The Emotional Game - Nostalgia

 For this week I had planned a long discussion about how the findings that negative affect could trigger nostalgia and how feeling nostalgic was a defense mechanism from loneliness or other negative affect and where it is observable in football.

                   Even though the task is just to find faces which may represent this emotion, I still find one thing among football fans interesting. Fans of clubs like Leeds, Nottingham forest, and Liverpool are more publicly nostalgic, quoting there history and how many trophies they have won in the past than currently successful teams. One, Chelsea, even has a main popular fan site called ‘weaintgotnohistory’, http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/

                   Is this communal nostalgia about the clubs past success working in the same as nostalgia on a self –relevant individual level shown in the paper of Wildschut, Sedikides, Routledge & Arndt, could the football club and its identity even become to represent part of the extended self, as seen by use of the plural first person ‘we’? By remembering times when the club was successful fans are protecting themselves from the negative realities of the moment, which would be especially true for clubs like Liverpool and Leeds which were historically successful  but not so much anymore.  Fans of these clubs are ones which seem to refer the most to the illustrious histories of the clubs they support.

Fixing Fernando

 I thought it would be a shame to post my final blog without continuing the theme. In order to enhance Torres performance, given he used to perform so much better at Liverpool than he does at Chelsea  perhaps he should try and make himself nostalgic recalling how good and loved he was previously. This would increase his self-esteem and protect himself from negative affect, increase his self-regard and social connectedness, which may manifest in improved performance on the football pitch.

Rounding off the blogs, it seems that emotion is prevalent in football, and the findings can both be found in the naturalistic observation of football games, and applied to situations within games to predict theoretical improvement. The suggestion that Fernando Torres's poor form at the start of the season is due to confidence, and this might be alleviated by improving aspects of his self conscious emotions is supported by the reality of his form on the pitch. Also, an interesting further recent development, is Fernando Torres improvement whilst wearing a face-mask. In his career at Chelsea he has scored a goal on average every 3.8 games. But since the introduction of the mask, that has improved to a goal every 2.5 games Perhaps the mask serves to create an asbstract sense of anonymity and protect against some of the negative aspects of self conscious emotion. He certainly appears more proud..

  'http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2318834/Fernando-Torres-wearing-mask-seven-weeks-broke-nose.html'

As you may well have established, this blog started off as a university assignment, part of which was to find a face that represented the emotion of nostalgia.  I decided to use this picture of Sir Alex Ferguson, as now he has resigned he may well feel particularly nostalgic soon. 

The Emotional Game - Inspiration

   For this weeks blog I'll focus on the role of the manager, and how they inspire their players. 

 Trash, Elliott, Maruskin & Cassidy, (2010), outlined two different frameworks of inspiration, inspiration to do something, and inspiration to become something. There are two main managers that the media like to claim have a great effect on their team by 'inspiring' their players, they are Jose Mourinho the real Madrid manager, and Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio. Even googling simply 'Jose Mourinho Inspiration' will yield 4.4 million results.  

The effects of Jose Mourinho's apparent inspiration on his players is incredibly apparent given the results he has got from his team, but how does the inspiration offered by Paolo Di Canio reflect on the findings and assumptions from Thrash et al.'s study?

 When Paolo Di Canio first became manager at Sunderland, they were playing incredibly poorly, and looked certain to be relegated. The first game under his control Sunderland lost 2-1 away to Chelsea  but that still wasn't a bad result considering. The following game they played Newcastle, their rivals who have , on paper, a much stronger team and squad. They won an emphatic 0-3, and Di Canio was sure to celebrate. Many media agencies cited the effect of Di Canio inspiring his players. This form continued against everton, perhaps the insprational effects of Di Canio improved his players approach motivation, and they were inspired TO DO, as theorised by the studies on inspiration. 

 However contrary to Leary Et Al.'s finding that the affective influences of inspiration have a long temporal precedence, that they can last even up to 3 months as shown in the third study of that paper, this doesn't seem to be the case of inspiration in the of Sunderland and Paolo Di Canio.  In a recent game, Sunderlands 'inspired' players lost 6-1 to aston villa, and put in what could be called a 'less than inspired' performance  Perhaps inspiration has a shorter effect than found by Leary et al? Perhaps it is only valid when the source of inspiration is novel? 

 This game, and a following game do again reinforce theory suggested by Leary et al. They suggested when inspiration is towards a goal or behaviour that is unattainable it might manifest in negative affect, or demoralisiation of the inspired party. This could be argued to be the case in this game, and the game against stoke, where Sunderland players have been sent off, possibly because of the negative affect/frustration caused by unattainable inspiration.

Fixing Fernando

According to the findings of the studies from this week, inspiration might well boost Fernando Torres' approach motivation, and confidence which may well help him play better.  As many media outlets have suggested Torres' struggling form is due to poor confidence, an increase in confidence via inspiration may well make him a better player. Given that Jose Mourinho, often cited to be the most inspirational manager is likely to return to Chelsea next season, perhaps he will have the perfect manager to inspire him.

The Emotional Game - Self Compassion

 There are various important implications in the findings of Leary, Tate, Adams , Allen & Hancock's (2007) study in relation to the concept of the emotional game.

