I realize that the catalyst for the article is the World Cup, played by men and men alone, but this piece cites research about *human* behavior yet features no images of women engaging in the behavior. Were there no available images of female soccer players or female other athletes? Or is that women never mess up? ;)
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Surrender Cobra!
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/11/watch-espns-hilarious-tribute-to-the-su...
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They do it because it increases chi energy in the brain.
Take a look at anyone witnessing an about-to-happen accident. It's the same gesture - hands to head, accompanyied perhaps by an "oh, no" shriek. It's not soccer. It's not sports of any kind. It's human nature. QED.
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It wasn't until the 68th minute of today's France-Belgium semifinal match that a player from either side raised his hands and placed them on his heads.
I supposed that just goes to show that both the Belgians and the French are largely shameless
......
I’m a bit more interested in what the defensive players grab when the offense has a direct free kick!
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more research needed (if anyone is at all interested). look at surfers when they emerge from a big, long barrel. the hands go straight to the head. a sign of total euphoria. it's not called a head-grabber for nothing.
I believe this is a relatively new, copycat fad, like the clenched fist reaction to a goal.
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Perhaps it is because they have been in such an active fight mode- exertion & emotional intensity, both increasing and culminating in the kick- and now that, very suddenly, no further action can remedy the miss, they go into a freeze mode.
Their focus must suddenly boomerang from extremely extroverted and future-oriented- on the ball & goal- to extremely introverted and past-oriented- on the failure & the miss.
The shame & protection pose gives them a minute to quickly process- both physically & emotionally- this intense turn around. There is a shock to the system that's experienced a little bit like a 'trauma'. The covering of the head and the V of the arms allows an inner focus to occur- an exclusion of external stimuli- which allows them to both process (including calling upon outer forces with an upward gaze) & release the traumatic event.
Notice in the photos, how even when all the teammates have their hands in the position, they are all in a moment of intense solitude.
Some commenters have asked why women cover their mouths when surprised. Perhaps because they sense themselves as acutely visible- as an "object of the gaze". Opening the mouth can show the teeth and appear aggressive - or simply unattractive. Perhaps the same reason why people will cover their mouth when yawning.
Is this peculiar to females? I don't know.
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Behavioral scientists have recognized for years that this one gesture is naturally universal. It’s not limited to sports. It seems to be the human gesture of extreme dismay.
If you don’t remember having seen it off the soccer pitch, think of those ads for computer backup solutions that show stricken users staring at their unresponsive screens — with hands on heads.
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It's just part of the show for television. It never happened sixty years ago when even top-level games were rarely filmed. Like so many things exposed to camera today - it's just for show.
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I'd guess that they do, but it probably depends on whether or not play stops after the goof. A wide shot in soccer gives everyone a chance to breathe and stare at the offender, while a blocked shot that stays in play doesn't. In the former case, the uncomfortable pause afterward is probably worse than the miss, itself. A good comparison group might be football kickers who miss easy field goals/extra points.
(Graduate student in psychology, there's your Master's Thesis.)
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It’s a big mistake to believe that this gesture is reserved for football mistakes.
In Italy and in Europe in general it is used in situation completely unrelated to football.
It just signifies in general having made a big mistake. The rest of the analysis sounds correct, but it is not “Why does every soccer player do this”rather is “Why does every European do this”
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As a soccer player myself, I have seen this move and other moves done as well. The entire team feels it, as well as the coach. This interested me because there are many important events going on in the world, but someone had the time to still go through and research why sports players put their hands over their heads when they miss a goal. Any sports player could tell you why, even if they couldn’t really explain it with words, they could tell you that everyone gets this feeling.
What interested me is that someone actually took the time and effort, of actually going to many psychologists, devoting long hours of research, calling or emailing well known soccer players, and using well known instances to write this article. What could have been answered so simply, was drawn out, analyzed, and explained. Which is okay, in this case, because it was quite interesting.
Even if a player could tell you why they make that move, they can’t tell you why it is natural to do that. But psychology can and did. Psychologists say that holding your head in your hands or covering your face, signifies shame and that you know and understand the consequences of what you’ve done. Zoologist’s as well have seen similar behavior in nonhuman primates which I thought was interesting. But what was even more interesting is that they even furthered their work and their research explained that people put their hands on their head in a protection motion that would be useful to ward off blows.
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It’s called the “defeat cobra” pose
Just to toss it out to the vernacular..
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Interesting. Now please explain why so many women cover their mouth or wave their hands over their mouth as a way of showing surprise, disbelief or excitement.
