Arsenal Psychology 101

Good morning, Gooners

I was having what I thought was a normal tweet-by-tweet conversation with another fellow Gooner about the reality of the Arsenal's previous season. I didn't think much of it until this knob lick asked if I am satisfied with only a Top 4 finish and two, dropped me from his following which I can only assume is because of our disagreement. As a self-proclaimed expert of psychology (MS) I am realizing that many of our fans have been primed and conditioned to be pessimistic and short-visioned. In short, I don't think he is stupid or wrong but certainly his perspective is being influenced by forces he doesn't quite understand. I'll attempt to break down these forces and our typical responses to Arsenal happenings in this blog.

Priming occurs when an earlier stimulus influences response to a later stimulus. I feel our typical, opinionated Gooner has been primed (associative) in a way that we actually fear injuries more than we should. In explanation, Tomas Rosicky, Robin Van Persie, and Eduardo (traumatic stimulus) are our past stimuli that we recall when we talk about Arsenal injuries. TR7 and RVP11 have a history of injuries that have kept them out of the squad for long periods of time. Eduardo is my example for a traumatic event that may elicit a stronger response due to the nature of his injury (I can recall that entire morning from start to finish without skipping a beat, kinda like how we can all remember what we were doing on 9/11) Now, when we read an @Arseblog entry, Guardian article, or Sky Sports headline and there is a mention of an Arsenal injury we, those who follow Arsenal regularly i.e. daily, immediately have a negative response and think about the three mentioned. We say, "how bad?", "great, here we go again". In truth, it doesn't help that we have an information-access overload and can read about the same injury report on thirty different sites. All of this information only makes the association stronger. The gradient of thought varies as some of us think about a long term muscle issue while others think about Dudu's horrific ankle injury but all three consequences of the injury run through our heads. We simply make the Arsenal to injury association stronger. Even Cesc agrees. Of course, this response is going to be different for everyone but for those who support the Arsenal on the daily it is something that we can share; it's negative and affects our view of the approaching season.

Now, priming and conditioning are very similar and can be used in the same context. Our priming examples are TR7, RVP11 and EDS9 and we associate injuries upon the mention of their name or vice versa. The Arsenal is also amidst a four year trophy drought. The lack of a championship has put both players and fans on edge, which is not a surprise and likely warranted. I feel the best example of our learned conditioning and resulting negative behavior, towards not having a trophy, can best be explained by the classic psychological experiment of Little Albert.

Little Albert, we'll call him Little Arsene Wenger or Little AW is a French, curious boy who is presented with a new football. After a period of time and exposure, AW is quite happy with the football and its presence. Now, two experimenters, we'll call them the evil psychologist Jose and his lovely lady assistant, Alex, come into the experiment room and give Little AW the football but begin swearing at him with banshee-like voices, throwing money at him while calling the boy "voyeur", and talk about stealing his other toys (trophies) which of course makes young AW very uncomfortable and distressed. After some time and continuous abuse AW does not like the football when it is given to him and the mere presence of the object is enough to make him uneasy.

Some fans react to the decline of trophies in the way Little AW reacted to the abuse he received from the experimenters. Notably, recent or new Arsenal fans had been spoiled by a period of great success; old boys and girls of the club have experienced high and lows. This cohort of fans understand. The recent bunch is quick to panic and request/demand that AW bolster the squad and put an end to the four year drought. I get that. Nobody wants to be second best. Contrary to an isolated event (no pun intended) e.g. IsolatedGooner@ArsenaLOS are you satisfied Arsenal finishing top 4? I do not want to finish 4th, and would love to see the Arsenal lift a trophy yearly. Is @IsolatedGooner just that, isolated and confined to his little world of polka dot dresses and lollipops? Maybe. @IsolatedGooner is probably a new Gooner, and thinks that championships are easy to come by. But for the older, trial-enduring supporter he or she knows that these bouts of success come for a period of time and as quickly as they come and as glorious as they may be...they can dry up and be gone just as fast. Accept it, move on. Support and endure. If you don't like it, you can always jump ship like Donkeybayor and then blame fans like myself.

In a way, the modern Arsenal fan is a bit like Little AW. Arsenal experienced a great period of time winning the league 2001–02, 2003–04 as well as the FA Cup 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05 and intermingled in that we saw the emergence of the Invincibles (2003–04) The Invincibles is a time that we may never see again as football fans, of any club. That season is the pinnacle of Little AW's happiness with his football. Of course, Little AW was happy with his football; fans were happy with the titles. Then, it ended. Lil' AW's football was paired with evil Jose and his seemingly lovely bird, Alex and AW no longer felt that happiness he previously experienced; he felt scared, anxious, and uneasy. Jose and Alex ruined his football and even took his toys (trophies)! Little AW just wants to feel what he felt previously but it's hard to go back to those feeling of joy when the pairing is so negative, so strong. Over time negativity manifests. Presently, the Arsenal has been without a title and the fans are up in arms because of it. It's natural. Little AW has had his football meddled with; Arsenal fans are anxious and angry without a title. Each season without a trophy, without redemption Lady Alex wins another title and the response is even more hurtful, more uneasy. These responses pave the way for self-doubt. Fans begin to doubt our players and ignore their quality. The oppositions' success reinforces our angst and negativity, and some fall for it. Some give into it more than others and request Arsene's head, others demand more money from the board to purchase a holding center midfielder, but at the end of the day the negativity manifests and makes us, collectively, weaker in the end. Little AW just wants his football again. He wants that feeling of happiness to return. Unfortunately, he has been conditioned in a negative way and only by squaring up to his doubters will he get his football back. So, to all the Little AWs out there, face and buck up to the doubt, support our current crop of players and demand their excellence. Break the cycle of conditioned negativity and support AW. He wants his football back; fans want it back, too. We all want the same; we are not enemies of the same goal. Hopefully, by the end of the year we'll get our football back and all the toys a boy could want.

ArsenaLOS