Firstly as self compassion has been found to moderate reactions to distressing situations, perhaps a high level of self compassion would be highly useful for a goalkeeper. As a goalkeeper, a player will receive a lot of stress from shots and physicality within the box, and also the distress of conceding a goal, in a sense letting the team down, could also be labelled 'a distressing situation'.So in that sense, high level of self compassion would definitely assist a goalkeeper deal with both the stress of having to prevent goals and deal with goals that have already been conceded. Especially the case for when the goalkeeper himself is at fault, which is true for the .gif below, a legitimate goal. 

Self compassion would be particularly appropriate, as high self compassion would also make the goalkeeper more accepting in his role, as it is very obviously his own fault and not that of his teams, that he let the ball slowly roll into the goal. 

Fixing Fernando

 The recurring theme of Fernando Torres' lack of confidence and how to augment it comes up once again, but the findings and experimental conclusions from this self-compassion paper, do suggest that if Torres was to blame himself, whilst still being kind to himself, it might foster a better increase in performance than being high in self esteem. If  he is solely high in self-esteem without being high in self-compassion, he may blame the other players for their poor performances and not passing him the ball, which might fracture relationships and the team's unity. If he is self compassionate instead, he will recognize his own shortcomings and adjust his play-style to better suit them. He may wish to emulate Dimitar Berbatov, a player both high in self compassion (noticeable by his playstyle, doing the things he's good at but not pushing it), but also high in self esteem as demonstrated below.

The Emotional Game - Pride

  Pride and football go pretty much hand in hand. When a team is performing well, winning games, cups , and trophies the team and manager exhibit typical signs of pride. Even fans, which have had nothing really to do with the winning performances also exhibit this pride, though that is an abstract concept which will take far more than a 300 word blog to explore, just how do fans take pride in something they haven't really contributed to? This group morality, and extended self of a football fan, attributing the success of something with which they have no tangible relation is really a very interesting part of psychology, almost acting like a new religion, or form of social identity. Also perhaps the forms of pride differ between fans and the team members? Perhaps in a similar way to Hubristic vs Authentic pride?

To demonstrate this, a few pictures of fans of BVB Dortmund, recognized as one of the world's proudest and most vocal football teams, especially at the moment as they are experiencing a period of above average period of success, which included beating Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid, regarded as one of the world's best teams, over 2 legs.

 These pictures again demonstrate the findings of Tracy, Robins & Lagattuta, 2005, that there is a cross culturally recognized gesture  of pride, or perhaps elation and self conscious emotions in general.  Especially when compared with below, the Juventus football team from Italy, and the Brazil national team, both culturally very different, celebrating winning tournaments.

Fixing Fernando

As suggested by Tracy & Robins, 2004, Authentic pride can facilitate increase in self-esteem. As stated in the introduction, various pundits have come out and declared Fernando Torres' lack of form is because he lacks confidence, (http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1034921/di-matteo:-fernando-torres-lacking-confidence?cc=5739) which is also related to low self esteem. If it is possible to increase his authentic pride from performing well, it may in turn increase his self-esteem, which in turn increases his confidence, the attribute pundits seem to suggest he needs. Especially for a striker, Authentic pride, pride in what they can do is very important. It could however be argued for some footballers, hubristic pride and even arrogance are beneficial, as long as it is channeled correctly and it doesn't have detrimental effects on the team. And this gives me the excuse to post one of my favourite goals.  You could argue that to even attempt this shot in the .gif below requires a level of hubristic pride and arrogance, but when you are capable of it, it is a great sight.

And a clearer video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh_KNH8QqSw

The Emotional Game - Social Blushing

   This week's blog will be focusing on a player pretty close to home, a Southampton FC player, Jason Puncheon.

In a game this season, Southampton were playing against Everton, and during the second half Jason went off the pitch for an unspecified reason, leaving the team to play with 10 men for 10 minutes. Why? It wasn't entirely clear, however some of the fans seemed to have cottoned onto exactly why he was missing, and what he was doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wThzwxLDgAI 

 Upon realizing that the fans know why he left the pitch, and the chants about it, he smiles and it looks quite embarrassed, but it doesn't great effect him. From the video it wasn't clear if he was blushing that much, but during the game it was. 

 As shown by Leary, Landel & Patton (1996), embarrassment serves the purpose of repairing the embarrassed parties image,and serves an interpersonal function, in this instance likely between the fans, the player, and his team mates. Furthermore it can alleviate negative reactions from others as found by Semin and Manstead (1982), so Jason's blushing might have helped the fans and other team members accept the fact they were playing with 10 men for a period of time.

In the following game against Manchester City, he scored a goal, his celebrations are below;

His celebrations included two references to the previous incident, the 'bum wiping' gesture, and smelly hand gesture. These displays showed that he wasn't that embarrassed as it previously seemed. Though it could well be that the celebrations are to alleviate the embarrassment from remembering what happened.

Fixing Fernando

 In terms of Fernando Torres, it might help his acceptance by the fans,public, and his teammates, if he were to blush more, as a method of apologizing when he performs poorly, or misses easy chances, people might be more accepting. as suggested by Leary et al.