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I'm speculating here, but I suspect this gesture is meant to hide the open mouth because visible teeth can be indicative of aggression. I've seen men make this gesture as well.
That's actually a much more interesting question!
Never seen the gesture in any other context. Ever. Really.
Psychologists are needed to analyze this?!??!?
Aren't there enough tremendous story lines on tremendous soccer games and player accomplishments at this World Cup, rather than this silly trite discussion?
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Despite all FIFA's flaws, the spectacle of the World Cup makes me marvel at how fluently a team from one continent can play a team from another continent while being managed by an officiating squad from a third continent. As we watch from thousands of miles away - perhaps from a fourth continent - we all recognize the facial expressions and gestures, even among players from those "reserved nations" that supposedly inoculate themselves from the "cultural baggage" of self aggrandizement and public displays of emotion.
No geneticist or behavioral psychologist could tell the story of our universal human nature as well as an international soccer/football match.
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It is simply a “surrender cobra”.
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Who pays for such a research?
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A far more annoying pet peeve I see in sports in the seemingly never-ending post goal-hoop-td celebration which is gaping wide-open mouth scream. Then, as sports readers, we get to see all those mouths the next day in the paper. Please stop.
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Great insight
Nature vs Nurture
That one is really hard wired into us
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From an exhibit at the MFA Boston I learned that ancient Greek women's gesture for mourning was placing hands on top of your head. This was seen in art beginning from the 8th century BC. So it means distress!
See: https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/funerary-plaque-151469
and
https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/female-mourner-8
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Now that we understand this soccer reaction - can anyone explain why, on every single HGTV home renovation reveal, all homeowners put their hands over their mouths??
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It's the infamous "surrender cobra" pose! Watch any college football game and lamenting fans strike this pose quite often. Interesting explanation!
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I do the same thing when my dog doesn't catch the ball. He's my dog, after all, so my embarrassment, my fault. Also when the missus tries to explain her math to me. I look for help skyward every Monday evening; when she turns off PBS to watch the bachelor thing.
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No need for grandiose and extensive analysis by a plethora of psychologists. It is a single word, this time unuttered, of universal explanation
"Impossible"
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While I do think that the gesture in part does come from a reaction at having seen their scoring attempt fail, I have what I consider another valid reason. I played soccer myself for years. I also have hiked aggressively over the years.
Soccer is a game where the players are running almost constantly. That then of course raises the body temperature greatly. But while playing and running, the player must keep their balance and alertness. It's not a time for "cooling off".
However, whenever the action pauses, for whatever reason, the quickest way to cool off is to raise your arms up to your head. Evaporation on your arms and armpits begin immediately.
While I don't do this playing soccer any more, I sure do it when I'm just plain hot.
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This is also a recovery position that allows the player to take deeper breaths- by stabilizing the upper limbs on the head the player can recruit more accessory muscles to aide deeper ventilation/ breathing.
It is the same position used by most runners after they finish a race going all out. Fastest way to catch breath quickly.
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I always assumed this happened after a near miss because people were putting their hands in the air for celebration (it looks like it's about to go in), then drop them to their head when it misses.
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I'd love to know what Milwaukee Brewers' Bob Uecker's spin is on this because his views are ALWAYS humorous and usually unconventional and tilted a little more sideways than customary.
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If it’s universal, why don’t players in other sports do this? Or do they?
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I'd guess that they do, but it probably depends on whether or not play stops after the goof. A wide shot in soccer gives everyone a chance to breathe and stare at the offender, while a blocked shot that stays in play doesn't. In the former case, the uncomfortable pause afterward is probably worse than the miss, itself. A good comparison group might be football kickers who miss easy field goals/extra points.
(Graduate student in psychology, there's your Master's Thesis.)
While the "hands to the head" gesture is universal, the action that is football/soccer specific is: "touch me and I fall to the ground writhing in agony for all to see." Of course, within seconds of the judgment, he's back up and playing like nothing happened.
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I've been holding my head in a similar manner the day Trump went into the White House.
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Well, if it indicates shame, they should also use it after they take those embarrassing dives.
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When this type of thing has occurred to me I feel it gives a brief time of solitude and space to prepare before returning to reality.
Is there any thing to suggest that when we, they, cover our head and look to the sky or close our eyes, that it is to reduce the amount of visual stimulus? To look at something plain and unrelated to the failure (back of eye lids, the sky) to reduce the pain?
I do it while watching baseball, and also World Cup soccer (allez Les Bleus!) so that my head won't explode.
