The Dynamics of Psychological Momentum in Sport: The Role of Ongoing History of Performance Patterns

Abstract

Borrowing the dynamical systems perspective, two studies aimed to examine the potential properties of nonlinearity and history dependence of psychological momentum. Male regional-level table tennis players were asked to empathize with players in a very important contest by watching two video scenarios of a table tennis game in two separate sessions. The videos presented two inverted scenarios in which score gaps gradually increased or decreased. Competitive anxiety, self-confidence (Study 1), and goal involvement states (Study 2) were measured before each point. Cognitive and somatic anxieties decreased linearly during the increasing scenario, but increased nonlinearly in the decreasing scenario. Mastery-avoidance goals decreased nonlinearly in the increasing scenario, increased nonlinearly in the decreasing scenario, and displayed a negative hysteresis pattern. These findings offer new insights into the dynamics of psychological momentum and suggest new avenues of research.

Perceptions of psychological momentum of elite soccer players

“…This may be especially pertinent in soccer where the outcome of the match has large financial implications (Hoffmann, Ging, & Ramasamy, 2002). The term "momentum" is frequently used to describe where the sequence of scoring or winning (success) has an influence on future performance success (Briki, Den Hartigh, Markman, Micallef, & Gernigon, 2013;Gernigon, Briki, & Eykens, 2010;Iso-Ahola & Dotson, 2014;Taylor & Demick, 1994;Vallerand, Colavecchio, & Pelletier, 1988). In contrast, "psychological momentum" (PM) is a term used in sport psychology that captures not only the success -future performance relationship, but also shifts in affect, cognition and behaviour in either a positive or negative direction in athletes, coaches and fans (Jones & Harwood, 2008;Markman & Guenther, 2007;Perreault et al, 1998;Taylor & Demick, 1994;Vallerand et al, 1988).…”

“…The earliest was the antecedents-consequences model (AC) proposed by Vallerand et al (1988), which was followed by the multi-dimensional model (MD) (Taylor & Demick, 1994), and the projected performance model (PP) (Cornelius et al, 1997). More recently, Gernigon et al (2010) proposed that PM could be described as a dynamical system, where the system or team, in the case of most sporting examples does not vary as a function of one or two independent variables (e.g., triggers) but as a function of its preceding state (e.g., whether the team is in a stable or unstable state). The view is supported by qualitative research (Briki, Den Hartigh, Hauw, & Gernigon, 2012;Jones & Harwood, 2008) which reported a number of PM variables as both determinants and consequences of PM states.…”

“…Both somatic and cognitive anxiety were lower in the increasing scenario than the decreasing, whereas the reverse was found for self-confidence. Previous studies have shown that moving towards (or away from) a goal has positive (or negative) consequences on emotions such as competitive anxiety and self-confidence (as well as collective efficacy) (Briki, Den Hartigh, Bakker, & Gernigon, 2012;Gernigon et al, 2010;Den Hartigh, Gernigon, Van Yperen, Marin, & Van Geert, 2014;Stanimirovic & Hanrahan, 2004).…”

“…Such variables pertaining to PM have generally been classed as internal (complacency, psychological states, fatigue), environmental (scoring, dramatic actions, opponents) or social (team cohesion, staff influences, crowd influences) (Taylor & Demick, 1994) which influence performance either independently or as a complex interaction depending on the stability of the system. Employing the dynamical systems theory, Gernigon et al (2010) examined the influence of increasing (i.e., positive momentum) versus decreasing (i.e., negative momentum) scoring sequences on several psychological components (e.g., self-confidence, competitive anxiety, achievement goals) during observed tennis matches. Negative events were found to have a more powerful psychological impact than positive events of the same value.…”

Accomplishments of Naturalistic Decision Making Research and Applications to Emerging Defense Challenges

“…This result suggests that AI had psychological momentum. Psychological momentum means a power that increases in relation to the decrease in the opponent's involvement (e.g.. Gemigon, Briki, & Eykens, 2010). This power changes the perception of oneself and the opponent, influences the belief that the result will be success, and improves or maintains involvement in the match.…”