Bodybuilding: Conflicting Focuses Sandvig 1

RevisionSheet

Formyrevisionofthesecondwritingproject,Idecidedtotakeoutawholeparagraph

andshortenthelengthoftheessaybecauseoneoftheparagraphssoundedredundant.Itookout

theparagraphaboutthestructureoftheessaybecauseIfeltthatitwasnotneededsinceI

describesthecharacteristicsofbothpsychologicaltextsandhistorytexts.Thesecharacteristics

includedtheuseofgraphsandstatisticsbypsychologicaltextsandtheuseofpictureswithin

historytexts.Isimilarlydescribethesecharacteristicsinmyparagraphabouttheliterary

practicesusedbybothdiscoursecommunities.Iusedtheassistanceofoneofmyfriendstore

readbyessayandtellmethepossiblechangesIcouldmakeandhepointedouttomethe

redundancyofthisparagraphandhowitwouldbemoreconciseandbetterforthe

communicationtotheaudiencebyme.Ibelievethisrevisionwillmakemyessaybetteralthough

itisshorterbecausethereaderdoesnotfeellikeheorsheisrepeatedlyreadingthesamethings.

Inadditiontotherevisionoftakingoutaparagraphofmyessaytomakeitmoreconcise,

IdecidedtochangemyformattoMLAasthiswasnotanoptionforthisproject.IbelieveMLA

formatistheeasiesttoreadbecausethereaderdoesnothavetolookatthefootnotetoseewhere

thesourcecamefrom.Theycannowlookattheendofthesentencetoseewhatauthorwasused

forthespecificcitation.TheuseofChicagoandAPAstylearemoreapplicableformydiscourse

communities.,howeverinordertocreatearevisionthatcanchangetheformatofmyessay,I

changedthecitationformattoMLA.
Bodybuilding: Conflicting Focuses Sandvig 2

ShaneSandvig

ProfessorSpeiser

Writing2

February21,2017

Bodybuilding:ConflictingFocuses

Bodybuildinghasbeenestablishedasasportforalittleoveracentury,butawayoflife

sincethetimesofAncientGreeceinthesixthcenturybeforethecommonera.Manythingshave

changedintheweightliftingfieldincludingthesizethatpeoplearecapableofgettingaswellas

thereasonforsuchathleticactivity.Fromahistoricalperspective,bodybuildinghaschanged

drasticallyfromAncientGreecetotheGoldenEraandtomodernbodybuilding,howeverfrom

apsychologicalprospectivebodybuildinghasnotchangedasmuchasonewouldthink.Sure,

bodybuildersinthecurrenteraaresculptingtheirbodiesinordertowincompetitionsformoney

andfamewhichisalotdifferentthantheAncientGreekssculptingthemselvestoexpandtheir

athleticcapabilitiesinfightingarenasandwar.Butfromapsychologicalstandpoint,allofthese

peopletesttheirathleticcapabilitiesforonereason,toshowtheirownformofsurvivalofthe

fittest.Textsinbothofthesediscoursecommunitiesshowthetruedifferenceintheseacademic

disciplinesintheirsubjectmatteraswellasestablishingdifferentwritingstyles.Psychologyand

historysourcesaboutbodybuildingpresenttheirinformationindifferentwaysthroughtheir

lexis,audience,andliterarypracticeswhilealsoaimingtheirwritingfromdifferentperspectives

aroundthetopicofbodybuilding.
Bodybuilding: Conflicting Focuses Sandvig 3

Thelexisofaspecificdiscoursecommunitygivesthediscoursecommunityitsown

uniquecharacteristicstosetthedisciplineapartfromothers.Writersinpsychologyandhistory

createtheirtextstoaimatdifferentaudiencesandawaytodothisisimplementadifferentlexis

withintheirwriting.Historianswritetheirpiecestoeducatetheirreadersonthesubjectthatthey

arespeakingaboutandtodothis,theyneedtousebroadtermssothatanytypeofaudiencecan

understandwhattheyarespeakingabout.Theydonotusecomplicatedtermsthatonlya

historianorsomeoneeducatedinhistorycouldunderstand.Ontheotherhand,psychologyusesa

