The near-miss effect is a psychological phenomenon in which coming close to succeeding at a task, without actually succeeding, increases a person's motivation to keep trying. It occurs across many settings including sports, but has been most extensively studied in gambling, where a near-miss activates reward-related regions of the brain and can raise dopamine levels, producing a subjective sense of having almost won, even though a near-miss in a game of chance has no real bearing on the likelihood of winning in the future.
Facts
Core ClaimA player becomes more motivated to continue expending effort because the previous effort almost succeeded. 1 Replication Standing Classification
Type of Phenomenon Sources
1. Near-miss effect, Wikipedia
Lead section
The near-miss effect refers to when a player becomes more motivated to continue expending effort because the previous effort "almost succeeded".
Article text
For example, a study published by Cambridge University Press found no evidence of the near-miss effect.
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