Heat and Aggression

For the class I’m T.A.ing right now, I’ve read some literature about the relationship between heat and aggression and, apparently, this relationship also manifests in various sport settings as well. This got me wondering about the conditions in any number of clubs I’ve been in. I know that promoters/managers would rather forego paying for air conditioning, but it now seems like their parsimony is exacerbating aggression.

While I’d never thought about this dynamic before, it makes sense to me that it’s easier to get “hot under the collar” when one is, literally, hot under the collar. Does anyone have any thoughts and/or experiences?

I never found this to be true on the dance floor. Usually, everyone drinks more fluids when it's hot. On the other hand, I think heat can also play a role in "heat" of passion. Nothing like hot, sweaty bodies undulating together!

This is an interesting topic. What does anybody out there think? There's gotta be piles of data on heat and crime rates, etc. Question is, what have you seen in dance clubs? Do people really get hot under the collar, when they're hot under the collar? :wink:

pygmalion said:

This is an interesting topic. What does anybody out there think? There's gotta be piles of data on heat and crime rates, etc. Question is, what have you seen in dance clubs? Do people really get hot under the collar, when they're hot under the collar? :wink:

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I have noticed this, but "only" in establishments that serve alcohol and when the night is coming to a close, or within an hour or so of closing!

I used to be a bouncer, back in my younger days, at a dance place that served alcohol, and nothing ever happened until after 11:30 or so . . . and most confrontations were in the summertime. Link? Maybe???

SDsalsaguy said:

While I’d never thought about this dynamic before, it makes sense to me that it’s easier to get “hot under the collar” when one is, literally, hot under the collar. Does anyone have any thoughts and/or experiences?

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There is a bar we dance at every tuesday night that up until mid August did not put on the air conditioning. It was unbelievable. It was frustrating to me and other dancers just because it's hard to dance to dixieland swing in a stuffy room. I don't think anyone ever actually got aggressive though.

I'm guessing that some of the machismo culture that comes along with salsa probably contributes...and that hotter floor conditions also often go hand in hand with more crowded venues and floor conditions (in addition to ambient tempeature).

As far as Vince's point, that seems to me to just be a matter of the later it gets the more time people have had to get drinks into themselves...and sometimes more then they should have.