Ethnic favoritism among soccer players: Effects on decision-making in game situations

In sports psychology, discriminatory bias in game situations has never been studied. The main goal of this study was to test whether ingroup favoritism bias could be identified through decision-making in game situations involving White and Black players. Forty-five White soccer players were assigned to two experimental conditions—team identity (same-team partnership) and ethnic identity (Black versus White players). And, as ball carriers, they were asked to pass the ball to White or Black teammates based on realistic computer images depicting three-versus-one game situations. In the ethnic identity condition, participants made significantly more passes to White than to Black teammates, while in the team identity condition, there was no significant difference between the number of passes made to White and Black teammates. This study highlights how the context in which sports is played can affect players’ identity positioning, influence decision-making, and potentially lead to inappropriate choices.