HICK’S LAW IS JUNK SCIENCE

MORE HICK’S LAW BS

HICK’S LAW IS OUTDATED 

It’s raised its ugly head again. Someone was telling me they went to a course, and the instructor, (clearly not up with the times), was citing the dreaded Hick’s Law. For those who don’t know, Hick’s Law says that “the time it takes for a person to make a decision is a result of the possible choices he or she has: increasing the number of choices will increase the decision time logarithmically.” In other words, the implication, therefore, is that you all should only learn a couple of techniques because you’ll get caught in a mental logjam if you don’t. Hick’s Law is outdated junk science and, more importantly, it’s holding you back from ever obtaining your max potential.

PROBLEMS

The first time I heard this was while chatting with Den Martin of CQB Services fame. I remember thinking it was bollocks due to empirical evidence. I’d worked on nightclub doors and, at the time, had studied multiple martial arts. I had a green belt in Ju-Jutsu, a brown belt in Judo, I had boxed professionally, I’d got my green belt in Ji Do Kwan Tae Kwan Do, and a black belt in Zen Do Kai. I’d also trained with two ex-Aussie SAS troopers in their version of hand-to-hand combat and had both studied and taught unarmed combat in the Legion. As if that wasn’t enough, I’d also cross-trained with members of the school freestyle wrestling club.

HOW MANY TECHNIQUES?

So, how many techniques did I know? 4 basic punches from boxing but an infinite amount of combos; one finger eye strikes; two-finger eye strikes; four-finger eye strikes; gouging; slaps; hammer fists; one, two, and four-knuckle punches; knife-hands; horizontal, vertical, rear, upward, downward and 45-degree elbow strikes; cradle hands; forearm smashes; cupped hands; palm heels; chin jabs; head butts; stamps; shin kicks; groin kicks; knees; roundhouse kicks; inverted roundhouse kicks; sidekicks; crescent kicks; front kicks; combination kicks; spinning back; wheel, hook and crescent kicks; jumping front; roundhouse and sidekicks; eight leg throws; six hip throws; five shoulder throws; four sacrifice throws; six hand throws; eight strangles; twenty plus arm locks; six-leg locks; eight neck cranks; wrist locks; finger cranks; small joint manipulation; pressure points; et alia. (I’ve since added to that list after studying FMA and 3 styles of Aikido, Aiki-jujutsu, Legion H2H, and Savate and kickboxing, and I teach Krav Maga and Combatives.)

WAS I EVER PARALYZED OR SLOW IN A FIGHT?

No, and this is why I maintain that Hick’s Law is outdated. According to it, I should have been. I should have been a paralyzed wreck trying to sift through all my choices. All my erstwhile opponent had to do was hit me with a bar stool or throw a looping haymaker. It made no sense, then and likewise, it makes no sense now.

HOCK HOCKHEIM AND HICK’S LAW BEING JUNK SCIENCE

Hock is a mate of mine and an incredible researcher. I know of nobody who comes close, except for Greg Ellifritz of Active Response Training, in the amount of research that man does on every subject pertaining to fighting. He posted an article years ago about Hick’s Law being junk science. He quoted studies that have been done since that debunk it. Hick’s law, for God’s sake, was researched in 1951. It never involved stress, Adrenalin, or trained subjects. Furthermore, in his article (which I’ve linked to should you wish to read it) he talks about the subsequent studies disproving it and showing there’s no problem choosing between 20 complex choices in less than 340 milliseconds.

FORCE SCIENCE

To clarify, here’s a piece from some of the most recent research in the field of combat from Dr. Bill Lewinski. “Hick’s Law is really not applicable to use of force incidents. People simply don’t consider all the options they have available. They choose their favorite option or the one that is most available, effectively limiting response options to a very small number. They never consider ALL of their options, so the idea that having too many options will slow reaction times never comes into play.” – Dr. Bill Lewinski, University of Minnesota, Force Science.

WHY IS IT STILL BEING PERPETUATED?

Do you remember the story about the girl watching mum cut the bone off the ham? In it, she asks her mum why and her mother replies, “That’s the way my mum did it.” They go to ask the girl’s grandmother to satisfy her curiosity, and granny replies, “That’s the way my mum did it.” Eventually, they end up at the great-great grandmother’s house, and she says, “I cut it off because I only had a really tiny pot.”  Likewise, so much in the training field is being handed down in the same manner, with nobody bothering to do any of their own homework or question the gurus.
The other problem is that once an instructor has glommed on to it and told his students, his ego gets in the way of going back and saying, “Hey, what I told you last week was wrong. New research has superseded what we used to believe.” Instead, he will now dig his heels in and tell everyone that he’s right and anyone with a dissenting opinion is an imbecile. If he doesn’t, he might have to admit he didn’t know everything.

STILL NOT CONVINCED THAT HICK’S LAW IS OUTDATED?

Do your own research. Make a list of all the things you could do with your left foot if someone threw a punch at you. You could step forward any amount of inches; 45 degrees forward any amount of inches; to the left any amount of inches; rear 45 degrees any amount of inches; or straight back any amount of inches; you could stand on tiptoes; hop, jump; jump and turn left or jump and turn right; Likewise, you could also jump and turn 180 or jump and turn 360. you could roll to the outside edge of it; throw a front kick with it; a groin kick; a knee; a crescent kick; a reverse crescent kick; a roundhouse kick; an axe kick; a jumping kick; and the list goes on.
Now add all the things you could do with your right leg. Now your right and left arms. Careful skippy…that’s over a thousand options right there. Feeling paralyzed with indecision yet?

NICK’S LAW

I give you Nick’s law. Go learn and practice all the martial arts you want. Have fun. Learn one, then go learn another. Broaden your horizons. You won’t be paralyzed with indecision when a fight happens.
PS: Just to clarify I’m not saying you should add techniques just for the sake of adding them. You can teach a curriculum faster if there are fewer techniques to learn, and you can spend more time on the good ones. Just don’t go thinking you’ve got to practice chin jabs and knees only for the rest of your life because anything else will confuse poor stupid you.