Today, we’re talking about Recency Bias.
Recency bias is a cognitive bias where people give greater weight to recent information or experiences than to older ones. This tendency can lead to distorted perceptions, influencing decisions, judgments, and emotional responses. In the context of dance, this bias can make individuals fixate on recent setbacks and overlook long-term progress, which can negatively impact their motivation and confidence.
A Dance-Related Example
Imagine a dancer who has been steadily improving throughout months of classes. They’ve mastered new techniques, grown stronger, and feel more confident in their abilities. However, at a recent dance competition, they performed poorly—forgetting parts of their routine and receiving disappointing scores. As a result, they feel discouraged and begin to question their progress.
Despite the many months of improvement, the dancer’s focus shifts entirely to the recent setback. They start to believe they aren’t making progress, even though their performance was just one isolated event. This is recency bias in action: the dancer is giving too much weight to a single, recent experience and undermining their overall growth.
Why Recency Bias Matters in Dance
Loss of Motivation: Focusing only on recent failures can diminish enthusiasm and motivation to continue.
Distorted Self-Assessment: Dancers may unfairly assess their abilities, leading to inaccurate judgments about their skills and progress.
Hindered Learning Process: Recency bias can cause dancers to lose sight of long-term goals and prevent them from celebrating the small wins that lead to mastery.
Overlooking Feedback: If dancers only focus on their most recent performance, they may ignore valuable feedback that reflects their overall journey.
Practical Strategies to Overcome Recency Bias
Track Progress Over Time: Keep a journal or video log of practice sessions and performances to remind yourself of improvements and progress.
Shift Your Focus to the Long-Term Journey: Instead of dwelling on recent failures, focus on the big picture—growth doesn’t happen overnight, and setbacks are part of the process.
Celebrate Small Wins: Recognize small achievements along the way to stay motivated and maintain a sense of progress.
Learn From Setbacks Without Overidentifying: Use poor performances as learning opportunities without letting them define your self-worth.
Revisit Feedback From Instructors: Check past feedback to gain perspective on how far you've come rather than focusing on just one event.
Application at Dance Culture Studios
At Dance Culture Studios, we encourage dancers to view progress as a long-term journey rather than hinging on the results of one competition or performance. Failure and setbacks are part of the process, and they offer some of the most valuable learning experiences. Our teachers emphasise reflective practices, such as keeping notes or videos of previous routines, so dancers can track their growth over time.
We also encourage students to reframe setbacks as opportunities for learning. If a performance doesn’t go as planned, it’s not a sign of failure—it’s a chance to analyse what went wrong and improve for the next one. This approach helps dancers stay focused on their journey rather than getting stuck in the emotions of a single event.
Setting realistic, achievable goals is another strategy we use to combat recency bias. While it’s good to aim high, we recommend dancers start with incremental goals that allow them to build momentum over time. Achieving these smaller milestones keeps motivation high and ensures that dancers always have something positive to focus on, even when they encounter setbacks.
To sum it up:
Focus on the Big Picture
As the saying goes: “Newer doesn’t always mean better, and movement doesn’t always mean progress.” Overcoming recency bias requires the ability to look beyond the latest experience and recognize the long-term journey of growth. At Dance Culture Studios, we teach that setbacks are stepping stones toward success, and progress is a process, not a destination.
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