Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To [Hardcover]

Sian Beilock (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 21, 2010

Why do the smartest students often do poorly on standardized tests?

Why did you tank that interview or miss that golf swing when you should have had it in the bag?

Why do you mess up when it matters the most—and how can you perform your best instead?

It happens to all of us. You’ve prepared for days, weeks, even years for the big day when you will finally show your stuff—in academics, in your career, in sports—but when the big moment arrives, nothing seems to work. You hit the wrong note, drop the ball, get stumped by a simple question. In other words, you choke. It’s not fun to think about, but now there’s good news: This doesn’t have to happen.

Dr. Sian Beilock, an expert on performance and brain science, reveals in Choke the astonishing new science of why we all too often blunder when the stakes are high. What happens in our brain and body when we experience the dreaded performance anxiety? And what are we doing differently when everything magically “clicks” into place and the perfect golf swing, tricky test problem, or high-pressure business pitch becomes easy? In an energetic tour of the latest brain science, with surprising insights on every page, Beilock explains the inescapable links between body and mind; reveals the surprising similarities among the ways performers, students, athletes, and business people choke; and shows how to succeed brilliantly when it matters most.

In lively prose and accessibly rendered science, Beilock examines how attention and working memory guide human performance, how experience and practice and brain development interact to create our abilities, and how stress affects all these factors. She sheds new light on counterintuitive realities, like why the highest performing people are most susceptible to choking under pressure, why we may learn foreign languages best when we’re not paying attention, why early childhood athletic training can backfire, and how our emotions can make us both smarter and dumber. All these fascinating findings about academic, athletic, and creative intelligence come together in Beilock’s new ideas about performance under pressure—and her secrets to never choking again. Whether you’re at the Olympics, in the boardroom, or taking the SAT, Beilock’s clear, prescriptive guidance shows how to remain cool under pressure—the key to performing well when everything’s on the line.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Alluring and daunting” -- Wired.com

“Readable explanations for why we choke and valuable suggestions for what we can do to get through a make-or-break moment with a better chance of success.”

--Wall Street Journal

"If you aspire to be cool under maximum pressure (and who doesn't?), Beilock offers smart tips such as practicing under pressure and 'pausing the choke' by walking away from the problem for a few minutes in order to think clearly."

--Time Magazine

“. . . a must read for golfers.” – WorldGolf

“Choke is an important, fascinating book. Everyone who is looking for optimal performance would benefit from reading it and implementing its principles.”

—Daniel G. Amen, MD, Author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Body

“Do you want to hit better shots on the golf course? Score higher on the SAT? Get less nervous before speaking in public? In this marvelous book, Sian Beilock will tell you how, as she reveals the mental secrets to performing under pressure.”

--Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist

“A wonderful exploration of what happens inside when you choke on the outside. Essential for anyone who has, or plans, to compete, and especially for those who have choked.”

--Andrew Newberg, M.D., co-author of How God Changes Your Brain and Born to Believe --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Sian Beilock, a leading expert on cognitive science and the many factors influencing all types of performance, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago. She received a BS in Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego in 1997 and PhDs in both kinesiology and psychology from Michigan State University in 2003.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (September 21, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416596178
• ISBN-13: 978-1416596172
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #469,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sian Beilock is a psychology professor at The University of Chicago and one of the world's leading experts on the brain science behind "choking under pressure" and the many factors influencing all types of performance: from test-taking to public speaking to your golf swing.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A no-brainer September 15, 2011

By Deb

Format:Hardcover

Ever feel betrayed by your brain?

It's the day of the big test, and even though you've aced every practice test, you can't even get through the first few problems on the actual test. Or, you've mastered your speech, and could practically recite it in your sleep, and then on the day of your performance, you freeze. Or, you've been flawlessly making every putt on the greens during practice, but when the pressure's on during the game, you can't putt to save your life.

We're all too familiar with the ways the brain can choke. Fortunately, Sian's book _Choke_ provides us with insight into why our brains can get derailed, and also offers techniques for getting things back on track. In essence, there are two ways the brain can choke. The first happens when worries and anxieties interfere with the brain's horsepower needed for complex-thinking and reasoning tasks. The second happens when we over-focus too much on a performance, disrupting the natural flow of what normally happens outside of our conscious awareness. _Choke_ addressees both types of brain bonks, and shows what we can do about each.

