by the athletes and their effect to the society. As the societies’ perceived role models, their every step is usually watched and communicated to the public. This report therefore will provide a basic overview on the subject matter. The research will also provide a rationale for the need to have such investigation (Delaney, 2008). The paper will further provide findings from different authors on the subject for comparison. Being a crucial aspect in the society, the paper will also provide the main implications of the findings to management. Lastly, the paper will provide a summary of the findings regarding the topic. Social Perception on Professional Athletes Introduction There are certain perceptions that are associated with the negative actions portrayed by the professional athletes. Normally, there has been a common perception that most of the sports people are viewed to be role models and that they have a positive impact upon individuals as well as the broader community in general. This perception has hence resulted into a number of programs getting instituted in areas with prominent and successful athletes and other sports people have got their promotions to the community as being their role model for the purpose of influencing the sports participation rates (Pitney, 2006). As role models therefore, to a wide number of people, it is usually common that they try to behave in a manner that pleases the fans and everyone watching them. Nevertheless, there are negative behaviors which have specifically been associated with the professional athletes, which have slowly changed the social perception on them as the role models. The positive behaviors usually draw a positive attention from th.

1. Running head: SOCIAL PERCEPTION ON PROFESIONAL
ATHLETES
1
SOCIAL PERCEPTION ON PROFESIONAL ATHLETES
7
Social Perception on Professional Athletes
Anfal Alomar
Mississippi College
Abstract
In the society, there are quite a number of perceptions that you
will find regarding the professional sporting. Normally, the
professional participants tend to draw a lot of attention when
they have won a race or any match. Other times, it is the
negative things that will catch the attention of the general
public. All the positive and negative aspects presented to the
public are particularly what help in shaping the kind of
perception that will be attributed to the professional athletes. In
the society, the professional athletes are expected to portray
good images as they happen to be the role model of the society
in general as well as other participants who have not yet
attained such positions (Pappas, 2011). There are particular
athletes who have engaged themselves in bad behaviors which
are considered totally negative and this changes the perception
of the society towards the whole professional sport category.
With increased variation in social perception towards the
professional athletes, there is indeed the need to determine the
connection of the negative behaviors by the athletes and their
effect to the society. As the societies’ perceived role models,
their every step is usually watched and communicated to the
public. This report therefore will provide a basic overview on

2. the subject matter. The research will also provide a rationale for
the need to have such investigation (Delaney, 2008). The paper
will further provide findings from different authors on the
subject for comparison. Being a crucial aspect in the society,
the paper will also provide the main implications of the findings
to management. Lastly, the paper will provide a summary of the
findings regarding the topic.
Social Perception on Professional Athletes
Introduction
There are certain perceptions that are associated with the
negative actions portrayed by the professional athletes.
Normally, there has been a common perception that most of the
sports people are viewed to be role models and that they have a
positive impact upon individuals as well as the broader
community in general. This perception has hence resulted into a
number of programs getting instituted in areas with prominent
and successful athletes and other sports people have got their
promotions to the community as being their role model for the
purpose of influencing the sports participation rates (Pitney,
2006).
As role models therefore, to a wide number of people, it is
usually common that they try to behave in a manner that pleases
the fans and everyone watching them. Nevertheless, there are
negative behaviors which have specifically been associated with
the professional athletes, which have slowly changed the social
perception on them as the role models. The positive behaviors
usually draw a positive attention from the fans while the
negative behavior communicate a negative message to the
society in general and this alters their reputation based on the
issue at hand.
Rationale for investigation
Negative behaviors particularly in form of crimes have been a
major issue for the professional athletes. Some people still feel
that the connection of crime and professional athletes is just a

