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Decision MakingMember ingredient
Action Bias
A preference for doing something when action is not clearly better than waiting or doing nothing.
Public evidence overview
One checked source, with its limits.
This preview is not the complete evidence base. Use it as a question to investigate in your own product, not as a prediction of what an individual will do.
Checked source previewAcademic paper
Replication: No action “Bias” among elite soccer goalkeepers during penalty kicks
Research-assisted source review
- What it supports
- Goalkeepers dived more often, but their chances of stopping the shot were statistically similar when diving and staying central. More shots were directed left or right, so the authors concluded that frequent diving was not evidence of action bias in this dataset.
- Where it may not transfer
- The study tests one naturalistic task and outcome, not product decision-making. A null difference does not prove every dive was optimal, and strategy may vary by player, era and available information. It directly challenges generalising from the iconic goalkeeper example.
See how sources and limitations are checked in our editorial method.
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