Weekend Wrap-up #06 - Crash! Boom! Bang!

 

So this Weekend Wrap-up was edging towards the Olympics, however, I thought it best to wait for the action to pick up a bit before I write anything on it. 

So what have I looked instead was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, last Sunday and the crash between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

I have tried to see if any behavioural biases could explain what happened there and the events that followed. As always I will attempt to keep my views on the incident out of the post and focus on the subject matter at hand i.e. behavioural biases.

Observer Expectancy Effect

This is also known as the experimenter expectancy effect, refers to how the perceived expectations of an observer can influence the people being observed. This term is usually used in the context of research, to describe how the presence of a researcher can influence the behaviour of participants in their study.

Now let us look at the this in the context of the race... Did the expectations of a home crowd guide the Hamilton's behaviour. Is this what pushed him into a behaviour he would have otherwise avoided. 

This quote from Christian Horner puts the above bias in context - “This was a moment of extreme pressure for Hamilton in the championship, becoming the hunter as opposed to the hunted, and in front of his home crowd, we all know that these situations can bring out a different driving style and one that is not characteristic of a world champion.”

In-group Bias

In-group Bias is the tendency for people to give preferential treatment to others who belong to the same group that they do. 

This bias can be seen by the reactions of team members and fans on both sides. Each group is very clear that what their driver did was within what was permissible. And what the other driver did was stepping out of the acceptable boundaries. Toto Wolff's comments on Verstappen's aggression or Horner's on the celebrations could well be explained by this given that both are experts in the field yet with opposing views on the incident.

Authority Bias 

This is the tendency to attribute greater accuracy to the opinion of an authority figure. We can see this as fans share the views of racing experts from David Coulthard to Daniel Ricciardo.

Confirmation Bias

The confirmation bias describes our underlying tendency to notice, focus on, and give greater credence to evidence that fits with our existing beliefs.

The selective use of the authority bias above by fans to share views in sync with their opinions brings out this bias quite clearly as we have witnessed experts speaking from both sides yet fans choosing to share only which were relevant to them.

Cognitive Dissonance 

This describes when we reject, debunk or avoid conflicting information with regards to our beliefs and attitudes. Once again the clash of beliefs on both sides and the very overt reactions by both racers and their teams highlights this bias.

There are a few other biases which may be observed to a lower extent like the just-world hypothesis which refers to our belief that the world is fair, and consequently, that the moral standings of our actions will determine our outcomes. We have seen a lot of fans who believe Max will avenge this event by winning the championship and Lewis will get what he deserves. 

Or leveling and sharpening which is most commonly associated with the idea of selective memory, especially when it comes to storytelling and narration. This is visible in how both sets of fans narrate the incident quite differently.

We have often seen in behavioural science that a fine towards unacceptable behaviour is looked at by the proponent as a fee that makes the behaviour acceptable. Red Bull fans are asking if the ten second penalty has given Mercedes and Hamilton a free pass for the incident or the lack of ethics associated with it.

We are more than half way through this racing season and we will see if this incident has any further behavioural ramifications on either racers or their teams in the races to come... I'll be sure to highlight them if I do notice any... till then... ciao.

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I am sharing my posting schedule herewith... do look out for topics that might interest you:

Tuesday: Regular posts under Intriguing Insights and Inexplicable Influences

Thursday: To BE or not to BE - Behavioural Economic (BE) terms and their popular explanations or definitions.

Sunday: Weekend Wrap-up where I select an event or incident from the week that was and analyse some aspect of it.

Last Saturday of every month: My monthly post in the Intellectual Imprints section