| The psychology of VAR 09:24 - Jun 17 with 543 views | KensalT |
There's an article on LinkedIn explaining why from a psychological perspective football isn't fun any more:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse
The article is essentially about VAR so obviously a First World problem that us plebs don't need to worry about too much.
The article does suggest using VAR in a similar way to how referrals are used in cricket might make things seems fairer.
The extract below gives the gist of the problem with VAR:
"Why VAR makes football painful
Part of the appeal of football is that teams don’t score that often. As a result, goals mean a lot to fans. Neuroimaging studies show that seeing your team score triggers massive activity in an area of the brain that processes pleasure and emotional salience. One study even found that goals activated the same reward circuits as winning money.
But the reward is only part of the picture - our expectations are the other crucial aspect. The studies also found activity in a part of the brain that deals with reward prediction errors (the gap between what the brain expected and what actually happened).
Consider two scenarios. In a boring 0-0 draw, a midfielder hits a screamer from forty yards, out of nothing. The brain's prediction of a goal on that specific possession was near zero; when the ball hits the net, reality vastly exceeds expectation (the error was high); and you get a bigger hit of dopamine. Some goals feel transcendent because of the gap between prediction and outcome.
In contrast, imagine your star striker is stepping up to take a penalty; your brain has already updated its expectations sharply upward the moment the penalty was confirmed; when the ball hits the net, the brain registers something close to what was predicted (the error was low), and the surge of pleasure is more modest.
VAR introduces the bad kind of prediction error. The brain registers a goal; its reward centres fire… but then VAR intervenes and the reward is withdrawn. When you get much less reward than you expected, your dopamine response plummets lower than before - you feel worse than no goal. This “frustrative non-reward” is painful. It’s like watching the opposition score an unexpected goal.
If this happens repeatedly, it creates a deeper problem. Fans begin to associate a goal with a potential punishment; we’re conditioned to think the pleasure might be withdrawn, like biting into a treat only to find it’s sour.
If the reward feels conditional, then goals will start producing anxiety even if VAR confirms them. Even worse, you may just decide not to celebrate at all. That’s the route some players like Leandro Trossard are taking. Poignantly, former Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglu was quoted saying “I made a mistake last night in that I celebrated a goal… I felt the need to celebrate [but] VAR defeated me, I won’t be doing that again.”
Better not to feel anything than to have it ripped away." |  | | |  |
| The psychology of VAR on 09:35 - Jun 17 with 492 views | terryb |
"In contrast, imagine your star striker is stepping up to take a penalty; your brain has already updated its expectations sharply upward the moment the penalty was confirmed; when the ball hits the net, the brain registers something close to what was predicted (the error was low), and the surge of pleasure is more modest."
Scoring from a penalty is expected? Not for me! I always start with the premise that we will miss. However, I'm always certain that the other side will score theirs. Hence the adrenaline rush if we don't concede! | | | |
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