Generalizing Baseball: Holding and Applying Stereotypes to America’s Pastime

Abstract

Prior content analyses of sports coverage have revealed sports journalists ascribe particular adjectives to athletes based on race. A recurring pattern is the brain-versus-brawn dichotomy. In a 2 (race: Black versus White player) x 2 (description: consistent versus inconsistent stereotype) x 2 (source: journalist vs. blogger) within-subjects experiment, we empirically tested if the same set of stereotypes holds true among those exposed to these media stereotypes. Using both implicit (response latency) and explicit (credibility rating) measures, we found a consistent pattern of stereotyping Black athletes. Stereotypes were activated most quickly by a stereotypical description of a Black athlete. A journalist was also rated most credible when stereotypically describing a Black athlete.