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How Embodied Cognitions Affect Judgments: Height-Related Attribution Bias in Football Foul Calls

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  • van Quaquebeke, N.
  • Giessner, S.R.

Abstract

Many fouls committed in football (called soccer in some countries) are ambiguous, and there is no objective way of determining who is the “true” perpetrator or the “true” victim. Consequently, fans as well as referees often rely on a variety of decision cues when judging such foul situations. Based on embodiment research, which links perceptions of height to concepts of strength, power, and aggression, we argue that height is going to be one of the decision cues used. As a result, people are more likely to attribute a foul in an ambiguous tackle situation to the taller of two players. We find consistent support for our hypothesis, not only in field data spanning the last seven UEFA Champions League and German Bundesliga seasons, as well as the last three FIFA World Cups, but also in two experimental studies. The resulting dilemma for refereeing in practice is discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • van Quaquebeke, N. & Giessner, S.R., 2010. "How Embodied Cognitions Affect Judgments: Height-Related Attribution Bias in Football Foul Calls," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2010-006-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    • Handle: RePEc:ems:eureri:17827
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    File URL: https://repub.eur.nl/pub/17827/ERS-2010-006-ORG.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sutter, Matthias & Kocher, Martin G., 2004. "Favoritism of agents - The case of referees' home bias," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 461-469, August.
    2. John Cawley & Kara Joyner & Jeffery Sobal, 2006. "Size Matters," Rationality and Society, , vol. 18(1), pages 67-94, February.
    3. Giessner, S.R. & Schubert, T.W., 2007. "High in the Hierarchy: How Vertical Location and Judgments of Leaders' Power are Interrelated," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-021-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    4. Giessner, Steffen R. & Schubert, Thomas W., 2007. "High in the hierarchy: How vertical location and judgments of leaders' power are interrelated," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 30-44, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marco Henriques Pereira, 2024. "Uncovering biases in disciplinary actions: Evidence from German soccer," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 44(3), pages 1049-1054.
    2. Andrea Albanese & Stijn Baert & Olivier Verstraeten, 2020. "Twelve eyes see more than eight. Referee bias and the introduction of additional assistant referees in soccer," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Paul Gift & Ryan M. Rodenberg, 2014. "Napoleon Complex," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 15(5), pages 541-558, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    decision cue; decision making; dominance; information processing; power; refereeing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • M - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation

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