“…Stereotypes, which are a kind of judgmental heuristic, can be defined as the sum of beliefs, knowledge, and expectations that individuals develop toward the members of social categories (Hamilton & Sherman, 1994). Research has shown that referees' decisions may be influenced by stereotypes relating to competition level and by gender stereotypes (Souchon, Coulomb-Cabagno, Traclet, & Rascle, 2004;Souchon, Cabagno, Rascle et al, 2009;Souchon et al, 2010). For example, if referees hold a stereotype of women as less competent than men in masculine domains such as team contact sports (Deaux & Lafrance, 1998) and that women should not be aggressive (Burgess & Borgida, 1999;Rudman & Kilianski, 2000), then this stereotype may create expectations that female players are more likely to be neutralized or perturbed by the foul and lead referees to appraise the transgressing female player as being more aggressive.…”