Although the effects of negative stereotypes and observer pressure on athletic performance have been well researched, the effects of positive stereotypes on performance, particularly in the presence of observers, is not known. In the current study, White males watched a video either depicting Whites basketball players as the best free throwers in the NBA (positive stereotype), Black basketball ...

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among physical fitness of professional Bosnian basketball players (n = 38) and shooting accuracy during one basketball season. A related, secondary aim was to examine relationships between basketball shooting assessments and competitive shooting accuracy during game play. Physical fitness components included: muscular endurance and aerobic ...

In the present study we tested if background visual stimuli can impede accuracy of basketball free throw shooting. Actions are frequently found to resist illusions in the psychological literature, but most such studies only utilize reaching or pointing. Other research reports that emotional arousal can affect motor control. We projected images onto a basketball backboard, either continuous moti...

I describe a group exercise that I give to my undergraduate biostatistics class. The exercise involves analyzing a series of 200 consecutive basketball free-throw attempts to determine whether there is any evidence for sequential dependence in the probability of making a free-throw. The students are given the exercise before they have learned the appropriate statistical tests, so that they can ...