Choking and the yips
The baseball great Yogi Berra, who died recently at the age of 90, was notorious for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. On one occasion the Yankees manager told him not to be so impetuous, but “think, think, think”. Next time he was at bat, Berra struck out ignominiously. He stormed back into the dugout, complaining, “How the hell can you hit and think at the same time?”
Berra’s attitude has some distinguished philosophical support. The classic 20th century phenomenologists Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty held that skilled performers like musicians and athletes perform best when they respond directly to physical triggers. Thinking only interferes with immediate reactions. The corporate slogan “Just do it” perfectly encapsulates the phenomenologists’ message.
