In its effort to convince mothers to let their kids play football, the league seems to realize that it’s not enough to manufacture programs and spin narratives that make the sport seem safer. The league has also injected what psychologists call “incidental emotions”—ones you wouldn’t necessarily feel unless prompted—into the calculation. “Parents may already be worried about their child getting a concussion or getting hurt playing football. Those are emotions they are naturally facing with this choice,” says Piercarlo Valdesolo, a psychology professor at Claremont McKenna College and one of the authors of “Emotion and Decision Making.” “But making parents feel guilty for denying a child an opportunity to play football is framing the choice using an incidental emotion.”

    This tactic, most prevalent in politics, aims to reduce a choice down to a gut-level decision. Why? Because “everyone’s gut can be manipulated,” Valdesolo says.



bioemerl:

This, less than a sign of the NFL being a thing that is corrupt and influencing it's will on people, is a sign that the NFL is going to die in the future as people slowly become more aware of the dangers of football and opt out of it in interest of their own selves.

Others may not, and I don't believe it is the parent's right to deny their kids that choice. That is fine, and if it's really as bad as it seems, people will stop watching as well when they realize they watch the player's slow deaths.

Demand will fade, and like all things, football will morph into something new, and something better.


posted 2693 days ago