The book is packed with plenty of food for thought to help nourish the brain and prevent choking. To whet your cognitive appetite, here's just a sample:

The curse of expertise:
*As we get better at performing a skill, our conscious memory for how we do it gets worse and worse. (p. 16)

Training success:
*Practice can actually change the physical wiring of the brain to support exceptional performance. (p. 43)
*Athletes' tendency to overthink their performance is one big predictor of whether they will choke in important games or matches. (p. 60)

Less can be more--Why flexing your prefrontal cortex is not always beneficial:
*Adults are better at acquiring a new language--that is, adults look more like kids with underdeveloped prefrontal cortexes--when they are distracted and not concentrating too hard on what they are learning. (p. 77)
*Having a golfer count backwards by threes, or even having a golfer sing a song to himself, uses up working-memory that might otherwise fuel overthinking or a flubbed performance. (p. 78)

Brain differences between the sexes--A self-fulfilling prophecy?:
*Just being stereotyped negatively is enough to drive down performance. (p. 103)
*Stereotype threat is most dramatic for those girls who are the most skilled and most interested in excelling at what they are being tested on. (p. 103)

Bombing the test--Why we choke under pressure in the classroom:
*Practicing under the types of pressures you will face on the big testing day is one of the best ways to prevent choking. (p. 147)

The choking cure:
*Writing about your worries before a test or presentation prevents choking. (p. 159)
*Putting your feelings into words changes how the brain deals with stressful information. (p. 161)

Choking under pressure--From the green to the stage:
*Heightened attention to detail can actually mess you up. (p. 190)
*Paralysis by analysis occurs when you attend too much to activities that normally operate outside of conscious awareness. (p. 192)

Fixing the cracks in sport and other fields--Anti-choking techniques:
*Training in stressful situations minimizes the possibility of the choke as you gradually become accustomed to the pressure. (p. 213)
*Focusing on what to do (a strategy focus) rather than how to do it (a technique focus) can help prevent cracking under stress. (p. 222)

So, whether you want a test score that reflects your true abilities, you want to be able to speak eloquently (or at least flub-lessly) in front of an audience, you want to be able to make that putt when it really counts, or you just want to figure out how to get your brain on your side, getting your hands on a copy of _Choke_ should be a no-brainer.

63 of 73 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, but a bit misleading September 28, 2010

By AStickyWicket

Format:Hardcover

This is a very well researched and written look at the Neurological Basis of performance.

I had one very frustrating issue with it though. Nowhere in the promotional material for this book is there any indication that it will be about scientific research that disproves the biological explanation for the differences between Men and Women in the Math and Science fields. Yet, for some reason, a full quarter, verging on a third of text is devoted to this topic.

It's a strange experience to read this. The author establishes a thread about the neurological basis of choking, and then goes on a nearly 100 page tangent. While this is certainly an interesting, significant, and necessary topic, it doesn't fit in well with the rest of the book.

It seems as if it would have worked better on its own.

Other than this issue, the book is a great read.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Impressive Guide to Understanding and Maximizing Performance Under Pressure October 13, 2010

By The Pearl

Format:Kindle Edition

I found this book to be both intellectually impressive and thoroughly enjoyable. The topic is one that should matter to everyone: how we perform -- or sometimes fail to perform -- under pressure. Whether your interest is in improving your golf game, understanding why your very bright and talented kid just bombed the SATs, or how to do a presentation at work, this book provides tremendous insight into the science of how people perform under pressure. Most important, the author uses that scientific insight as a basis for designing practical ways to improve your performance in pressured situations. The author has a gift: the ability to present scientific explanations of how our brains function under stress in a style that is comprehensible to a lay person. (I have not taken a science class since junior year of high school, so that I particularly appreciate her style.) The tone is just right. The author finds a way to explain and simplify without condescending in any way. Best of all, the author offers a great reward to those who read her book: with the understanding of how people function under stress comes a very practical guide to ways we can use that understanding to improve our performance levels in the vast, diverse realm of activities that are the stuff of everyday life. This book represents a practical application psychology at its very best, more powerful and more useful than any "sef-help" book you will ever read.