In the previous sections, we established how specific psychological frameworks can alter a skier’s perception, technique execution, and social interactions on the mountain. Now, in Part 3 of “Cognitive Biases in Skiing,” we expand our focus to examine the overarching cultural and behavioral dynamics that shape postmodern skiing.
- Overreaction bias: this is the opposite of the normalcy bias. In this cognitive distortion, every small deviation from normality is perceived as a sign of immediate disaster.
- Negativity bias: similar to the previous one, it deals with the tendency to believe that accidents will happen.
- Contact bias: when there is no social contact with others, prejudices and assumptions are not contradicted therefore, they tend to increase. This happens because of not having enough personal approach, there is no interaction due to lack of opportunity or unwillingness. Avoiding uncertainty is normal. It is preferred to be with known people than to venture to be with strangers. Human beings tend not to be inclusive of what is different because it makes them uncomfortable. The skier who prejudges does so because he does not see skiing through the eyes of others. If he is willing to listen to them and learn from them, he will be able to dilute these prejudices and modify his own perspectives. EXAMPLE A: the child of traditional skiing parents who was told that snowboarders are dangerous. EXAMPLE B: the new instructor who joins a school/club staff and is ignored by the other members. EXAMPLE C: narrow-minded skiers who prejudge freeriders simply because they don’t know them well. EXAMPLE D: a ski club competition team is prone to distrust another from a different one simply because they do not share common friends.
- Complexity bias: refers to the tendency to prefer complex solutions to simple ones. It is a logical fallacy aimed at over-accepting a complex concept because we think it is better than a simple one, or because of a fear of choosing the simple because it may be too obvious and not detailed enough. The more complicated something appears to be, the more it will be assumed that there is a good reason behind it, but beware: something complex is not necessarily better than something simple; and something simple is not always good enough. Perceived complexity often leads to avoidance: when the learner thinks something is complex to understand, they are prone not to try it. Complex routines, practices, or workouts are harder to maintain than simple ones. EXAMPLE A: the skier who feels constantly tired insists on taking dietary supplements when in fact he is not getting enough sleep. EXAMPLE B: the instructor/coach who uses complex technical language to make it seem like the subject being taught is important, avoiding simple explanations for fear that the learners/athletes will not perceive them as intelligent, at the level of the subject or concept being presented, or that they will not challenge or refute what he is explaining.
- Simplicity bias: is the opposite of complexity bias. It refers to maintaining perspectives or points of view that can be explained with a simple narrative or finding a simple solution to a difficult problem. Conveying simplicity is a virtuosity that requires work as well as wisdom to appreciate. Strategies for implementing the simple -and avoiding the complex- may include: considering that less is more; instead of asking how something can be improved, asking how it can be made simpler; instead of teaching something better, teaching something simpler.
- Halo effect: is the perception that a particular attribute of something extends to other aspects or, in other words, the tendency of people to deduce, from a single particularity, a generalized opinion about something or someone. It deals with the identification of a situation as positive or negative by evaluating only one element or characteristic, or by the first impression it makes. EXAMPLE A: if an instructor is friendly, learners are inclined to think that he is also experienced and an excellent skier. EXAMPLE B: if an athlete is good in one discipline, he will lead people to believe that he can also perform well in any other one.
- Dunning-Kruger effect: this is the tendency to overestimate one’s abilities in what one is not proficient at (illusory superiority) and underestimate them in what one is proficient at. The less skilled skier would consider himself above the real thing, without recognizing his own ineptitude since it would weaken his self-esteem. Learning is the tool that remedies this phenomenon. Conversely, the competent skier would be prone to assume that others are the ones who possess skills equal to or superior to his own.
- Lake Wobegon effect: similar to the previous one, it refers to the propensity to believe that one is more capable than the generality of the skiers, to overestimate the positive attributes (optimistic bias) underestimating the negative ones, and, at the same time, that certain demonstration of weakness is due to external eventualities. This psychological phenomenon is due to the fact that most people tend not to recognize certain weaknesses and are prone to exaggerate their strengths. If it occurs within healthy limits, it can be considered a self-esteem protection mechanism.
- Effect of environmental perception: the environment is known to influence skier behavior. A chaotic, confusing, or cluttered environment tends to cause him to behave in the same way.
- Keinshorm effect: predisposition to refute another person’s ideas or proposals because one does not sympathize with them.
- Focus effect: the tendency to overestimate one’s own presence or behavior and the attention other people pay to one. It is the belief that one’s own action or element is very conspicuous and that everyone is obsessed with noticing it, for example, making a mistake or having a stain on one’s clothes.
- Zeigarnik effect: this is the psychological propensity to remember more easily those tasks that, because of the discomfort they generate, are left incomplete than those that have been completed.
- Ben Franklin effect: the perception of someone unpleasant will change positively if a favor is done for him. This effect is based on the psychological need to please others.
- Framing effect: coming to different conclusions from the same situation depending on how it is presented. EXAMPLE: thinking that an athlete was among the five best skiers of the season (positive frame); or thinking that, among the five best skiers of the season, this athlete is the worst (negative frame).
- Chameleon effect: refers to modifying a behavior in order to adjust it to the other people in the environment in which it tends to be integrated. EXAMPLE: the skier seeks to identify himself by imitating the expressions, postures, movements, or gestures of the other skiers in the group he is part of.
- Ikea effect: greater value is given to what has been created or realized personally. EXAMPLE: showing respect and admiration for his learner, the instructor asks him for challenging performances through verbal persuasion that promotes personal effort: “I trust that you will be able to respond to this performance and that you will be able to surpass yourself”.
- Relative group homogeneity effect: members of another group are perceived as more homogeneous and members of one’s own group as more diverse. EXAMPLE: there is a tendency to think that snowboarders are similar while skiers are different or vice versa.
- Planning fallacy: refers to the predisposition to underestimate the time consumed by a task. This wrong estimation causes delays and reduces profits.
- Cashless effect: the tendency to spend more money when paying with a credit card than with cash. Several studies corroborate the fact that people spend more the fewer obstructions there are to each purchase. Also called “payment pain”, the more emotional pain the skier associates with paying cash, the less he will spend on consuming services on a ski resort.
- Law of triviality: tendency to deal with trivial things without transcendence for having a greater sense of competence, than with more complex things. EXAMPLE: the instructor suggests to his learner to practice what he has seen in class, and the learner lets the time pass by distracting himself with trivial but easily achievable activities. In this case, he would be confirming the assumption that the practice expands until the time available to finish it is completed, or perhaps, that the time dedicated to practice is inversely proportional to the importance of the practice itself.
Conclusions
- Cognitive biases are mental errors that produce distorting patterns of thinking.
- They interfere with strategic thinking and impede appropriate decision making.
