Journey 10 · Surrender
When a Practised Skill Slips Under Pressure
In a lab study, putting practised by people new to golf got worse under pressure, while alphabet arithmetic, a step-by-step mental task, did not.
Beilock and Carr’s memory tests with expert golfers suggested that practised putting runs without step-by-step attention. Then people new to golf practised putting in the lab. Under pressure their putting got worse, while alphabet arithmetic, a step-by-step mental task, did not. Practising while filmed for experts to review removed the choking; practising with distractions did not.
The results fit the explicit-monitoring account: pressure pulls attention onto the steps of a practised skill, and that attention breaks it up. This is not a case against attention. New skills need it. The trouble comes when a practised skill is watched step by step.
Journey 10, Surrender, guided by Liv, takes this as the clearest case for releasing the grip on ‘how am I doing?’ You keep the practice and the preparation, then let the trained part of you run. Where do you supervise yourself so closely that it trips you up?
The research
Strong evidence Replicated findings and meta-analyses.
- Beilock, S. L., & Carr, T. H. (2001). On the fragility of skilled performance: What governs choking under pressure? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130(4), 701–725.
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