Explaining the “Racial Contradiction”: An Experimental Examination of the Impact of Sports Media Use and Response Strategy on Racial Bias Towards Athlete Transgressors

Abstract

Previous studies have found that minority athletes were perceived more positively than their White counterparts, which is counterintuitive to previous research. In order to explain this “racial contradiction,” this study analyzes how an athlete's response strategy and the amount of sports news consumed by participants could impact differences in the perceptions of athletes of different races. A between-subjects, double-blind experiment was conducted among 464 participants to examine how an athlete’s race, an athlete’s chosen response strategy, and participants’ level of sports news consumption affect the perception of athletes accused of criminal allegations. Results show that while low sports news consumers did not differ in their perception of an athlete regarding whether he was Black or White, high sports news consumers perceived Black athletes more positively than White athletes, supporting the “racial contradiction.” Also, results showed that while participants who were low sports news consumers accepted the White athlete’s use of denial more than that of the Black athlete, participants who were high sports news consumers accepted the Black athlete’s use of denial more than that of the White athlete.