The Influence of Referees’ Expertise, Gender, Motivation, and Time Constraints on Decisional Bias Against Women

Abstract

The influence of player gender on referees’ decision making was experimentally investigated. In Experiment 1, including 145 male handball referees, we investigated (a) the influence of referees’ level of expertise on their decisional biases against women and (b) the referees’ gender stereotypes. Results revealed that biases against women were powerful regardless of the referees’ level of expertise and that male referees’ stereotype toward female players tends to be negative. In Experiment 2, including 115 sport science students, we examined the influence of the participants’ gender, motivation to control bias, and time constraints on gender bias. Results indicated that participants’ gender had no impact on gender bias and that participants were able to reduce this bias in conditions in which they were motivated to control the bias.

Does Spontaneous Favorability to Power (vs. Universalism) Values Predict Spontaneous Prejudice and Discrimination?

“…As in past research (e.g., Souchon et al, ), our male participants were significantly more likely to intervene and discipline female players ( M = 44.88, SD = 7.08) than male players ( M = 42.9, SD = 8.47), across all cells of the 2 (video order) × 3 (competition level) × 2 (type of decision) mixed‐model design, F (1, 89) = 5.42, p = .02, = .06 (without significant reversals in any cell). The degree of gender bias was calculated for each participant by subtracting the intervention scores for the male players from the intervention scores for the female players and by subtracting the disciplinary scores for the male players from the disciplinary scores for the female players.…”

“…Using the first author's expertise on handball refereeing, we selected 72 pairs of very similar situations between male players and between female players from a large sample of videotaped games. For each of these pairs, 12 national referees answered the following two questions on a scale ranging from 1 ( absolutely not ) to 5 ( strongly similar ): (a) “In your opinion, are the two situations identical/strictly comparable as regards the decision‐making processes that are involved?” and (b) “Is the intensity of contact really identical/strictly comparable from your point of view?” Pairs of situations were selected only when there was near‐unanimous agreement between the 12 national referees, enabling us to be certain that male and female players in these situations should officiate the same way (see also Frank & Gillovich, ; Souchon et al, ). Moreover, the situations presented in the videos for men's and women's games were chosen to be very similar at each position in the sequence (i.e., first foul, second foul).…”

“…Thus, we used handball players as participants because familiarity with this game and its rules were essential. We expected handball players to replicate the biases seen in referees (e.g., Frank & Gillovich, 1988;Souchon et al, 2013). Our sample comprised 95 experienced male handball players (M age 5 24.16, SD 5 5.19; M experience 5 12.45 years, SD 5 6.56) who competed on a local (n 5 15), intermediate (n5 30), or national level (n 5 50).…”

“…and (b) "Is the intensity of contact really identical/strictly comparable from your point of view?" Pairs of situations were selected only when there was near-unanimous agreement between the 12 national referees, enabling us to be certain that male and female players in these situations should officiate the same way (see also Frank & Gillovich, 1988;Souchon et al, 2013). Moreover, the situations presented in the videos for men's and women's games were chosen to be very similar at each position in the sequence (i.e., first foul, second foul).…”

Influence of competition level on referees’ decision-making in handball

“…The Influence of Competition Level on Referees' Decision Making in Handball Decision making in complex settings such as aviation, military, fire fighting or refereeing in team contact sports requires individuals to make vital or consequential decisions very quickly, and decisions have been found to be affected by numerous processes and heuristics (e.g., Betsch & Haberstroh, 2005). With regard to refereeing in team contact sport, several studies have tested the impact of gender stereotypes on decisions (e.g., Coulomb-Cabagno, Rascle, & Souchon, 2005;Souchon, Livingstone, & Maio, 2013). However, little is known about the role of other factors such as competition level and associated stereotypes in shaping referees' decisions (see Debanne & Fontayne, in press;Souchon, Cabagno, Traclet, Trouilloud, & Maio, 2009, for exceptions).…”