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By: By Nick A. Lazaris, Psy.D.
The History of Performance Psychology
Although performance psychology has become popular more recently it is not new, having developed out of the roots of sport psychology. In 1898, Norman Triplett, a psychologist from Indiana, had begun to explore why athletes performed certain ways in different performance situations. His was the first experimental research on how competition affected the athlete’s performance. As a result of researching the effects of cycling alone as compared with cycling with a group, Triplett concluded that those who cycled with a group cycled faster than those who cycled alone. His paper, written in 1898, “The Dynamogenic Factors in Pacemaking and Competition,” was published in the American Journal of Psychology.
A psychologist out of the University of Illinois, Coleman Griffith (1893-1966) is attributed as having established the first American laboratory dedicated specifically to investigating the psychological aspects of sport performance in the 1920s. While pursuing his doctorate in psychology, in 1918, he became interested in performer’s reaction times as well as mental awareness, muscular tension and relaxation.
By 1925 Griffith founded the first sport psychology lab in North America completely devoted to the study of sport psychology (Carl Diem, a German, is said to have founded the world’s first sport psychology laboratory in 1920). It was in 1923 that Griffith offered the first academic sport psychology course. In the course of his research he studied the factors that affected athletic performance and, in 1926, published “The Psychology of Coaching,” followed, in 1928, by his book “Psychology of Athletics”. As part of his research, Griffith conducted interviews with some of the great athletes of his day such as Knute Rockne, the head football coach of Notre Dame. As a result of a lack of funds at the University, his lab was closed in 1932. Very little research in sport psychology was done until the late 1950’s, when research in motor learning and sport psychology began to pick up in the departments of sports science in academic settings.
The 1960’s saw the development of and interest in the application of the psychology of the performance of the athlete. The 1960’s also saw the formation of various associations devoted to the emerging practice of applied sport psychology. The International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) was formed by Dr. Ferruccio Antonelli of Italy in 1965 followed by the North American Society of Sport Psychology and Physical Activity (NASSPPA).
In the 1970s, sport psychology became a part of the curriculum on university campuses with courses teaching students how to develop positive attitudes in athletes using cognitive and behavioral modification techniques. In the 1980s, sport psychology became more research-focused. Sport psychologists looked into performance enhancement, the psychological impact of exercise and over training as well as stress management. The first academic journal, the International Journal of Sport Psychology, was introduced in 1970, which was then followed by the establishment of the Journal of Sport Psychology in 1979.
By the 1980s, sport psychology had established itself as the subject of a more rigorous scientific focus, as research was developed to explore how the principles and skills of psychology could be used to improve athletic performance. In addition, research related to how physical exercise could be utilized to enhance and improve mental well-being and lower stress levels was developed.
International Olympic teams began to hire applied sport psychologists to work with athletes in the 1984 Olympics, heightening the public’s awareness of this emerging field of study and application. It was in 1985 that the U.S. Olympic Committee hired its first full-time sports psychologist. The United States hired more than 20 sports psychologists to work with the athletes in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, followed by nearly every professional sports team currently having a sport psychologist on its staff.
Domain-Specific Populations
The practice of performance psychology typically serves particular populations with specific performance enhancement needs. As one begins to study and develop competency in the various psychological skills sets available to the performance consultant it becomes clear that one can apply these skills to a number of performance situations. The following is a brief description of domain-specific populations and the type of clients one might find within these groups, taken from the author’s practice caseload during the past year. It is presented as an example of the variety of performance situations the practitioner may find themselves working with.
Performing Arts
Business Domain
Sports
Education
High-Risk Profession
As can be seen from the above examples, the practice of performance psychology provides the consultant the opportunity to work with a varied group of individuals in extremely different domains. Yet, the issues within these populations are usually very similar. The skills necessary to work with these populations and their presenting performance issues may appear simple, yet they are very powerful in being to create lasting change in the performer, sometimes in a very short period of time.
I have discovered that the genuine gratitude that I, as the performance consultant, receive when I work with this wonderful group of performer clients is incredibly meaningful as they experience the new found ability to overcome the behaviors and emotions that have created obstacles to their achieving their potential on the field, on stage, in school or in a business situation.