Rather than covering his face, perhaps it would be better to let his team mates see his embarrassment/blushing. This show of blushing and embarrassment might also act as a cue to the fans that he is aware, and sorry for his poor performances  which will reduce their negative chanting towards him, which should reduce his hurt feelings, which will be explored in another blog. (And a reduction in hurt feelings may again lead to better performance.)

The Emotional Game - Unrequited Love

 Writing this blog has really left me scratching my head at times. I'd really rather not leave my theme and topic too much, but unrequited love in football, this could be a struggle....

 I have decided to think pretty far out of the box for this one, maybe not even near the box, and understanding the angle at which I'm interpreting the topic might well require lateral thinking from both the reader and myself.  

Love can be compared with, at least for the purpose of this blog, to the relationship between a fan of a football club and a player from that same club. Fans do sometimes profess to 'love' the players of their team though it is likely not love in a romantic sense. The main case to indicate the findings of the self conscious emotion research in the context of The Emotional Game, the main character will be Holland, Manchester United and former Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie.

The banner above is from an arsenal game , when the striker played for that football club. Previously arsenal fans would have had the impression the 'love' or bond was mutual with Van Persie admitting being an arsenal fan even as a child. 

As in the set of studies by Baumeister, Wotman & Stillwell (1993), Robin Van Persie is the Rejector, and the arsenal fans the would be lover (without the romantic/sexual overtone). The findings of the study are true for the Robin Van Persie - Arsenal situation. The rejector , RVP , has admitted being a bti guilty, has reported being annoyed by the constant harassment of arsenal fans, and feels like there was less positive outcome of that relationship, than his current one. (Monetary and emotionally, the pride of winning trophies etc.)

Furthermore, for the would be lover, the arsenal fan, they still think back to the good times (when rvp was top scorer for arsenal last season), they want to be with the other person in the sense they didn't want him to leave the football club, and they still see themselves, and saw themselves as the time of rejection as the perfect club for Robin Van Persie. This metaphor is also true for clubs potential signings, whereby the club or clubs fans are the would be lovers, and the rejector is a Superstar football player who chooses not to join that club.

However in this case, some of the fans/would be lovers feel so rejected by the rejector, that they feel the need to demonstrate their frustration publicly, in this symbolic gesture of an arsenal fan burning the former clubs star's shirt.

They also vented their frustration in various blog posts and forum posts (as to be expected), but here is one that is so passionate it is almost like something written by a jilted would be  lover, providing credence to the metaphoric comparison;

http://www.arsenalvision.co.uk/articles/4088-rvp-this-is-my-reaction-to-your-leaving-my-club.html

The Emotional Game - Hurt Feelings

  The studies this week were about how hurt feelings affect our self esteem and how insults and hurtful events lead to negative affect and feels of social exclusion.

 For the purpose of this blog I will focus on Rafa Benitez' appointment as Chelsea FC interim manager, following a universally popular manager, Roberto Di Matteo, being fired. Already Rafa was off to a bad footing, but previously he had said negative things about Chelsea and the fans.

"We don't need to give away flags for our fans to wave - our supporters are always there with their hearts, and that is all we need. It's the passion of the fans that helps to win matches - not flags." 

 Criticizing a Chelsea fan tradition and further said;

 "Chelsea is a big club with fantastic players, every manager wants to coach a such a big team. But I would never take that job, in respect for my former team at Liverpool, no matter what. For me there is only one club in England, and that's Liverpool."

From the start he was not accepted, every game near the start of the season he received abuse and negative banners were placed around the stadium, such as the ones below.

During this period Chelsea's form was better away from home, than it was at home. This could well be explained by the negative chanting and atmosphere leading to hurt feelings and decreased self-esteem, which manifested in poorer performances from both the players and the manager.Furthermore to this theory, Rafa Benitez spoke out against the abuse, citing the effect of it on his team's form.  Following this outburst the fans stopped acting so negatively, and in turn Chelsea home form soon improved. 

Perhaps the hurt feelings of both the manager, and team were indeed to blame for the changes in form. 

Snell (1989) found that Men do not want to appear weak especially in front of other men. This was also demonstrated by Benitez, who wanted to make it clear that he was not bothered by the Chelsea fans. At times it was very obvious he was upset and at times quite nervous because of the negative chants and atmosphere, but he tried to make sure not to show it. This is shown in the video below;

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1357314/benitez:-i-will-leave-at-the-end-of-the-season?cc=5739

Fixing Fernando

This blog has probably already exceeded a normal length, but I wanted to at least make a short note about Torres. In the case of Fernando Torres, his form and confidence, have seemed to build upon success and from good press and fan reception. When fans were calling for him to be sold, and singing negative chants were the times at which he performed the worst, but whilst playing for Spain and Liverpool where he was universally adored, and fans sung his name positively  he performed much better. Perhaps this shows the potential effects of hurt feelings on performance  In order to get the best out of Fernando, it might be necessary to make sure his feelings aren't hurt and not make jokes at his expense and sing supporting him regardless of how well he is playing, allowing his confidence and self-esteem to increase.