There is a very interesting study that was released in the New York Times today that draws the conclusion that race plays a role in how fouls are called in the NBA. The study was done in conjunction with a larger study of race in American society.

The NBA disputes the claims, obviously, and does so with their own stats; stats they won’t fully release. The problem the NBA faces in defending itself is that there is no need for them to defend themselves. The NBA and its officials are not being accused of racism, but rather the study reinforces that race, along with a plethora of other factors, influence the way we as human beings make decisions.

“I would be more surprised if it didn’t exist,” Mr. Ian Ayres of Yale Law School said of an implicit association bias in the N.B.A. “There’s a growing consensus that a large proportion of racialized decisions is not driven by any conscious race discrimination, but that it is often just driven by unconscious, or subconscious, attitudes. When you force people to make snap decisions, they often can’t keep themselves from subconsciously treating blacks different than whites, men different from women.”

Don’t misunderstand the study to say that only white officials are biased against black players, because that isn’t the case. The study which was done by Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics, found that black officials call fouls on white players more frequently though the tendency is not as strong.

What I find most intriguing about this is that it is another example of how we make decisions. There are so many factors that influence the way we think, and they occur before we ever actually do the ‘thinking’. This point is the basis for the book Blink, which I suggest all of you read and/or listen to. I enjoy applying the context of the lessons in Blink and in this most recent study to wagering on sporting events. However, the lessons and principles are not limited to the sports world. These principles of decision making span our lives and when we are able to grasp them more fully and find ways to implement them, we end up making better decisions.

Click Here for a Text of the Study