muchmorecomplicatedandspecificlexis.Withtheuseofcognitiveandotherwordsthatare

specificallyusedinsciencefields,psychologistsaimtheirwritingataneducatedaudiencethat

wouldneedtoknowwhatspecificwordsmeantounderstandthetext.NeimEminiandMalcolm

Bonddisplaytheuseofscientifictermsintheirarticlewhentheydescribethereasonsfor

consistentbodybuildingwiththestatement,Psychologically,dependencehasbeenlinkedto

bothmuscledysmorphiaandlowerlifesatisfaction(NiemandBond:2014).Withoutthe

knowledgeofwhatthetermmuscledysphoriameanswouldleavetheaudienceconfused,but

withfurthereducationonthetermthereadercanunderstandthesentence.Muscledysphoriais

theoppositeofanorexiaandisthepsychologicalreasonwhybodybuildersfeeltheneedto

becomeincreasinglybiggerbythepossibleuseofanabolicsteroids.Inthepresent,thisishow

bodybuildersshowtheirwayofdisplayingtheirsurvivalofthefittestmindset,amindsetthat

wasmuchmoreliteraltotheAncientGreeks.

Althoughthelexisusedbyauthorsofeachdiscoursecommunitytellsalotaboutwhothe

audiencetheyareaimingatis,theseauthorsexpectdifferentreactionsfromtheirreaders.

Readersofpsychologytextshavemoretroublereadingthedifficultvocabularyoftheauthor,
Bodybuilding: Conflicting Focuses Sandvig 4

howevertheinformationofthetextisclearlyseenandtheconclusionsofthedatagivenis

clearlyshown.Theaudiencesofthesetextsdonothavetothinkoutsideoftheboxasmuch

whenitcomestoobservingthesetexts.Theexperiments,observations,data,andconclusionsare

clearlystatedinthetexts,likethearticleMotivationalandpsychologicalcorrelatesof

bodybuildingdependence.Ontheotherhand,historiansexpectalotmoreoutoftheiraudience

intheaspectofinteractionswiththetext.Althoughhistorianssimplyexplaineventsinthepast

totheiraudiences,theyexpecttheiraudiencestoquestionwhycertainthingshappenandconnect

thesetopresentdayevents.Inaddition,authorsinthehistorydiscoursecommunityinclude

questionsintheirtextsandasktheirreaderwhyheorshebelievestheeventinhistorytook

place.AnexampleofthisinthefieldofbodybuildingisdisplayedwhenAdamSinickiis

describingbodybuildingduringthetimesofAncientGreeceandaskshisreaders,Perhapsthe

introductionofgymnasiumsledtothisappreciationofsuperstrength?(Sinicki:1992).Sinicki

expectshisaudiencetothinkofquestionslikethisoneinordertohavehisreadersbemore

interactivewiththetextandthinklikeahistorianwould.Eventhoughpsychologytextsare

hardertocomprehendwhilereadingbecauseofthecomplicatedlexisusedtodescribean

experimentortopic,theydonottakeasmuchcriticalthinkingashistorytextsdo.Thisalso

transferstothewayeachtextisstructuredasawayofeasilycommunicatingapointtoeach

discoursecommunitysaudience.

Themostcontrastingaspectbetweenthetwoacademicdisciplinesofhistoryand

psychologyistheirliterarypractices,ortheircontentoffocuswithinthetexts.Psychologytexts

focusmoreonthequantitativeanalysisofagiventopicinordertogivethereaderan

understandingofthistopic.Thisincludesfocusingofgivingtheaudiencespecificstatistical
Bodybuilding: Conflicting Focuses Sandvig 5

evidencefromanexperimentthathasbeendonetoprovetothereaderofaspecificconclusion.

