The Dynamics of Psychological Momentum: A Quantitative Study in Natural Sport Situations

Abstract

The present study examined the dynamics of competitive anxiety and selfconfidence, as well as the relationships between these variables, during athletes' experiences of psychological momentum (PM). Male national level table tennis players (Study 1) and swimmers (Study 2) watched one of their recent competitions, which included a PM experience. At the same time they indicated their moment-to-moment levels of competitive anxiety and selfconfidence by using a computer mouse. Curve estimation showed that competitive anxiety and self-confidence decreased and increased over time, respectively. Moreover, the dynamical patterns were more nonlinear for swimmers than for table tennis players, indicating that the PM experience is dependent on the sport context. Consistent with the opposite dynamics of competitive anxiety and self-confidence, correlation analyses revealed a strong negative relationship between these variables, suggesting that PM constraints the relationship between competitive anxiety and self-confidence. Findings of this study offer new insights into the dynamics of PM and its ecological embedment.

Perceptions of psychological momentum of elite soccer players

“…Jones and Harwood (2008) found confidence to be the most frequently cited trigger of PM in their interviews with soccer players. A number of other studies have also found self-confidence to increase in positive PM scenerios and decrease when participants experience negative PM (Briki, Den Hartigh, Bakker, & Gernigon, 2012;Den Hartigh et al, 2014). Both Briki, Den Hartigh, Hauw, and Gernigon (2012) and Gernigon et al (2010) found that progressing toward (or away from) a desired outcome (e.g., victory or defeat) increased (decreased) selfconfidence.…”

“…Interestingly, although feeling anxious/nervous was reported as one of the highest experiences of negative PM, managing anxiety as a strategy was the lowest reported item on the measure with regard to strategies to overcome negative PM. It would appear that although increases in competitive anxiety are related to negative PM and decreases to positive PM (Briki, Den Hartigh, Bakker, & Gernigon, 2012;Gernigon et al, 2010), there may be a number of factors that interact in order for either positive or negative PM to evolve. This provides further support for Gernigon et al's (2010) suggestion that PM manifests itself as a series of complex interactions that create changes in behaviour.…”

“…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).…”

Time-out! How psychological momentum builds up and breaks down in table tennis

“…In recent years, multiple studies have examined PM in table tennis (Briki, Den Hartigh, Bakker, & Gernigon, 2012;Briki, Den Hartigh, Hauw, & Gernigon, 2012;Briki, Doron, Markman, Den Hartigh, & Gernigon, 2014;Gernigon et al, 2010). In the first study of this series, Gernigon et al (2010) investigated changes in psychological factors (self-confidence and competitive anxiety) while participants were exposed to a table tennis video (Study 1).…”

Las rachas de lanzamiento en baloncesto profesional : un análisis dinámico

“…La existencia e influencia del momentum en el ámbito deportivo han sido ampliamente estudiada en diferentes modalidades deportivas, tanto en deportes colectivos como el fútbol (Jones y Harwood, 2008;Parson y Nicholas, 2015;Redwood-Brown, Sunderland, Minniti, y O'Donoghue, 2017), el balonmano (Moesch y Apitzsch, 2012; Mortimer y Burt 2014), el voleibol (Wanzek, Houlihan, y Homan, 2012;Miller y Weinberg 1991), o el fútbol americano en la NFL (Fry y Shukairy, 2012) Page 2009, , Silva, Hardy, y Crace 1988Silva, Cornelius, y Finch 1992;Weinberg y Jackson 1989), el billar (Adams, 1995), el tenis de mesa y la natación (Briki, Den Hartigh, Bakker, y Gernigon, 2012;Briki, Den Hartigh, Hauw, y Gernigon, 2012), el ciclismo (Briki, Den Hartigh, Markman, Micallef, y Gernigon 2013;Briki, Markman, Coudevylle, Snnapah, y Hue, 2016), o el tiro (Kerick, Iso-Ahola, y Hatfield 2000).…”