Trash talking, whether viewed as a good thing or bad, is a common part of competition.

Watch nearly any sports contest, and it’s there: competitors jawing at each other, trying to rattle their opponent’s thinking.

Two of the greatest sports trash talkers of all time were Muhammad Ali and Dennis Rodman. Ali took delight in throwing as many spoken as literal jabs at opposing boxers, and Rodman was a master at unhinging, at times, entire basketball teams with his taunting.

But did you know there is science backing the effectiveness of trash talking?

Earlier this year, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, published a report highlighting the competitive advantage gained through verbal provocation. As it turns out, one of the surest ways to get an adversary to make a blunder is by scoffing them.

Essentially, what the study showed is that when someone is on the receiving end of trash talking, the most natural response is to react with their brawn and not their brains. Of course, this is exactly what their antagonist wants. It compels the trash-talkee to make a boneheaded decision, which gives the scheming trash-talker an opportunity to outmaneuver them.

Think of Ali provoking an unprincipled punch from his challenger, and then landing a calculated haymaker in return. Well, to an extent, that’s exactly what President Obama is hoping to do to congressional Republicans.

Last week Americans witnessed trash talking of a different degree from the president when he chose to go it alone on immigration reform. Certainly his smack talk was shrouded in White House decorum, but the hallmarks of trash talking were there nonetheless.

First, to make certain there was no confusion, he made sure to spotlight specifically who he was speaking at:

Had the House of Representatives allowed that kind of (Senate-approved) bill a simple yes or no vote, it would have passed with support from both parties.  And today it would be the law.  But for a year and a half now Republican leaders in the House have refused to allow that simple vote.

Second, he then issued the jibe:

And to those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer:  Pass a bill.

In other words:  “Come at me.”

Knowing that he’d just infuriated House Republicans by calling them out and laying blame at their feet, Obama then moved into matador-mode, waving a red cape with his challenge.

“Come at me,” he was saying.  “I’ve got a sword with your name on it.”

The unfortunate thing is that Republicans have given the president ample reason in the past to believe that his tactic will work.

The GOP is, in number, very strong right now. Just a few weeks ago after the midterm elections there was no shortage of chest-thumping on the right and hand-wringing on the left. Now, to counter his diminished power base, the president is eager to lure his opposition out onto a battleground of his choosing -- one that will be more friendly to his own aims. And he’s hoping his trash talking will help make this happen.

When discussing his research on trash talking with LiveScience.com in January, Uri Gneezy claimed “a good negotiator, a good lawyer, a good politician will think about ways to manipulate the emotions of the other side.”

With last week’s trash talking, President Obama has demonstrated his commitment to emotion-based manipulation. Republicans returning from the Thanksgiving holiday, however, would be wise to ignore the taunts and focus instead on intelligent countermaneuvers.

David Allen Martin is a columnist and history professor from Chattanooga, Tenn. Follow him on Twitter @davidamartin423