3. myth. This kind of myth regarding the professional athletes and
crimes mainly arises because it is usually easier to cite
examples for some of the professionals who have been involved
in negative behaviors.
It is only sensible that all the professional athletes are perceived
to be committing so many crimes particularly because at every
time they do, they always make news (Marchand, 2007).
Regardless of the magnitude of the act that an athlete has
engaged in, it is usually brought to light by the media and thus
becomes subject to criticism by the general public. The manner
in which it has been brought to the public also determines how
the society in general will view it. Therefore, this is the same
kind of thinking that will make the society believe that every
athlete in the professional category is prone to commit such
acts.
Definitely, at the high-profile, the big money world of all
professional sport, whatever incident caused by a player usually
creates potential disaster. The pro players especially those
considered stars by the society end up becoming the people that
market machines and even promote and hawk things ranging
from clothing, electronics to automobiles. This means that they
appear more to the public, as trusted mediators to bring a
certain message to the public. This also means that any single
misstep will bear a greater consequence for the others when it
gets committed by the well known athletes.
For instance, one of the professional athletes was identified as
having had demonstrated very negative off-field behavior by
acting in an aggressive way and really crossed the line through
having committed a domestic assault to the wife, who was
newlywed. Such kind of an abusive behavior is usually very
damaging in a variety of ways (Ingham, 2008).
This is because it will harm the athlete’s image and will also
create an unnecessary attention which the particular athlete does
not require. Every person in the society will be interested in
knowing more about the athlete and this attention usually
results into negative publicity.

4. In addition to this, it usually craws negative attention to the
team mates as well as the professional organization and this will
eventually create the atmosphere of drama. Further, such a
behavior usually creates the negative persona on the
professional athletes and thus creating a stigma where all the
professional athletes are considered as bad people. Therefore,
all these factors provide a justification for finding more
information on the issue. Findings needs to be realized which
gives the true nature of the situation, the implications of the
acts and what could be done in any case.
Literature review
Normally, the social media usually intensifies this negative
image through projecting the particular abusive image of the
athlete into the television, radio, internet as well as print media.
With time, the sponsors start detaching themselves from the
athlete, basically because it is only normal that they would not
be associated with such an athlete. Generally, the professional
athletes are usually expected to conduct themselves in a
professional manner. This is because they are considered by the
general public as being idols, role models as well as people to
look up to (Horn, 2008).
Most the images that the standards are set for them are usually
impossible to be attained. Most of these athletes crack under
pressure of being positioned as the spotlight and simply are
unable to take the kind of pressure. In turn, most of them end up
turning into drugs as well as alcohol for the purpose of numbing
the pain.
In addition, some might even turn into sex as well as other
extramarital affairs for the purpose of dealing with that kind of
pressure. Unfortunately, whichever way that they will turn to, it
is mostly negative and once recognized brings a more damaged
reputation upon the athlete, which usually worsens the situation.
In addition, in the society there is usually no sufficient time that

5. allows the negative behavior to get excused in the society. This
is because there would be no excuses for the professionals not
to make positive choices during their professional career. In
essence, it does not make sense when they use the pressure of
being positioned as the spotlight to be the excuse for any
negative behavior (Owens, 2000).
These excuses will give chance for the behaviors to be tolerated
even in future and might not give the opportunity for addressing
the real problem. This whole process does not enhance going to
the root of the problem as well as finding the right solutions for
them. With an opportunity to get the real cause of the problem,
there is the likelihood to resolve the issues.
The established problem is that the entire athlete’s management,
agents as well as coaches have not done sufficient work to help
in the new as well as current athletes to cope with the pressure
that comes with being under the spotlight. It is usually critical
that the athletes find some positive ways of coping with the
pressure from the society. They further need to be placed with
the right group of people that are going to shape, mold as well
as guide them on the way of their expectations in the society
(Rote, 2009).
Normally, when a certain athlete is unable to cope with the
pressure laid upon him, the organization as well as the
management usually has the responsibility of providing the
relevant tools that might help in the situation. Normally, there
are sport psychologists as well as counselors who would help
when they engage them into talking about it as well as offering
solutions in cases when things seems to be too difficult to
handle. The mental health at the professional arena is usually an
area full of changes.
In most cases, fame as well as fortune that are involved in
playing on any professional sport could really get to someone. It
is quite common to have times when things might get out of
hand and regardless of the situation, it is indeed true to
conclude that there might have been a lot of criminals prevalent

