
Why Athletes Keep Making the Same Mistakes - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/sports/baseball/19score.html
======
Retric
I think it's just hard to avoid doing things by thinking about them. Good luck
avoiding touching your face for an hour by saying "don't touch your face."
Luckily you can normally focus on doing something else like keeping your hands
in your pockets.

~~~
Rickasaurus
I have this problem with biting my fingernails.

------
mhb
OK. I read it. Why do athletes keep making the same mistakes?

~~~
antiform
Because the concentrated effort needed to "not do something" seems to increase
the likeliness that you will do exactly that, especially under stress. For
some reason, it seems that it is not the will or intent of the thinker that is
important, but what the thinker is actually thinking that controls reflexive
actions.

~~~
mhb
Well, yeah. I knew that from watching Homer's antics on the Simpsons. This
doesn't dp anything to explain why if you incessantly think "Don't do x; don't
do x" then you wind up doing x. But maybe I'm expecting too much from an
article in the Sports section.

