Elizabethtown College Professor of Psychology, Dr. Michael Roy recently published his co-authored research, “Naturalness Bias in Sport” in the Journal of Sport and Exercise. Roy worked with several co-authors, including Psychology alumna Emily Lamison ’21 who served as Roy’s lab coordinator on the project.
“I believe that I am the one who benefits the most from working with students on these projects,” Roy said. “They all bring a new energy to every project that helps see it through.”
Roy researched naturalness bias — the tendency to prefer people who have natural talent, as opposed to acquiring their talent through work or effort — in terms of athletic ability. The study featured participants that included soccer coaches, athletes, fans, and non-fans, who read about athletes either described as being a natural or a striver. After watching a video of the athlete taking part in practice drills, participants rated athletes on a likelihood of success, athletic skill, mental strength, and physiological ability.
Results of the study indicated that the naturalness bias only shows up for skills that are hard to judge or not readily visible after viewing a single performance, such as mental toughness.
Roy began researching naturalness bias several years ago, and his previous studies have found that naturalness bias did not apply to journalists.