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Is the answer is the same for countless college students when their teams fail? Because it occurs in every game.
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The rarity of goals in soccer, in contrast with high chances of scoring a penalty kick, points to inherent unfairness of the whole penalty system. While scoring a regular goal is a feat, relying on the opponent to make a slight error so that you score is quite unbalanced. In one of the games of this current World Cup, a penalty kick was awarded when the ball hit the arm of a player from behind! Furthermore, making the goalie to have to guess by jumping in the wrong direction is an affront the dignity of an athlete. Unfortunately, FIFA is a stodgy organization that will not change the rules easily.
Not sure what that has to do with this topic, but that guy shouldn't have had his arm up regardless what direction he was facing. The ball was goal-bound.
A lot people who follow the game don't want any rules changed. If it helps you can mentally count 7 points per goal, and you'll have some higher scoring games.
A lot of that is signaling. There aren't half a dozen officials on the field throwing flags and there aren't breaks in the game every 5 seconds to do an instant replay. So they flop to indicate something happened.
The gesture seems so natural that it never occurred to me it merits study. Clearly it does.
You can also do one on the fist pump you see from tennis players all the time.
This article completely avoid the PHYSIOLOGICAL reasons for this gesture. A gigantic EXHALE is needed after such a colossal miss, and putting the hands up on the heads allows the lungs to expand more to exhale. IT also allows for the full force of the exhale, bracing one's head in one's hands and allowing for maximum breath.
Consult someone from the medical field next time you write an article about something like this. Not just your friend who notices this and keeps talking about it, for lack of having much knowledge of the game and ability to discuss more soccer-related issues
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Interesting stuff. I'd like to see more examples (if they exist) of the hands-to-head gesture in contexts other than sports and in cultures other than our own.
There are other universal signs of this or that emotion. One is the sad, hang-dog face of a sports team facing defeat. You can see examples of this at pages 2,3 and 4 of a little piece called "Sad Faces": http://secularhumorist.net/uploads/Sad_Faces.pdf
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Interesting that hostages are often depicted in this posture as well. Fortunately, I've only seen this in TV and films. Still, the posture is chosen for a reason.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/10/sports/world-cup/england-croatia-fran...
When I saw this article, I thought it would simply be a post teasing the soccer players for their constant obnoxious flops and such. It turns out that flops are only part of the game. By using soccer as an example for human gestures, it expresses to us that all humans, no matter what person or what type of game is being played, will react in a similar manner. Sometimes it has nothing to do with who we are, but we are together as a race that creates our psyches in the same manner.
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The writer builds a convincing case as for why its true. Blind athletes have not had the opportunity to copy this from other players.
I was prepared to be skeptical, but no. I'm convinced of its universality. Another good point is that the gesture is made even if the goalkeeper made a superhuman effort. I missed! It doesn't matter if the goalkeeper made a respectable save.
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They can do it because they're not holding a putter.
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And they are not wearing glasses.
Well, there's no important remark in the article. The author only repetes what everyone knows. We don't need researchers to explain that.
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Maybe they're just checking to see if their head is still there.
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Hilarious!!!
Next, please: a psychoanalysis of Neymar's dives in all their theatrical glory.
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Ridiculous. Gestures become commonplace because athletes apparently are copy cats. More accurate to say humans are copy cats.
Why does nearly every baseball player point skyward now when crossing home plate after hitting a home run? Because a few influential sluggers started doing that in the 90s. I think the first player I noticed doing that was Sammy Sosa. It spread first mostly to other Latin players, now its the exception not to see this ridiculous motion.
It's the same way every sport gets their own stupid little displays. NBA players didn't always grab the front of their jerseys and lift it a bit after hitting a big shot. NFL receivers didn't always break out into idiotic dances after scoring a TD. And tennis players didn't always throw their racket, sink to their knees and grab their heads (in the identical gesture these authors claim means "I can't believe I blew it") after winning a Grand Slam event.
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"You have the head in hands - that's shame." Something we will NEVER see Donald Trump do.
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I'd just like to say, this kind of interesting yet irreverent and slightly humorous sports coverage is exactly why I read the Times. Sports and news in general are too staid, and I love the Times for keeping us interested with fascinating, yet slightly tongue in cheek coverage. Keep it up.
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Actually - Leading Biologists and Anthropologists in this field have determined that humans are not the only species to exhibit this display of emotion - as can be seen in this rare and revealing picture...
