Naturalistic decision making and emotion in refereeing: affect at the heart of judgment

Introduction: This study examines emotions in decision making during sport refereeing. We study how emotions contribute to referees’ judgment acts. We seek to determine whether 1) a negative affect arises from the referees’ relationship to the unfolding game; 2) judgment acts are able to end this unsatisfactory situation. Method: We have investigated four games in a professional rugby championship. The game was filmed from the stands, the referee was equipped with a head-mounted camera, and a self-confrontation interview was realized. We analyzed the situations in which the referees reported negative affect. Results/discussion: In some cases, affective dissatisfaction was related to an abnormal situation. The referee showed what was abnormal and overcame his dissatisfaction through a judgment act. In other cases, affective dissatisfaction was related to a paradoxical situation. The return to a satisfactory state occurred when a norm became predominant to determine the normality/abnormality of the situation within its unfolding.