History Main / ParalysisByAnalysis

* In one episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Picard and Riker fight each other as part of a military exercise, and Data (who is acting as Picard's first officer) gets hit by this twice. First, he loses a strategy game to the Starfleet observer, and spends almost half the episode agonizing about his loss and analyzing his systems for what went wrong. Then, when Picard orders him to get his act together and come up with a strategy to defeat Riker, Data nearly does this to himself again by analyzing Riker's usual strategy, analyzing how Riker is likely to change his strategy knowing Data knows his strategy, analyzing how Riker is likely to ''not'' change his strategy knowing that Data knows Riker knows Data knows his usually strategy, etc.

Expert athletes often talk about getting in "the zone", when they stop thinking about what they're doing it and just ''do it''. This usually leads to perfect performances crushing the other team easily.

Expert athletes often talk about getting in "the zone", when they stop thinking about what they're doing it and just ''do it''. This usually leads to nigh balletic performances when they go above and beyond and win the '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis god. Damn. SUPER BOWL.]]'''

[[AC:Multiple Media]]
* The ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'' webseries and novel imply that Sparadrap is compeltely immunne to it (mentionning that "pressure has no effect on him"), which helps his real-life profession as [[spoiler:a tennis player a lot]].

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[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* "Analysis Paralysis" usually has a slightly different but related meaning when used in discussion of TabletopGames. Some players become highly analytical in every game they play, always looking for the best possible move on every turn. However, some games have such a huge number of possible moves, with subtle and far-reaching consequences, that analyzing them all could take ludicrous amounts of time. (There's a reason why the chess clock was invented.) Others are designed as simple little family games, to be played quickly and casually, with little riding on the result; subjecting them to chess-master levels of analysis just gets ludicrous. Most tabletop games have a turn sequence, with each player waiting their turn, so the player who is paralyzed by analysis doesn't actually lose as a result; they just slow things down to a painful extent and make the game boring. A few tabletop games include components such as egg-timers to enforce time limits on turns, saving less analytical players from boredom.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Rainbow Dash has this issue, particularly when her idols, the Wonderbolts, are involved. For instance, in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E16SonicRainboom "Sonic Rainboom"]], she enters into a big stunt flying competition for which the Wonderbolts are judges. However, her inability to pull off the titular move a second time (after pulling it off ''once'' as a young filly) while practicing gives her pause for thought, which quickly snowballs into panic, and eventually leaves her practically catatonic with fear. [[spoiler:Then she has to save Rarity ''and'' the 'Bolts from falling to their death, and Rainbooms without even thinking about it.]]

* EightMile: Bunny Rabbit's first time performing on stage leads to him freezing while the crowd chants "Choke! Choke! Choke!".

* ''BullDurham'': Crash's rule #1, "Don't think, it'll only hurt the ballclub."

[[AC:Mutiple Media]]

* In ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'', Sparadrap and Dark Avenger play around with this. The webseries and novel imply that Sparadrap is compeltely immunne to it (mentionning that "pressure has no effect on him"), which helps his real-life profession as [[spoiler:a tennis player a lot]]. In-game, Dark Avenger is one of the best when it come to PlayerKilling, but is convinced that Sparadrap is '''much'' more talented than he actually is. When the two run into each other, Sparadrap tends to win their "duels" by InvincibleIncompetent.

* In ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'', Sparadrap and Dark Avenger play around with this. The webseries and novel imply that Sparadrap is compeltely immunne to it (mentionning that "pressure has no effect on him"), which helps his real-life profession as [[spoiler:a tennis player a lot]]. In-game, Dark Avenger is one of the best when it come to PlayerKilling, but is convinced that Sparadrap is '''much'' more talented than he actually is. When the two run into each other, Sparadrap tends to win their "duels" by InvicibleIncompetent.

Compare with the CentipedesDilemma.

Choking occurs when, instead of getting in the zone and shutting off the thinking, the expert starts thinking about what he's doing. He starts trying to control ''everything'', trying to account for every last variable. He gets in his head and because there's just too much to think about, he can't do anything. Paralysis by analysis.

Choking occurs when, instead of getting in the zone and shutting off the thinking, the expert starts thinking about what he's doing. He starts trying to control ''everything'', trying to account for every last variable. He gets in his head and because there's just too much to think about, he can't do anything. Paralysis by analysis. Similar to the CentipedesDilemma.

