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A s a person who has been involved in AKC conforma- tion dog shows for more than four decades, I have often pondered the decision-making process that goes into judging. If you are involved in this sport, you have seen and most likely have been affected by a judge’s decision that appeared to be antithetical. The emotional fallout from such of loss can be anger or even depression. From a psychological perspective, the angst that we all feel when affected by a decision that appears to be a “contradiction” is caused by “Cognitive Dissonance,” which refers to the mental conflict that occurs when a person’s behaviors and beliefs do not align. Cognitive Dissonance is considered one of the primary causes of both anxiety and depression. My goal in writing this brief article is to highlight a few issues in decision-making that can affect how dog show judges make their selections, and in doing so, reduce some of the discomfort when you are affected personally by a judge’s decision. On the other hand, if before reading this article you believed that judge’s decisions are based entirely on breed standards, you may learn that this is not necessarily the case, nor is it true in most cases where reason should guide decisions. We don’t have to look too far in our everyday world to see that reason is not our principal guide and that most of us are more like Star Trek’s emotionally driven James T. Kirk than we are the rational, even-tempered Mr. Spock. This is true because our “cognitive machinery,” the brain and the infor- mation that makes up its operating system, has evolved to make decisions quickly and almost unconsciously. This ability enhances our ability to survive in a world where we are thrown into rapidly changing situations. black magic is BACK IN 2022!!!! It’s Not Just About Breed Standards PSYCHOLOGY OF DOG SHOW JUDGING BY MICHAEL NELINSON That ol’
To pull an example from a recent dog show, I was watching two very nice bitches compete for Winners Bitch. While a coin toss might have settled this adequately, a keen observer who knew the judge for many years speculated that the judge, as a Parson Rus- sell Terrier breeder, would prefer the longer-necked bitch. As pre- dicted, she did choose the longer-necked bitch as Winners Bitch. I watched her judge other breeds and, it could just be happenstance, she did appear to prefer longer-necked dogs. We all have our quirks, and this includes judges. While we might all use the same list of variables, each one of us assigns dif- ferent weights to each individual variable. Consider this list of rel- evant features and try to put them in order as if you were the one judging: movement, coat, bite, head shape, ear-set, tail-set, feet, front, rear, topline, color, markings, eye-shape. On paper, this might seem like a doable task. But when faced with a variety of dogs that need to be evaluated in under three minutes per dog, your mind unconsciously will default to your unconscious weighting and preferences that will determine your decision. We must embrace the idea that there are unconscious mental processes underlying every decision that is made in the ring. You might not agree with the judge’s decision, but keep in mind that you are also not viewing the world through their eyes. Beyond the individual subjectivity of one’s personal experiential and cognitive reality, there are other decision-making factors that lay at the core of our wiring, that affect our decision-making in most situations. Any of these encoded, biased, decision-making mecha- nisms developed over our evolution to aid us in making rapid deci- sions that encourage the survival of the species. The term given to these unconsciously biased decisions is “heuristics.” “A heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows an individual to make a decision, pass judgment, or solve a problem quickly and with mini- mal mental effort. While heuristics can reduce the burden of decision- making, and free up limited cognitive resources, they can also be costly when they lead individuals to miss critical information or act on unjust biases.”
To examine this topic effectively, we must first understand one precept that should be obvious but is often ignored or forgotten, not only in dog shows but every time someone makes a decision. This is that “perception,” which governs our rationale for making decisions, is subjective and individual and based upon the sum of our experiences and our learned knowledge. The biases that we carry into any situation stem from a lifetime of programing and are reflected in our decision-making.
106 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2022
BASSET HOUND
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