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| Agustín Indaco and Ira Teqja |
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| ''Do professional athletes choke when they don't have time to stop and (over) think?'' |
| ( 2025, Vol. 45 No.1 ) |
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| Previous research suggests that professional athletes choke when performing unopposed high-pressure tasks, such as taking penalty kicks. This article extends the literature by studying whether football (soccer) players choke when they have an opportunity to score in late-game open-play situations. These situations are markedly different because in such instances players do not have time to stop and (over) think. We suggest that these situations closely resemble high-pressure professions and mirror many of the stressful scenarios we regularly experience. We find that players consistently underperform relative to expectations in late-game situations when their team is down by one goal. However, players perform to expectations when the game is tied. This finding is consistent with players being loss averse. |
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| Keywords: Pressure, Choking, Football, Loss aversion |
JEL: J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor: General
M5 - Personnel Economics: General |
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| Manuscript Received : Oct 23 2024 | | Manuscript Accepted : Mar 30 2025 |
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