* ''Numbers'': Charlie's dad can't understand why the Cal Sci Basketball team is so poor (although Charlie points out, not unreasonably, that it's not really a burning concern for a bunch of science geeks) and convinces Charlie to try to improve them using "Scientific Methods". This only results in increasing frustration for Charlie as his methods fail to achieve anything. Ultimately, they only win [[spoiler: thanks to his dad bringing in a couple of Ringers.]]

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Happens to [[TheCasanova Barney]] in "The Yips". He runs into Rhonda, the older woman he lost his virginity to. She previously told him he was the best she ever had, and when he found out she was lying, he lost his confidence and had a hard time flirting with women, since he kept overthinking. [[HesBack He got it back]] when he slept with her again, and this time she said that he really was the best she's ever had.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Happens to [[TheCasnova Barney]] in "The Yips". He runs into Rhonda, the older woman he lost his virginity to. She previously told him he was the best she ever had, and when he found out she was lying, he lost his confidence and had a hard time flirting with women, since he kept overthinking. [[HesBack He got it back]] when he slept with her again, and this time she said that he really was the best she's ever had.

* {{Psych}}: "Shawn Gets The Yips"

* Ken Jennings, the winningest guy ever to win at Jeopardy once told an interviewer that the question he was most embarrassed about getting wrong was because he knew the answer. And he knew that he knew the answer. He just couldn't remember the answer, because he'd never sat down and studied the poem like he did with ''everything'' else. Because it was his father's favorite poem: "Jabberwocky."

* Ken Jennings, the winningest guy ever to win at Jeopardy once told an interviewer that the question he was most embarrassed about getting wrong was because he knew the answer. And he knew that he knew the answer. He just couldn't remember the answer, because he'd never sat down and studied the poem like he did with ''everything'' else. Because it was his father's favorite poem: The Jabberwock.

* [[http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2010/09/21/psychologist-shows-why-we-choke-under-pressure-and-how-avoid-it This article describes and explains the phenomenon]], and is also the TropeNamer. It's more complex and varied than simple ParalysisByAnalysis. Sometimes it's a desire to avert stereotypes (an Asian kid flunking math, a black kid who's bad at sports, a boy who really doesn't want to follow in the footsteps of a domineering father who he's actually a lot like). Sometimes it's ''because'' of stereotypes (an asian kid being bad at sports, a black kid or a girl bad at math and science). There are a lot of ways to drive yourself to undeserved failure.

Expert athletes often talk about getting in "the zone", when they stop thinking about what they're doing it and just ''do it''. This usually leads to nigh balletic performances when they go above and beyond and win the '''[[ThisIsSparta god. Damn. SUPER BOWL.]]'''

* [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rainbow Dash]] has this issue, particularly when her idols, the Wonderbolts, are involved. For instance, in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E16SonicRainboom "Sonic Rainboom"]], she enters into a big stunt flying competition for which the Wonderbolts are judges. However, her inability to pull off the titular move a second time (after pulling it off ''once'' as a young filly) while practicing gives her pause for thought, which quickly snowballs into panic, and eventually leaves her practically catatonic with fear.

* ''Bull Durham'': Averted due to Crash's savvy advice. "Don't think, it'll only hurt the ballclub."

* EightMile: Buddy Rabbit's first time performing on stage leads to him freezing while the crowd chants "Choke! Choke! Choke!".

* [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rainbow Dash]] has this issue, particularly when her idols, the Wonderbolts, are involved. For instance, in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E16SonicRainboom "Sonic Rainboom"]], she enters into a big stunt flying competition for which the Wonderbolts are judges. However, her inability to pull off the titular move a second time (after pulling it off ''once'' as a young filly) while practicing gives her pause for thought, which quickly snowballs into panic, and eventually leaves her practically catatonic with fear.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choke_%28sports%29 The other wiki]] has a list organized by sport.

Choking occurs when, instead of getting in the zone and shutting off the thinking, the expert starts thinking about what he's doing. He starts trying to control ''everything'', trying to account for every last variable. He gets in his head and because there's just too much to think about, he can't do anything. Paralysis by analysis.