Why we make bad decisions, even when we know better

Why we make bad decisions, even when we know betterWhy we make bad decisions, even when we know betterOn a cold, rainy night in 1962, Hershey, Pennsylvania, one of the greatest games in basketball history would take place. Its the Philadelphia Warriors versus the New York Knicks.The star player of the warriors welches a 7-foot, 1,275-pound man with a towering physical presence. His name welches Wilt Chamberlain.In the game of basketball, 7-foot tall players look awkward and clumsy on the court. But Wilt Chamberlain welches different. He was as tall as a giraffe and as graceful as a ballerina.During the 1962 basketball season, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50.36 points per game. A single season points record that has never been broken. In context, Michael Jordan, widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, averaged 37.09 points per game in his best single season. Let that sink in for a second.Back to the game. By the end of the first quarter, Chamberlain scored 23 point s. 41 points at halftime. 69 points in the third quarter. And boy, he wasnt slowing down.With 46 seconds left on the clock, Chamberlain broke free from five Knicks players, approached the basketball rim, jumped high and put the ball through the hoop. The arena exploded into a frenzy. Hundreds of spectators stormed the court, to celebrate and touch the hero of the night. Wilt Chamberlain had just scored 100 points, the most any player has ever scored in a professional basketball game.But, that wasnt all. Something strange occurred after this historic game. A head-scratching decision, some would say near insane, by the star man, Wilt Chamberlain.Chamberlains puzzling decision, begs the question why do we make bad decisions, or dumb choices, even when a good choice is right in front of our face?Granny shots and free throwsWhen Wilt Chamberlain first joined the NBA, he dominated his opponents physically, scoring at will, even when he was grappled by two or more players. But, when it cam e time to shoot a free throw - an unopposed attempt at scoring points- he was horrendous. Were talking 40 percent of shots made from the free throw line.At the start of the season leading up to the historic game, Wilt Chamberlain made a decision to try a different way of shooting free throws. Instead of shooting, like every other basketball player - overhand, releasing the ball near the forehead- Chamberlain switched to underhand free throws. Also known as theGranny Shot.Throughout the season, Wilt Chamberlain would hold the ball between his legs, slightly crouch his knees and flick the ball upwards to the basket rim. And all of a sudden, he became a pretty good free throw shooter, netting close to 60 percent of his shots.Then, on that historic night in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Chamberlain netted 28 out of his 32 shots from the free throw line. Thats an incredible 87.5 percent from the free throw line. The most free throws ever made during a single game of basketball in NBA history .This drastic improvement, from 40 percent to 87.5 percent, didnt occur because Chamberlain improved his athleticism or shooting skills. It happened because he changed thewayhe shot free throws. Wilt Chamberlain would stick by this good decision and improve as a free throw shooter.Or would he?After the historic game, something incredible happens. A baffling, near insane moment. Wilt Chamberlain stops shooting underhand, and reverts back to shooting overhand. He chose to go back to being a terrible free throw shooterTheres a saying thatinsanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Could insanity also be doing something different, finding a solution to your biggest problems and then, reverting back to your old ways that didnt work?There were no rational reasons for Wilt Chamberlain to stop shooting underhand free throws, as he wasnt ignorant to the positive results of the new approach. But despite knowing better, Chamberlain switched back to hi s old way of shooting. And for the rest of his basketball career, remained a poor free throw shooter.At that time, the only other player who shot underhand free throws was Rick Barry, a Hall of Famer, and just like Chamberlain, an unstoppable offensive juggernaut, who stood 6 foot 7 inches tall.Unlike Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry never switched back to overhand free throws. And for a damn good reason. At the time of his retirement, Rick Barry held a godlike 90 percent free throw record, ranked first in NBA history. But, this could well have been Wilt Chamberlains record, if he had stuck to the underhand throw for the rest of his basketball career.So, whats it about the Wilt Chamberlains of the world - who makebad decisions even when they know better - thats different from the Rick Barrys of the world, who stick to good decisions, even when theyre an anomaly?The threshold model of collective behaviorIn a famous essay published over four decades ago, Stanford University sociologist, Mark Granovetter, tried to answer the question of why people do things out of a character. 