After reading this article sent to me by Retha, and then reading the abstract of the actual scientific article from Psychological Science, I am advising you all to invest in red sparring gear. The paper shows that referees are prone to be biased in favour of competitors with red gear, especially where the competitors are of relative equal ability. (There seems to be a 13% bias towards red.)
I doubt the rules will change any time soon - so I advise you to use this information pro-actively. Maybe I can get the Research & Education Directorate to run a study of our own and see if we can determine the effect of red vs blue ribbons, and red sparring gear in particular, in the overall results. It is not sure what other colours may be "winning colours".
But again, my advice in the meantime is to get yourself red sparring gear.
1 comment:
Personally, I'd rather win on my own ability rather than some external opinion like a judge's. Such a victory decided by external actors have little value to me.
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