Cognitive Biases in Sports: Examining Their Influence on Athletic Decision-Making

Traditional economic theory has long relied on the notion of rationality, which assumes that individuals will always make decisions leading to the optimal level of benefit or utility for themselves. However, behavioural economics, a subfield of economics, proposes that decision-making is not always rational, as emotions and cognitive biases influence it. In line with this, the dual processing system highlights how decisions may be made via one of two systems: the first characterised by relatively fast and nonconscious decision-making and the latter by slower and more conscious thinking. This research paper extends the literature on behavioural economics into the realm of sports, as it is a context where time is of the essence, and decisions need to be made on the spot. Primary research was conducted among a group of amateur athletes. The findings suggest that cognitive biases, including availability heuristic, anchoring bias, sunk cost fallacy, and framing bias, among others, influence the decisions made by athletes. The paper also proposes methods to overcome these biases.