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/898/798/861.jpg
To me, the gesture symbolizes "what was I thinking?" Grabbing both spheres of the brain, the right the creative and the left the orderly, puts the head "right" which helps us adjust to what just happened.
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I understand this gesture. I want to know why they act as if they've been hit by a howitzer shell, when their opponent grazes their hair. [Looking at you Neymar.]
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Good story. I thought it was simpler: when the sky is falling, or the stuff is about to hit the fan, you don't want it falling on you.
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As a fan of the New York Giants (American football) - I can often be seen striking that pose on many Sunday afternoons in front of my television --
Also See: "Mets Fans" ...
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@ Howard G
Your comment is my favorite and your closing sentence had me in stitches. Nicely done sir.
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and please visit "New York Rangers Fans" in the addendum section of this comment :)
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The hands-on-head gesture has a long history. Ancient Greeks used it for mourning at funerals. It appears on funeral scenes in vase painting as far back as the 9th century BCE (that's the Geometric period, if you want to dig back into Greek art).
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It could be interesting to investigaste also the other possibility of the attempt, it is, the moment of goal. Players (and also fans) usually close their hands strongly and give punchs in the air.
That's probably the widest cliché movement to express the feeling of glory in sports.
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The hands to face/head gesture is also associated with moments of wonder at astonishing feats in soccer. See for example the reaction of the player in the foreground when Messi completes a fantastic goal after a remarkable run: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=messi+best+goals+ever&&view...
Or Pep Guardiola's reaction to Messi's brilliant nutmegging of an opponent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49-nWjwOpKY
I remember that study of blind-from-birth elite athletes. The other innate response is the clenched fists extended horizontally, chest expanded gesture of triumph (think Mike Phelps waiting at the edge of the pool as his teammate finished the relay gold). I love that we ALL share these things, Gandhi and Trump and Shakespeare and me. What a funny, quirky species!
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Please don't utter that despot's name in the same breathe as Gandhi & Shakespeare, both of whom enriched and elevated humanity and appealed to our highest instincts of all that is good & noble within the human race.
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Well, Trump only shares the victory gestures with you, because he always wins. Tired yet?
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Actually, Real News, I think Shakespeare would be fascinated by Trump. Our president certainly gives the MacBeths, Claudius, Iago and Regan a run for their money in the villainy department, don't you think?
I find it ironic that only if players make an astounding play do they look up to the heavens as if they divine intervention helped them. Yet the opposite is not true.
This is a continuation a pre-Christian mystical tradition of acknowledging the mystical power above, which, for one brief moment, had transformed them into a god capable of miraculous feats. - Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol
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I love the NYT for chasing down obscure topics like this and going to great lengths to get intelligent answers. The gestures tell a story about humans- well, now we know. Passionate, courageous journalism on all the news that’s fit to print
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@Tiger shark:
I simply love your comment and agree 1000%.
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The raising of one's hands and placing them on their heads is not unique to just soccer. I've seen the exact reaction numerous times by football, baseball, and basketball players and coaches as well as the fans. It's almost an unspoken universal reaction instead of one's mouth spewing vulgarity and unprofessional language either at himself or his teammates.
No matter how many times I see a guy with his hands on his head, it's their facial expressions that cracks me up AND breaks my heart for their error. I can almost feel their pain.
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Sure, "innate and universal" and all that, but there's some pretty strong cultural reinforcement going on here too. Soccer players do it because it's the fashion in the sport for expressing disbelief-despair.
It's much more common in soccer than in, say, the NBA, or in baseball.
Sometimes newspaper-level psychology writing gets so awfully excited by the opportunity to use the words "innate" and "universal" that it doesn't pause to consider cultural factors. Mono-causal explanations are so much easier to digest.
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I agree that most of the points made in the article seem teleological. The most telling information, though, might be the research on blind athletes which I would like to hear more about or at least get a reference. It would also be interesting to see how early this gesture has been documented photographically.
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It seems like you missed the part in which the writer mentions that goals in soccer are a less frequent event than say a basketball or baseball score. The low likelihood of the event and the fact that the player failed to convert the opportunity is the argument the writer used for the innateness and universality of the gesture in soccer vis a vis the NBA or baseball.
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We have all done it since we were kids. We do it because our heads hurt after blowing a golden opportunity! Or, just to fix our hair!
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It has another name when it becomes contagious among fans in the crowd: Surrender Cobra.
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Ahh the Surrender Cobra. The gesture named by ESPN that signifies someone has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noEorFhIM04
It's called a Surrender Cobra. Get with the times, Times.