01-29-2016, 01:03 PM
Not All End-Zone Celebrations Are Treated Equally
On recent study suggests that, like many other situations in which there is enforcement of a rule - excessive celebration calls might have something to do with race
By Rose Eveleth
Recent studies suggest that calls penalizing excessive celebration might have something to do with race. The New York Times writes that these penalties might be slapped on players in a non-random way:
The recent New York Times story suggests that its misuse goes beyond confusion or nit-picking and ventures into racism. They point to a study from July, in which researchers asked non-black men and women to read accounts of football plays. Here’s how the two accounts differ, according to the times:
In one version, a wide receiver named Malik Johnson makes a spectacular fingertip catch and sprints into the end zone. Then he spikes the ball in front of a defender named Jake Biermann, goes into his signature touchdown dance, flexes his muscles and waits for a reaction from the crowd. In a second version, everything is the same, except the wide receiver is Jake Biermann and the defender is Malik Johnson.
In other variations, the stories and names are the same but when the wide receiver — either Jake or Malik — scores he calmly flips the ball to the referee and trots to the sideline.
When study participants were asked to rate Malik and Jake on arrogance or humility, depending on their post-touchdown routine, the subjects rated them the same. But when they had to reward or penalize the players, the differences showed up. Malik was given a “hubris penalty” if he celebrated too much, while Jake was not. The study authors told the Times:
“The same pattern of blacks being punished more than whites seems to hold true both in the N.F.L. and in this experiment,” Livingston said. “I would conclude that the results are generalizable to N.F.L. referees.”
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/not-all-end-zone-celebrations-are-treated-equally-111975059/?no-ist
Nothing to see here, white folk, just move along.
On recent study suggests that, like many other situations in which there is enforcement of a rule - excessive celebration calls might have something to do with race
By Rose Eveleth
Recent studies suggest that calls penalizing excessive celebration might have something to do with race. The New York Times writes that these penalties might be slapped on players in a non-random way:
The recent New York Times story suggests that its misuse goes beyond confusion or nit-picking and ventures into racism. They point to a study from July, in which researchers asked non-black men and women to read accounts of football plays. Here’s how the two accounts differ, according to the times:
In one version, a wide receiver named Malik Johnson makes a spectacular fingertip catch and sprints into the end zone. Then he spikes the ball in front of a defender named Jake Biermann, goes into his signature touchdown dance, flexes his muscles and waits for a reaction from the crowd. In a second version, everything is the same, except the wide receiver is Jake Biermann and the defender is Malik Johnson.
In other variations, the stories and names are the same but when the wide receiver — either Jake or Malik — scores he calmly flips the ball to the referee and trots to the sideline.
When study participants were asked to rate Malik and Jake on arrogance or humility, depending on their post-touchdown routine, the subjects rated them the same. But when they had to reward or penalize the players, the differences showed up. Malik was given a “hubris penalty” if he celebrated too much, while Jake was not. The study authors told the Times:
“The same pattern of blacks being punished more than whites seems to hold true both in the N.F.L. and in this experiment,” Livingston said. “I would conclude that the results are generalizable to N.F.L. referees.”
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/not-all-end-zone-celebrations-are-treated-equally-111975059/?no-ist
Nothing to see here, white folk, just move along.
