2026/01/01 by Nadav Goldschmied, Mike Raphaeli, Philip Furley · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Sports, Gender, and Society #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
paper · doi:10.1525/collabra.163080
openalex publication_date 2026/01/01 · openalex created_date 2026/06/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/17
Frank and Gilovich (1988) [FG] showed that National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL) teams wearing black uniforms were penalized to a greater extent than teams not wearing black in longitudinal archival research exploring 16 seasons. They suggested a cultural association of black and malevolence at the root of their finding. We endeavored to replicate the original study both directly and conceptually as well as employ more recent and expanded data while improving the measurement of the predictor and outcome variables. In contrast to their early findings, we fail to detect the effect in both leagues while conducting multiple analyses. We propose that the original study was deficient due to the impoverished data FG studied, and a more refined investigation failed to show an increase in aggression when NFL and NHL teams play in black uniforms. We do not dispute the basic association but argue, in conclusion, that in a complex, cluttered, repetitive and interactive environment, it is not likely to emerge.