Stay Informed!

By Sean Luechtefeld on 07/09/2010 @ 02:50 PM

Tags: Innovation, Innovators, Behavioral Economics

Yesterday, Innovator-in-Residence Mindy Hernandez posted an interesting piece to her Applying Behavioral Sciences in the Real World blog that argues that decisions made by soccer players in the World Cup can demonstrate an important lesson in Behavioral Sciences.

To read Mindy’s blog post, check it out here.

In the post, Mindy posts a variety of interesting resources that examine a simple question: while soccer players are statistically most likely to score a point by shooting down the middle of the goal, they almost always kick to the left or right side of the goal. Why?

While the resources Mindy shares are interesting, I won’t do them the justice they deserve here. Instead, given my interest in Behavioral Economics, I’ll share the main takeaway. It turns out that shots fired directly at the middle of the goal, although more likely not to be blocked by the keeper, are also perceived as the easiest shots to make. Therefore, there is a fear among soccer players that if they miss these allegedly-easy goals, they’re weak players. To mitigate the potential impact such a perception would have on the player’s image, players tend to shoot for the sides so that a miss seems like the skill of the goalkeeper, rather than a weakness on behalf of the person attempting to score.

In other words, soccer players act in their own self-interest. Rather than do what it takes to score a point, they often engage face-saving measures to avoid appearing unskillful. While this sounds terrible on face, such behavior is consistent with what we know about Behavioral Sciences. A guiding principal in this research is that people, especially when making financial decisions, tend to act in their own self-interest. The key, then, is to understand how to transform that knowledge into products that promote healthy economic decision-making.

In a few short paragraphs, Mindy has explained the entirety of behavioral economics research! Okay, not really – it’s WAY more complicated than that. Nevertheless, Mindy once again provides an interesting framework with which we can think about Behavioral Sciences in a way that we can relate to. Thanks, Mindy!

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