Effort vs. Concentration: The Asymmetric Impact of Pressure on
NBA Performance (2012 ESPN Fan’s Choice Winner) How and why does
performance change under pressure? Psychologists have argued
that pressure can both distract, motivate and generate too much
self-focus (thinking about the details of how one should
accomplish a goal, as opposed to “just doing it”). Studies have
implicated self-focus as the key factor in pressure-associated
performance declines. To understand if these results extend to
highly trained experts, we examine two fundamentally different
actions within the context of the same professional sport,
basketball. The first action, free throw shooting, requires
quiet concentration, while the second, offensive rebounding, is
based on effort exerted in the heat of the moment. Home vs. Away
variation allows us to understand how a supportive audience
moderates the impact of pressure. We find that home free throw
shooters do significantly worse in clutch situations, with the
effect being larger for poo