Metacognition and Heuristic Traps : Hell’s Mouth

 

As someone who has demonstrated and exercised an appetite for personal risk taking in other adventure sports such as climbing, I am always very conscious of keeping that ‘little devil’ tucked safely away when working with others in any leadership role. My goal is to try and create a safe space to fail fast for rapid performance growth. That is not just physical but obviously psychological too. If a client or peer’s confidence could be damaged, I try a different tact, even though I know they might benefit from the technical learning opportunity in front of us. But if their cognitive load is threatened then they have stopped learning and are just surviving. 

Heuristic Trap Identified	Environmental or Social Trigger	System 1 Intuitive Response	System 2 Metacognitive Intervention
Familiarity Trap	Operating in the Swellies during a familiar tidal window.	Devaluation of risk because the environment feels known and safe.	Formal dynamic risk assessment to identify specific daily variances in flow and wind.
Commitment Trap	Pushing to reach a specific eddy to complete a technical demo for student.	Feeling the need to meet the session plan despite changing conditions.	Recognising the sunk cost and selecting a safer alternative landing or turn around point.
Social Proof	Observing another group take a high risk line through the surf at Hells Mouth.	Assuming the line is safe because other paddlers are currently using it.	Independent inspection of the feature to ensure it meets the specific group capacity.
Expert Halo	Peer group deferring to my decision without providing critique.	Accepting the lead role without inviting external validation of the plan.	Actively inviting peersto challenge the proposed route.

THE SCIENCE OF DECISION MAKING: SYSTEM 1 VS SYSTEM 2

In high consequence environments: the brain naturally relies on System 1 thinking. This is a fast: emotional: and intuitive process that allows for quick reactions. While essential for immediate technical survival: System 1 is highly susceptible to heuristic traps.

As a Coach: the goal is to employ metacognition to trigger System 2. This is a slower: more logical: and deliberate mode of thinking that can override the biases of the expert halo or the scarcity of a tidal window.

During a coaching session in the Menai Straits: a coach might feel the pressure of the scarcity trap as the tidal window begins to close. System 1 might urge the coach to rush a technical demo to maximise the learning time. 

By utilising System 2: the coach pauses to evaluate if the safety margin has been compromised by this time pressure. This metacognitive intervention ensures that professional standards remain the priority over the completion of a specific task.