Researchers at the University of Barcelona, together with researchers from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) and Brown University (United States), have analyzed more than 10,000 evaluations that were carried out to candidates who wish to hold a public teaching position in Catalonia. The objective was to study how the decision by the committee of evaluators is affected by the fact that each candidate holds a certain position in the lists of people to be assessed. The study, published in the journal Science Advances, identifies a new cognitive bias that researchers have named the 'generosity-erosion effect." It stipulates that once the evaluators have scored one candidate generously, they tend to act harsher to the subsequent ones.