6. in the sporting world over the years with some cases being
worse as compared to others.
Regardless of the degree of crime, coming from a professional
player is quite detrimental to the society. Some of the athletes
who have been listed for crimes really have gone past what is
the normal crime (Sheth & Babiak, 2010).
There are some who committed some acts which are considered
heinous which would be hard to imagine that at a point they
were considered and perceived in a positive light on the world
of sports. It is quite a shame that the people who are regarded as
being the role models for the upcoming athletes have at a
certain time been convicted of a particular crime, having all
participated at the major professional sport.
Quite recently, two trophy winners off season behaviors had
raised a lot of questions regarding the appropriateness in using
athletes to be society’s role model. Normally, athletes work
hard and also stay fit but might not always be enough to
influence the society, particularly the children in a good way
(Tuttle & Tuttle, 2004).
There is the dark side of the athletes which includes the use of
steroid, the hard parting lifestyle as well as very poor
sportsmanship which in most cases overshadows the athlete’s
ability of playing their game. Therefore, for the society, it is
usually significant to get the real picture on the influence that
the athletes can have on the children’s lives.
Sportsmanship
From a survey that was conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation
provided some clear findings on how most of the professional’s
sportsmanship had been perceived by many children. About 74%
presented that it is quite common for the pro athlete to go to an
extent of yelling to the nearby referee (Wylleman & Lavallee,
2004).

7. About 62% presented that it is considered normal to have trash
talking from the opponents side and about 46% presented that it
is quite unlikely that athletes take the cheap shots at the
opponents. These children also agreed that it was obvious to see
the particular behaviors during playing the sports with their
peers. This is indeed a spoiled-athlete mentality which might
teach the children that there is nothing wrong in fighting, as
long as it is meant to get something that one wants.
Fan relationship:
Fan relationship is one of the factors that can shape the social
perception of a certain athlete. Fan relationship entails showing
charisma to fans and interacting with fans. Fans admire and
prefer the athlete that can share with them and let the fans feel
him/her.
If an athlete has a good charisma, he/she will win the
acceptance of the fans and the society at large. This results to
the shaping of favorable social perceptions towards the athlete.
Athletes with good fan relations are normally accepted as
heroes and friends of the society. Such athletes are loved by
their fans and they are highly appreciated.
However, when athletes keep poor fan relationship they harm
their personality towards the fans. Those athletes who have poor
fan relationship are branded as boastful and they tend to be
frustrated by the fans. Poor fan relationship can result from
communication abuse, failure to give back to the society or the
failure to identify with the fans. When an athlete is unpopular,
it means that he/she is rejected by the society’s social
perception. This results to harming of the social personality of
the athlete.
Fitness
Most of the professional athletes ends up teaching the children
of the handwork that is involved in order to become the best and
a star in any given sport. According to research by Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, it was established that the

8. children who are between age of 6 and 11 are usually
considered to be obese. This is basically as a result of sedentary
and the lifestyle involving only the video games.
Through looking up to the favorite athletes, these children could
be a lot more inspired to get more involved in sports and might
decide to stay active (Howard‐Hamilton & Sina 2001). This is a
beneficial influence to the children as it could translate to
impeccable work ethic as well as higher degree of fitness at the
field. Nevertheless, any negative behaviors resulting from the
same athletes might discourage these children at the same
margin.
Drug use
Drug abuse is one the factors that negatively shape the social
perception of the society towards an athlete. Drug abuse is
normally called doping in sports and is against the rules of the
sport. However, some athletes administer these drugs to
themselves so as to improve on their performance in the field.
Drugs are generally considered as social menace and are always
met with heated opposition. Whenever an athlete tests positive
for doping, he is regarded as inauthentic because of using drugs
to enhance performance. This harms the social perception which
the society had to the athlete. The society begins to view the
athlete negatively as being a cheating athlete. Drugs harm the
social perception of the athletes to extreme limits that most
consider quitting the sport will others even ending up with
suicide.
It has been made known and quite common that most of the
professional athletes make use of the performance enhancing
drugs for the purpose of getting the edge at their opponents and
this can unintentionally affect all the children that look up to
them. There have been many suspensions of players that were
discovered having used the banned performance enhancing
substances.
Even though some of these athletes are continually setting

