In this study, we examined the impact of soccer players' uniform colour and gaze behaviour on the impressions that are formed of them by opposing goalkeepers. Twelve soccer goalkeepers observed video footage, filmed from between the goalposts to simulate their usual viewpoint, of four players preparing to take a penalty kick. Each of the four players displayed a different combination of gaze (either 90% or 10% with gaze operationalized as looking directly at the camera) and uniform colour (red or white). Goalkeepers rated each player on a series of descriptors (e.g. confidence, composure, assertiveness) and rated their expectancies for successfully saving penalty kicks from that player. Analysis revealed that those penalty takers displaying 90% gaze were perceived to possess positive characteristics to a greater extent than penalty takers displaying 10% gaze. Results also revealed penalty takers wearing red were perceived to possess positive characteristics to a greater extent than those wearing white. Goalkeepers reported higher expectancies of saving penalties from penalty takers displaying 10% gaze and wearing white uniforms than any of the other combinations. Our results therefore support the potential importance of gaze and uniform colour in the formation of impressions and expectancies in sport.

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The study aimed to identify the sources of information that athletes perceive as influential during their initial evaluation of coaching ability. University athletes (N = 538) were asked to indicate the influence of 31 informational cues (e.g., gender, body language or gestures, reputation) on the initial impression formed of a coach. Following exploratory factor analysis, a 3-factor model (i.e., static cues, dynamic cues, and third-party reports) was extracted. Mean scores revealed that although static cues (e.g., gender, race or ethnicity) were rated as relatively unimportant during impression formation, dynamic cues (e.g., facial expressions, body language or gestures) and third-party reports (e.g., coaching qualifications, reputation) were viewed by athletes as influential factors in the formation of expectancies about coaches. Such findings have implications for the occurrence of expectancy effects in coach−athlete relationships and the way in which coaches seek to present themselves.

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This study examined the team-serving attributional bias (TSAB), and moderators of this bias, in sports team players. The authors predicted that, in line with a motivational explanation for TSABs, members of successful teams would make more internal, stable, and controllable attributions than would members of unsuccessful teams, but only after an important match. The authors also examined the impact of gender. After a competitive match, 528 athletes completed a Causal Dimension Scale for Teams and measures of perceived success and match importance. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that perceptions of success were positively associated with stable, internal, and externally controllable attributions. The authors also found that stability attributions were moderated by gender and match importance, with perceptions of success being positively associated with stable attributions for males regardless of match importance but positively associated with stable attributions only for those females who perceived the match to be important. The results, therefore, provide support for the use of TSABs within sports teams but also indicate that their use may be moderated by gender and match importance.