Inaddition,theauthorofthesetextstaketheresultsanddescriptionsofanexperimentthatis

takenbyapsychologistsandillustratestheresultsbytermsofscienceandstatisticstoprovethe

specificpoint.ThiscanbeshowninthearticlewrittenbyNeimEminiandMalcolmBondas

thesetwopsychologistsdoanexperimenttoprovewhythemajorityofbodybuildersliftweights

thewaytheydo.Thetwopsychologistsdiscussthetopicofexperiment,thereason,themethods

usedandlatertheresultsoftheexperiment.Anexampleofapartoftheresultsisgiventothe

readers,Questionnaireswerecompletedby101men(meanage=30.6years,SD=9.3,range

1867).Participantshadanaverageweighttraininghistoryof10.1years(SD=8.3)(Niemiand

Bond).Theauthorsincludestandarddeviations,averages,andtherangeofthesampleofpeople

theyobserve.Inadditiontostatisticalinformation,psychologiststendtoconstantlyreferbackto

theirresearchtobacktheirquantitativeanalysis.Intheirbook,psychologistsJ.KevinThompson

andGuyCafribringuppastresearchtoproveapsychologicaltheorylikewhentheystate,

Researchhasdemonstratedthatattractivepeopleareperceivedaspossessingavarietyof

positivetraitsResearchalsoindicatedthatpeopleinWesternsocietiesbelievemuscularitycan

beequatedwithpositivepersonalitytraits(Thompson24).Theyidentifypastresearchtoinform

thereaderofwhypeopletendtowanttobemuscularandthatsbecauseitislookedasapositive

traitandpeoplewantasmanypositivetraitstobemoreattractive.Theinformationusedwithina

psychologytextgreatlydiffersfromthatinhistoryforhistorytextsdonotfocusonthestatistical

sciencesofthesubject.Historiansandauthorsofhistoryfocusontheirsubjectandwriteas

thoughtheyaretellingastoryofthepast.Thiscanbeshownbyhistoriansfamiliarizingwith

theiraudienceandexplainingthemaspecifichistoricaleventthroughstory.Inaddition,the
Bodybuilding: Conflicting Focuses Sandvig 6

readercanseethisstorylikestructurethroughthechronologicalorderofthedocumentaswell

asthehistoriantryingtocommunicatespokendialoguethroughtext.Thistypeofwritingcan

alsobereferredtoasqualitativeanalysisaswellasnarrativewriting.Historiansfocustheir

writingonthequalitywithintheirtextandtheneedtoexplainthemselvesthroughwords,while

psychologyfocusesoncommunicationthroughnumbers.

Bodybuildinghasbeenasubjectofinterestthatcanbeseenasfarbackasthetimesof

AncientGreece.Onecanreadaboutbodybuildingfromallkindsofdifferenttextfromvarious

academicdisciplines,ordiscoursecommunities.But,ifsomeonereadfromatextofone

discoursecommunity,heorshewillhaveadifferentunderstandingofthesubjectthansomeone

whoreadatextfromanotherdiscipline.Thesedifferencescanbeobservedinbodybuilding

throughacademicdisciplinessuchaspsychologyandhistory.Thesecontrastsofthe

understandingofbodybuildingcanbeseenthrougheachdiscoursecommunityslexis,

expectationsoftheaudience,textualstructure,andliterarypractices.

Sources

Emini,NeimN.,andMalcolmJ.Bond."MotivationalandPsychologicalCorrelatesof
BodybuildingDependence."JournalofBehavioralAddictions.AkadmiaiKiad,Sept.2014.
Web.21Feb.2017.<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189312/>.
Fair,JohnD.Mr.America:TheTragicHistoryofaBodybuildingIcon.Austin:Uof
Texas,2015.Print.
Sinicki,Adam."OldTimeStrongmenandtheHistoryofBodybuilding."TheBioneer.
N.p.,17Sept.2014.Web.21Feb.2017.<http://www.thebioneer.com/historybodybuildingold
timestrongmenlosttrainingmethodsfeatsstrength/>.
Thompson,J.Kevin.,andGuyCafri.TheMuscularIdeal:Psychological,Social,and
MedicalPerspectives.Washington,DC:AmericanPsychologicalAssociation,2007.Print.
Bodybuilding: Conflicting Focuses Sandvig 7