9. records on various runs, the steroid substitute androstenedione
showed to have increased on the sales (Fortunato & Gilbert,
2003). The steroid as well as the supplements which are used
by the professional athletes usually sends message to the society
as well as children in particular that it is allowed and justifiable
to cheat as long as you end up becoming the best or are the best.
Lifestyle
Normally, the kind of lifestyle that the athletes usually lead
based on a certain athlete could highly have mixed effect of the
children. There are some athletes who truly work hard, are good
in providing for their families and usually participate in a lot of
charity work for their community.
On the other hand, there are others who only base their
concentration on making money, getting endorsement deals and
living the high life. In the society, the tricky thing in finding an
athlete that is ideal as role model for the children is usually to
find the one that one would like that their child be when they
are adults (Donnor & Brown, 2011).
In most cases, an athlete who has been thought to be a perfect
role model will engage themselves in a certain scandal which
might affect the perception that the child has towards life and
the athlete in general.
Moreover, the lifestyle of an athlete can be shaped by
perceptions to be brand. This happens when the lifestyle of the
athlete is admired by people who he/she interacts with. When
the social perceptions favor the lifestyle of an athlete, his
identity transforms to a brand. This is the reason why many
advertisement companies use specific athletes for advertisement
purposes.
A company will be compelled to identify with a certain athlete
so as to attract those people who love the athletes. If an athlete
is transformed to be a brand, this means that he/she has been
accepted by the people on the basis of social perceptions. Social
perceptions that can transform an athlete could e shaped by

10. factors such as credible achievements by the athlete and
charismatic personality (Ingham, 2008).
The identity of the athlete can also be shaped negatively if
social perceptions do not favor the personality of the athlete.
When social perceptions shape the personality of athlete
negatively, he is transformed to a disgrace of the society.
Negative social perceptions could be influenced by poor track
performance of the athlete or poor conduct of the athlete.
The athlete could engage in unpopular activities that would
affect his/her social personality negatively. Such common cases
are normally drug abuse, indecent assault or communication
abuse. Such unpopular conducts always repel the expectations
of the society and hence shaping negatively the social
perception of the society to the athlete. At this moment the
social perception of the society towards the athlete transforms
him/her to a disgrace (Ingham, 2008).
Influences of the athlete role models
Normally the athletes can provide both positive and negative
influence which is dependent on either behaviors or utterances
that they will display to the public. Research suggests that most
of the athletes usually work hard in order to become positive
role models and are mostly involved in good activities such as
raising money for charities, talking to various student groups
and also acting as mentors. On the other hand, the athletes can
become negative role models and this is mainly through the
inappropriate as well as unlawful actions which mostly receive
a lot of media coverage.
Regardless of the fact that there has been this perception that
such sports are a source of rich environment particularly in the
development of children, there is as much anecdotal as well as
empirical evidence that tends to negate the attitudes as well as
practices of the athletes, mostly the men that have been
promoted in particular sporting cultures (Howard‐Hamilton &
Sina 2001). In particular sports, the male dominance through
support of the patriarchal ideology is usually common and also

