Goalkeepers dive left or right on penalty kicks far more than they should
Diving to a side gives worse odds of saving a penalty kick than standing still in the center, since shots go roughly equally to both sides and the middle, yet elite goalkeepers dive one way or the other over nine times in ten. Researchers led by Michael Bar-Eli found goalkeepers do this because standing still and conceding feels worse than diving the wrong way, even though diving saves fewer penalties on average. The same pull toward doing something, anything, shows up well beyond football.