Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2025

Determining the Contribution of the Energy Systems During Exercise
Published on: March 20, 2012
The naturalness bias in sport
Michael M Roy1, Dennis Redlich2, Emily Lamison3
1Elizabethtown College, USA; North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.
Abstract:
We examined the naturalness bias - the tendency to prefer people who seem to come by their talent naturally and not through work or effort - on ratings of athletic ability. Football (soccer) coaches, athletes, fans, and non-fans (n = 430) read about an athlete described as either being a natural or a striver. After watching a video of the athlete going through drills, participants rated the athlete on likelihood of success, athletic skill, mental strength, and physiological ability. Participants of all expertise levels tended to rate the athlete described as a natural as being higher in mental toughness than did the participants rating the athlete described as being a striver. There were no significant differences in ratings for the natural and the striver for measures of skill and explosiveness. It appears that the naturalness bias was most likely to influence ratings not easily judged by viewing a single performance.
More Related Videos
06:52An Inertial Measurement Unit Based Method to Estimate Hip and Knee Joint Kinematics in Team Sport Athletes on the Field
Published on: May 26, 2020
07:43Author Spotlight: A Novel Setup to Conduct Naturalistic Laboratory Experiments with Real Human Actors in Scenarios
Published on: August 4, 2023
Related Concept Videos
Social Facilitation
Naturalistic Observations
Bias
In statistics, a sampling bias is created when a sample is collected from a population, and some members of the population are not as likely to be chosen as others (remember, each member...
Weighted Mean
For example, consider the number of goals scored in the matches of a tournament. While computing the average number of goals scored in the tournament, it may be more important to...
Fundamental Attribution Error
Natural Selection and Mating Preferences
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing,...