Calibration and Conformity Bias in Gymnastics Judging

When judging a gymnastics competition, judges must make numerous, quick serial evaluations. Additionally, the judges must have close agreement of scores within the panel of judges. This PhD research intends to study calibration (i.e. how judges settle in to their standard of judgment for a competition as individuals and as a panel) and conformity (i.e. the social influences as judges align their personal judging standards as a panel of judges). The main hypothesis is that the undesired normative aspects of conformity bias can be reduced in gymnastics judging through effective pre-competition calibration and modifications to how judges are evaluated.