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Decision under psychological pressure: The shooter's anxiety at the penalty kick

Author

Listed:
  • Luc Arrondel

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Richard Duhautois

    (CNAM Paris - Centre d'enseignement Cnam Paris - Cnam - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [Cnam])

  • Jean-François Laslier

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

The paper analyses sequences of penalty kicks during football shoot-outs in French cup competitions. We consider in detail the psychological effects to which the kicker is subject: the fear of winning, the fear of losing, the expected outcomes and how much is at stake. Our main conclusion is that the performance (the probability of scoring) is negatively affected by both what is at stake (the impact of my scoring on the expected probability that my team will eventually win) and the difficulty of the situation (the ex ante probability of my team eventually losing). We find no advantage for the team that takes the first kick.

Suggested Citation

  • Luc Arrondel & Richard Duhautois & Jean-François Laslier, 2019. "Decision under psychological pressure: The shooter's anxiety at the penalty kick," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-03044360, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:hal-03044360
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2018.10.008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Lackner, Mario & Sonnabend, Hendrik, 2021. "Coping with advantageous inequity—Field evidence from professional penalty kicking," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Kassis, Mark & Schmidt, Sascha L. & Schreyer, Dominik & Sutter, Matthias, 2021. "Psychological pressure and the right to determine the moves in dynamic tournaments – evidence from a natural field experiment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 278-287.
    4. Viktor Bozhinov & Nora Grote, 2019. "Performance under Pressure on the Court: Evidence from Professional Volleyball," Working Papers 1901, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    5. Xu, Minbo & Wang, Oliver, 2023. "Psychological pressure and performance in competitive environments: The first-hole effect in youth golf," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    6. Krumer, Alex, 2020. "Pressure versus ability: Evidence from penalty shoot-outs between teams from different divisions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. Marius Ötting & Christian Deutscher & Sandra Schneemann & Roland Langrock & Sebastian Gehrmann & Hendrik Scholten, 2020. "Performance under pressure in skill tasks: An analysis of professional darts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, February.
    8. L'aszl'o Csat'o & D'ora Gr'eta Petr'oczy, 2020. "Fairness in penalty shootouts: Is it worth using dynamic sequences?," Papers 2004.09225, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    9. Mir Danial Mousavi & Mir Damoun Mousavi, 2023. "The Effect of Stakeholder’s Pressure on firm Market Performance and the Mediating Role of Corporate Responsibility, Sustainable Supplier Selection, and Marketing Capability," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(3), pages 179-191, August.
    10. Pan, Yu & Pereira, Marco Henriques & Gomez-Gonzalez, Carlos & Dietl, Helmut M., 2025. "The superstar effect on perceived performance in professional football: An online experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    11. László Csató, 2021. "A comparison of penalty shootout designs in soccer," 4OR, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 183-198, June.
    12. Steven J. Brams & Mehmet S. Ismail, 2024. "Multi-Tier Tournaments: Matching and Scoring Players," Papers 2407.13845, arXiv.org.

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