The "silent" noise: moving forward from bias to noise in football referees' decision-making.

In football, referees are expected to deliver consistent and unbiased judgments, grounded in professional knowledge and expertise. However, much of the research on referees' decision-making has traditionally focused on the concept of "bias" in their judgments. This review shifts attention to referee...

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Publicado en:International Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology Vol. 24; no. 3; pp. 405 - 431
Autores principales: Samuel, Roy David, Galily, Yair, Hochman, Guy
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Mar2026
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2026
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        atl: The "silent" noise: moving forward from bias to noise in football referees' decision-making.
      aug:
        au:
          Samuel, Roy David
          Galily, Yair
          Hochman, Guy
        affil:
          Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
          Sammy Ofer School of Communications, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
      su:
        Kahneman, Daniel, 1934-2024
        Decision making
        Variability (Psychometrics)
        Football referees
        Sports officiating
        Statistical bias
      sug:
        subj:
          Decision making
          Variability (Psychometrics)
          Football referees
          Sports officiating
          Statistical bias
          Kahneman, Daniel, 1934-2024
      keyword:
        decision-making
        Football
        judgments
        sport officials
        VAR
        decision-making
        Football
        judgments
        sport officials
        VAR
      ab: In football, referees are expected to deliver consistent and unbiased judgments, grounded in professional knowledge and expertise. However, much of the research on referees' decision-making has traditionally focused on the concept of "bias" in their judgments. This review shifts attention to referees' decision-making noise – defined as "undesirable variability in judgments of the same problem" (Kahneman, D., Sibony, O., & Sunstein, C. R. [2021]. Noise: A flaw in human judgment (p. 40). Little, Brown Spark). Noise reflects the inconsistency in referees' responses to similar match situations, resulting in diverse decisions for comparable infringements. The article is structured into five key sections. First, we introduce the concept of noise in human judgment. Second, we explore the issue of noise in the context of football refereeing, offering examples and relevant data. Particular emphasis is placed on noise in foul decisions, incorporating both raw data and findings from existing literature. A detailed framework is presented, outlining the components, sources, detection methods, and strategies for reducing judgment noise in refereeing. In the third section, we compare bias and noise in football officiating, examining potential mechanisms underlying each. The fourth section considers strategies for reducing errors in refereeing and discusses the potential costs associated with implementing such measures. Finally, we argue why stakeholders in football officiating should expand their focus beyond bias to address the implications of noise in refereeing decisions.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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