The development of psychological momentum within and across sport competitions: Evidence for interconnected time scales

Introduction Progressing or regressing in relation to one’s goal (e.g., victory) may elicit positive or negative dynamics in behaviors and psychological states, called positive and negative psychological momentum (PM). Research has shown that the emergence of PM within competitions can be nonlinear, and is embedded in the ongoing history of events [5,6]. Here, we focus on another dynamical property: Interconnected time scales [7]. Our aim was twofold: (a) Examine athletes’ positive and negative PM over a tournament (long-term), and (b) examine whether the athletes’ long-term PM feeds into the PM dynamics within a competition (short-term). Methods Twenty-two athletes pursued the long-term goal of obtaining 3 points (i.e., winning three head-to-head races on rowing ergometers). Races could be won by taking a 9-second lead on the opponent (short-term goal). One group won the first two races (positive momentum group), whereas the other group lost the first two races (negative momentum group). The third (last) race was manipulated in a way that all participants took a 6-second lead, but then gradually moved towards the defeat. Before the races, perceptions of momentum and self-efficacy (SE) with reference to the long-term goal were measured. During the races exerted efforts were measured continuously, and the perceptions of momentum and SE with reference to the short-term goal were measured at repeated intervals. Results Regarding the long-term goal, perceptions of momentum and SE were higher in the positive momentum group than in the negative momentum group, both before the second (p < .05) and third race (p < .001). Within the third race, exerted efforts, as well as perceptions of momentum and SE, were higher for the positive momentum group than for the negative momentum group (p < .001). Moreover, while moving towards the defeat, perceptions of momentum and SE decreased less abruptly in the positive momentum group (p < .001). Discussion We found that single competition events influence long-term PM, which feed into the short-term PM process. This provides evidence for a connection between long- and short-term PM, and supports the assumption that PM can be considered a dynamical system [4-6]. Moreover, the finding that negative PM is entered less abruptly after successive successful competitions suggests that previous experiences affect the PM attractor landscape.