WEBVTT - Why do people choke under pressure?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff works dot com where

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<v Speaker 1>smart happens. Hi Marshall brand with today's question, what causes

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<v Speaker 1>someone to choke under pressure? Anyone who watched the Master's

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<v Speaker 1>Tournament this year or who followed the tournament in the

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<v Speaker 1>news knows that there was a shocking breakdown by Rory

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<v Speaker 1>McElroy during his final nine holes. He played well through

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<v Speaker 1>three and a half rounds or sixty three holes, and

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<v Speaker 1>then he choked. It was as though he had forgotten

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<v Speaker 1>how to hit a golf ball. And if you've ever

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<v Speaker 1>played golf, you know that this isn't an exceedingly uncommon event. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, professionals choked quite often in golf, and you

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<v Speaker 1>yourself may have experienced it on the golf course where

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<v Speaker 1>you go to hit a ball and you can't hit

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<v Speaker 1>it straight to save yourself, and then you try to

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<v Speaker 1>correct that you can't, you'll get the second shot anywhere

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<v Speaker 1>where you want it to be, and suddenly you have

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<v Speaker 1>forgotten how to play golf. Or you might have experienced

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<v Speaker 1>it in a public speaking situation where you can't make

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<v Speaker 1>words come out of your mouth, or you might have

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<v Speaker 1>gone into a test and choked and couldn't find the

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<v Speaker 1>answer to any question on the test. Or you might

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<v Speaker 1>have met particularly attractive member of the human species that

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<v Speaker 1>you would like to get to know better, and when

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<v Speaker 1>you go to talk to him or her, you can't

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<v Speaker 1>get any words out of your mouth that that sound

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<v Speaker 1>anything other than ridiculous. Or and this one is really common,

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<v Speaker 1>you go to be on a TV show for the

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<v Speaker 1>first time and this question pops into your head. What

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<v Speaker 1>am I supposed to do with my hands? And you've

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<v Speaker 1>never had a problem with your hands before. You've lived

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<v Speaker 1>your whole life without thinking about what to do with

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<v Speaker 1>your hands, But suddenly, with a TV camera focused on you,

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<v Speaker 1>you don't know what it is that you're supposed to

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<v Speaker 1>do with your hands, and it becomes an amazing source

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<v Speaker 1>of confusion for you. The point is that human beings

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<v Speaker 1>choke all the time. This is a very common phenomenon

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<v Speaker 1>for human beings, and the question is what causes people

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<v Speaker 1>to choke? What is going on when we choke in

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<v Speaker 1>a high pressure situation or any situation where we're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to get a good outcome rather than a bad one.

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<v Speaker 1>There is some excellent material on the web that talks

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<v Speaker 1>about choking, and if you want to google it. You

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<v Speaker 1>can google brain stuff how choking works to find links

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<v Speaker 1>in a couple of videos that that show the process

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<v Speaker 1>of choking. But one article in particular is called the

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<v Speaker 1>Psychology of choking, and it explains it this way. There

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<v Speaker 1>are two different ways that we can do things with

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<v Speaker 1>our bodies in the real world. One way is under

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<v Speaker 1>conscious control and the other way is under unconscious control.

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<v Speaker 1>So you are using the conscious process. Whenever you're learning something,

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<v Speaker 1>you know you're let's say you're learning to drive a

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<v Speaker 1>stick shift car. You are sitting there and you have

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<v Speaker 1>to consciously think about taking your foot off the gas,

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<v Speaker 1>putting your foot onto the clutch, moving the gearshift knob,

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<v Speaker 1>and then reversing that taking your foot off the clutch

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<v Speaker 1>while you apply the gas smoothly. And you're doing all

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<v Speaker 1>that consciously, and it's hard. It takes time, and it

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<v Speaker 1>takes a lot of thought, and it's frustrating, and you

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<v Speaker 1>mash the gears and and stuff is difficult. If you've

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<v Speaker 1>ever tried to drive a back ho for the first time,

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<v Speaker 1>you run into the same exact thing where you know,

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<v Speaker 1>if you could just move your arm the way you

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<v Speaker 1>wanted the back ho to move, it would be trivially

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<v Speaker 1>simple to drive a back hoe, but you're doing it

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<v Speaker 1>with these two levers that have four positions each, and

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<v Speaker 1>you have to consciously think, let's see, if I want

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<v Speaker 1>to extend the arm outward, I have to move this

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<v Speaker 1>lever in this direction. And that is the conscious way

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<v Speaker 1>of doing things. Then the other way is, after lots

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<v Speaker 1>and lots and lots of practice, you can drive a

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<v Speaker 1>stick shift car without thinking about it, or you if

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<v Speaker 1>you've ever seen a really good backhoe operator do his

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<v Speaker 1>or her thing, they can make a backhoe move just

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<v Speaker 1>like it's their arm. It's an extension of their body.

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<v Speaker 1>It's unbelievably precise and smooth, and you know, even could

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<v Speaker 1>be delicate if it needs to be. They they a

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<v Speaker 1>good backhoad driver is an amazing person to watch. So

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<v Speaker 1>you have these two systems, the conscious system, which is

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<v Speaker 1>kind of slow and messy and frustrating, and the unconscious

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<v Speaker 1>system where you literally don't even have to think about it.

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<v Speaker 1>You just are doing your thing well. The article The

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<v Speaker 1>Psychology of Choking explains that what happens when you choke

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<v Speaker 1>is that, through essentially overthinking, you override or you disable

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<v Speaker 1>the un conscious system that has allowed you to perform well.

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<v Speaker 1>And whatever it is you're doing, let's say talking, you

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<v Speaker 1>normally talk unconsciously, and when you get into a public

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<v Speaker 1>speaking situation, that breaks down. When you're trying to be

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<v Speaker 1>on TV and you don't know what to do with

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<v Speaker 1>your hands, You've always dealt with your hands unconsciously, and now, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>that breaks down. The golfing case, they've been golfing, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>through years of practice, they can golf unconsciously. It's all

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<v Speaker 1>wired into the brain. And what happens when you choke

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<v Speaker 1>is that unconscious system gets overridden by the conscious system

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<v Speaker 1>and you revert back to the conscious system for doing things.

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<v Speaker 1>The unconscious system is essentially lost. And this is why

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<v Speaker 1>when you're in this choking situation, everything looks so uncomfortable

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<v Speaker 1>and unnatural and stilted, because the conscious system is like that.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're having to use your conscious brain to think

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<v Speaker 1>through the motions, it just doesn't work. This leads you

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<v Speaker 1>to wonder, maybe what can you do if you ever

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<v Speaker 1>find yourself in a situation where you're choking and you

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<v Speaker 1>need to unchoke, you need to perform in a normal way,

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<v Speaker 1>then the solution might be to relax and find a

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<v Speaker 1>way to turn off your conscious mind again, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>breathing deeply or meditating for a short period of time

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<v Speaker 1>or something to just shut down the conscious side to

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<v Speaker 1>relieve the pressure so that you're unconscious can take over

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<v Speaker 1>again and start doing what it does well, automatically doing

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<v Speaker 1>the task at hand. If you'd like to learn more

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<v Speaker 1>about this again, you can google brain stuff how choking works,

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<v Speaker 1>and it will lead you to some videos and a

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<v Speaker 1>really good article on the topic. For moral on this

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<v Speaker 1>and thousands of other topics, is it how staff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com