A flight instructor notices a particularly unusual phenomenon. Every time one of her students has a particularly excellent flight, she praises them for it. And she notices that the next time the student flies, he or she ends up doing worse. On the other hand, every time one of her students has a particularly poor flight, she criticizes them, and the next time they do better. What phenomenon might the instructor be seeing?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The instructor is likely observing "regression to the mean," a statistical phenomenon where extreme performances (either good or bad) tend to be followed by more average performances. This is because the extreme performance is partly due to random factors that are unlikely to be replicated exactly, leading to a more average performance on subsequent attempts.

A Flight Instructor Notices a Particularly Unusual Phenomenon