Pressure

How much does the pressure around us effect our decision-making? Take a look at this experiment from the '70s, that Simon Sinek cites in his book "The Infinite Game."

In 1973, two Princeton university psychology professors John M. Darley and C. Daniel Batson, conducted an experiment to better understand how situational variables can affect our ethics, specifically, how pressure impacts our will to help someone in distress. They asked a group of seminary students to travel across campus to give a talk about the story of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan is a parable from the New Testament in which a samaritan, traveling from Jericho to Jerusalem, is the only person to stop to help a man who had been beaten, robbed and left on the side of the road.

To recreate the scene, the professors hired and actor to lie in an alley, slumped over like he had been mugged or hurt in some way. The students would have. to pass him as they made their way across campus. Each Tim the experiment was conducted, with a different group of students, the professors added a little bit of pressure to see how it would affect the students' behavior. One group had a lot of pressure to hurry across campus. "You're late," the experimenters told them. "They were expecting you a few minutes ago. We'd better get moving." A second group had intermediate pressure put on them. "The assistant is ready for you, please go right over." And the last group had only light pressure added to them. "It'll be a few minutes before they're ready for you, but you might as well head on over."

When there was low pressure, 63 percent of the students stopped to help the injured man. When medium pressure, 45 percent stopped to lend assistance. And under high pressure, only 10 percent of the students stopped to help someone in apparent distress. Some even stepped right over him. The conclusion was stark. The students were good people who cared about service. They were all studying to be priests, for heavens sake. However, when pressure was placed upon them, in this case time pressure, their will to do the right thing gave way to the demands placed upon them.

Think about the last sentence. When pressure was placed upon them... their will to do the right thing gave way to the demands placed upon them. And these were not only seminary students, they were walking past a man clearly in need of help, on their way to give a talk about The Good Samaritan!

Man, does this make clear what pressure can do to our decision-making process. We face a ton of pressure as coaches - some external, a lot of it internal, some real, some perceived. But we all operate with a certain level of pressure on us every day.

Recognize the pressure that is on you - and the pressure you put on yourself - and think about the ways it can affect your decision making. None of us are immune to it. Pressure can have a significant impact on our decision making, and we might not even realize it.