3Granovetter used riots as one of the main examples. Because during a riot, otherwise normal people, get involved in destructive and violent behavior. Why would law-abiding citizens suddenly throw rocks through windows?Before Granovetters paper, sociologists tried to explain this phenomenon in terms of a persons beliefs. Previous theories suggested that when people were in a crowd, theyd lose their independent rational thinking and change their beliefs to conform to the crowd. For example, if say, at the start of a riot, one person in a crowd throws a rock through a window, the beliefs of the people in the crowd would change and theyd act in irrational ways.But Granovetter believed otherwise. In his view, riots arent caused by a collective of people who hold beliefs about whats right, and then suddenly, because of a mob mentality, change those beliefs. Rather, riots are driven by a social rea ction to the behaviour of people in the environment. They are driven bythresholds.Your threshold is the number of people who have to do an activity, before you join them. You can think of thresholds as a form of peer pressure. The higher your threshold, the more people you need to do something, before you participate.In the context of a riot, the rebel who needs little encouragement to throw the first rock through a window, has a very low threshold. But, an otherwise law-abiding citizen, who steals a computer, only if everyone around them is also looting, has a very high threshold.Granovetter formalised these insights asthe threshold model of collective behaviour.The implications of this is that, regardless of our beliefs, within certain social contexts or thresholds, we could make really bad decisions, even when we know better.This brings us one step closer to solving the puzzle of Wilt Chamberlains irrational decision to switch back to overhand free throw shooting.Heres another cl ue. In Wilt Chamberlains autobiography, he wrote I felt silly, like a sissy, shooting underhanded. I know I was wrong. I know some of the best foul shooters in history shot that way. Even now the best one in the NBA, Rick Barry, shoots underhanded. I just couldnt do it. 4Did you notice anything strange about Wilt Chamberlains comments? Any alarm bells ring based on Granovetters threshold model?Lets dissect this. First, Chamberlain mentions that I felt silly, like a sissy. Why would he feel silly or like a sissy? Thats because almost all basketball players in the NBA at the time, minus Rick Barry, shot overhanded. Plus, the underhand throw was mocked as a granny shot for sissies. Chamberlain didnt want to look stupid, in front of his peers and the world.Second, Wilt Chamberlain said, I know I was wrong I just couldnt do it. So, despite being completely aware of a good choice, he still made the bad decision to keep shooting overhanded. As predicted within Granovetters threshold model , it wasnt Chamberlains beliefs that drove his decision. It was the social context. In other words, Wilt Chamberlain was a high threshold person, who would only stick to the granny shot, if a majority of basketball players also did so. But, what about Rick Barry?When Barry first switched to underhand free throw shots, as a junior in high school, he also believed that hed look like a sissy. In fact, early on, he was ridiculed for his shooting style. But,Barry didnt let this discourage him. As far as he was concerned, the only thing that mattered was improving his shots. 5Unlike Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry had a very low threshold. He didnt needapproval from other peopleto stick to a good decision that works. And thats what separates the Wilt Chamberlains from the Rick Barrys of the world.The social courage decisionWe like to think that bad decisions are a result of beliefs or ignorance. But thats not always true. Most times, we dont always do whats best for us, even when we know bet ter, because of peer pressure.But, there are a handful of people, the Rick Barrys of the world, who would rather be right, than liked. They have the social courage to put mastery of a task at hand, ahead of social approval.Unlike the Wilt Chamberlains of the world, who die with regrets of what could have been, the Rick Barrys of the world pass on with no regrets. Because they didnt let the opinion of others hold them back from being the best person they couldve been.Mayo Oshin writes atMayoOshin.com, where he shares practical self-improvement ideas and proven science for better health, productivity and creativity.To get practical ideas on how to stop procrastinating and build healthy habits, you can join his free weekly newsletterhere.A version of thisarticleoriginally appeared atmayooshin.comas The Chamberlain Effect Why We Make Bad Decisions, Even When We Know Better.FootnotesWilt Chamberlainsregular season records.Video ofhis 100 point game.NBA all-time points leaders in aregular season per game average.Granovetter (1978),Threshold Models of Collective Behaviour.Wilt Chamberlainsbiography.The story of Rick Barry being ridiculed comes from aninterviewwith Malcolm Gladwell.