HUMAN FACTORS EGO IS THE WILD CARD WHEN IT COMES TO GOOD DECISION-MAKING
Neuroscience research on decision-making is pretty conclusive: we are bad at it. Creativity and ingenuity? We humans are good at this. Patterns? We’re exceptional at recognizing these. Implement- ing rules? Check. Assembling vague cues and assessing relative op- tions (i.e. decision-making)? Not so good. Funny that whitewater paddling should be a decision-making game. Whitewater decisions are highly complex, whether formally
scouting or boogie boating and making calls on the fly. Paddling decisions are about predicting dynamism—how moving water, sta- tionary hazards and a paddler’s ability will interact. As we become better paddlers we not only increase our skill but also improve our ability to predict. This decision-making capacity is really what sets the expert apart from the novice. What’s more, this is a highly trainable skill and one that improves in proportion to experience level. Realistically, this is the focus of any instructional program once the basic mechanics of the sport are taken care of. But it’s not that easy of course. There is one major random variable and con- founding factor: the decision maker. Human Factors is the name of a field of study that tries to un- derstand how trained and capable people fail to make reliable de-
26 PADDLING THIS MONTH || March 2013
cisions. Airline pilots, military units and surgical teams have all come under study, as have professional sports teams and backcoun- try skiers. It turns out to be pretty simple: peer pressure and ego get in the way when we likely already know better. These human factors become subjective hazards in complex environments, as it turns out, and follow predictable patterns regardless of workplace or activity. Luckily we are good at recognizing patterns. The acronym FACETS is used in industrial safety training to
draw attention to the human factors that typically compromise decision-making and creates a simple rule-based checklist that works for our brains. It looks at subjective elements beyond the hazards of the rapid, for example, and warns that they may cloud our decision-making. Taken to the whitewater environment, FAC- ETS looks like this: F » Familiarity: The rapids and hazards on our home rivers be-
come dulled with familiarity. This does not lessen their potential for harm. How often do locals scout the big rapid on their after- work run? It takes just one log to totally change a rapid. A » Acceptance from peers: This is the peer pressure category. We do things to fit in, potentially getting us in over our heads.
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