11. through the media as well as other outputs, the children will
mostly likely model their behavior on the actions of
sportspeople.
Based on certain research through interviews and observations,
boys usually develop cultures which mirror the macho models
as well as general caricature of the traditional masculinity. This
modeling behavior is usually not based on the player’s on-field
conduct but also on the extra curricula activities whereby the
athletes have shown bad behaviors either in the public places
like the night clubs. Normally, the media plays a large role in
how the athletes as role models will be perceived.
According to various newspapers, there are role models who
were seen as heroes but with media intrusion in their lives, this
notion changed with more non-sporting details are usually
provided which will in most cases damage their reputation as
being positive role model (Fortunato & Gilbert, 2003). There
are many social problems which are highlighted by the media
about certain athletes on their everyday activities and the
negative ones usually include abusing of drugs as well as
alcohol, domestic issues such as violence and even having extra
marital affair affairs. Therefore, despite all these actions, the
athletes will always be considered to have a lot of influence on
the young children as their role models.
Generally, the profit of being a professional athlete has
currently begun overshadowing the main talent that is involved
in sports and children as well as society in general has started to
notice this. Most of the players at the professional sports have
the belief that they are single aspect to enhancing team’s
success and this has rapidly swarmed children and also changed
their overall view of the sports. The professional sports ought to
demonstrate teamwork as well as how to become the team
player (Ingham, 2008).
A large number of people who watch the favorite’s athlete
media program will in most cases act in the ways that they see
and this could be actually bad. These professionals are

12. increasingly doing things that end up drawing much attention to
them and you will find that most of the actions that get
publicized are negative. The kind of life that the media is
portraying regarding the professional athletes is usually
conflicting to the young kids. This is because normally they are
taught to act in one way, but will see their remodels acting in
other ways.
The increased significance in the pro athletes as well as culture
in the current culture has begun bringing about negative effects
to the children as well as their futures. With the popularity of
the pro sport progressing in its growth, it is likely that the
culture will be based on the world of sports. The children will
in future grow up watching athletes who idolize their every
move. Based on the publicity which is associated with becoming
a professional athlete, the athletes need to fully understand that
their actions as well as what they do when they are out of the
stadium will have a bigger effect on the children.
Most of the athletes are targets of the media and regardless of
whether they win or lose, their performance as well as life is
usually publicly dissected by the media (Cecić Erpič &
Zupančič, 2004). This also contributes to the kind of perception
that the society will have on the profession in general as well as
the particular athletes.
Winning usually brings media glorification as well as
expectation, together with critics and jealousy. On the other
hand, losing brings with it negative judgment and increased
criticism. Therefore, with a combination of many factors
revolving around the life of professional athletes the social
perception will always exist and be influenced by them.
Managerial implication
In the world of athletics, there are different organizations which
volunteer to support and nurture the promising athletes. Besides
these organizations, the athletes are often associated with
particular teams which are governed and managed by higher

13. bodies. All these tend to have a certain expectation from the
athletes being supported and thus set policies and guidelines
which should be followed to be contained within the team
(Pappas, 2011).
With negative behaviors from the athletes by the whole society
there is a certain degree of implication to the management.
These management bodies are usually the initiators of certain
pressures that require the athletes to conduct themselves in a
certain manner as the spotlight and role models of the society.
Further, they are always responsible for creating expectations
that they shine and win most of their races. With such
expectation, they contribute to the athletes wanting to get
involved in the negative behaviors in order to attain the
standards, like the use of drugs.
Nevertheless, once the athletes chose to engage themselves in
such behaviors or conduct themselves in a manner that brings
disgrace to their team or affects their reputation, the
management is always affected (Pitney, 2006). The management
thus takes the responsibility of suspending the athletes or
banning them from participating in their team.
Being a valued athlete, it might be a challenge for the team but
the management is left with no choice as they also want to
protect the team. Some of the behaviors usually the management
does not have any control of and it negatively affects the
reputation of both parties. Therefore, despite the kind of effect
that these professional athletes have to the society, this
perception extends to the management and risks a lot of
negativity in publicity which might harm the team in general.
Conclusion
To sum it up, there are varied perceptions which are attributed
to the participants in the professional sports. All these social
perceptions have been built based on the varied behaviors by
the participants. The professional athletes have engaged
themselves in some negative behaviors and thus, having been
perceived as the role models of the society and particularly the

14. children, the behaviors usually create negative impacts which
with time change the perception on the athletes in general and
the behaviors.
Some children grow knowing that it is alright to do some things,
as long as they know what they want to achieve (Rote, 2009).
Different priorities are being set by children following the kind
of image that they see their role models create and this is bad.
The media has contributed highly to this kind of perception
based on the information that it presents to the people.
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