19.2: On the Shoulders of Giants- A Brief History of the Field

Sport psychology as an academic discipline became formalized around the 1960s with the development of organizations supporting the dissemination of research, the creation of certifications, and the development of more educational training opportunities (Benjamin & Green, 2009). However, before development of the key organizations, there were many people who were creating the research foundation that helped form the field over time. Below we will discuss the history of the field starting in the late 19^th century, moving through time to modern day sport psychology.

19.2.1. Early History

The earliest studies in sport psychology dated back to the 1890s where many psychologists were interested in the unique psychological components associated with sporting behaviors (Benjamin & Green, 2009). American psychologist Edward W. Scripture, French physician Philippe Tissie, and American psychologist Norman Triplett all published studies in the 1890s focused on sporting behaviors, broadly speaking. Scripture was interested in understanding reaction times in expert versus novel fencers. Tissie had an interest in the psychological connection between extreme endurance events and experimented with a field cyclist riding for 24 hours to understand the connection between psychology and the ability to endure extreme fatigue (Benjamin & Green, 2009). The most famous of the three is likely Triplett, who is often cited as the earliest researcher in sport psychology (which is not entirely true as Tissie and Scripture published before him). Triplett had cyclists ride alone and then in groups to determine if people worked harder in the presence of others. Triplett is often credited as uncovering the first evidence for social facilitation using his studies, however, recent research has shed light on some flaws behind the reasoning of Triplett’s study being the first sport psychology study and evidence that it might not be the study that provided the first evidence for social facilitation (Martin, 2019). Early researchers around this time were starting to lay the groundwork for what would come in the following decades. However, early research had issues with dissemination of results. There were no conferences, easily accessible journals, or Twitter accounts to follow at the time. There were also issues with limited numbers of schools where you could get an education in anything resembling sport psychology. Kinesiology programs did not yet exist, as most early programs where solely for physical educators.Disseminating the knowledge about the work these early scholars were doing was quite difficult, and likely stunted some of the early growth the of field.

19.2.2. Coleman Griffith

Coleman Griffith is considered to be the father of North American sport psychology. He was one of the first North American academics to build a laboratory (at the University of Illinois) that was focused on understanding the role of psychology in the sport experience (Green, 2009). Griffith did consulting work for the Chicago Cubs and the University of Notre Dame’s famous head coach Knute Rockne. Interestingly, Griffith spent a lot of his time writing the results of his experiments in periodicals that were specifically for practitioners. He did write for traditional scientific journals as well, but appeared to enjoy communicating to coaches. Griffith also wrote many books including Psychology of Coaching (1926) and Psychology and Athletics (1928). Unfortunately, Griffith’s lab was shut down by the university in 1932 either due to the Great Depression or an issue with football at the university no longer trusting the work he was conducting (Green, 2009). Griffith moved to an administrative position and then to the Chicago Cubs as a consultant.

Coleman Griffith never trained any graduate students to continue lines of research similar to his. Traditionally, in academia, faculty members train graduate students to go on to careers as faculty members. This system of training allows for senior faculty to foster and develop young scholars to continue similar lines of research. However, Griffith did not do this due to a variety of constraints (Green, 2009).

19.2.3. Other Key Early Figures

Edward W. Scripture built an early research program at Yale University that was focused on the reaction time of athletes. His early research was published in an in-house journal that was often not distributed widely and was no longer circulated after 1902 (Goodwin, 2009). Another trailblazing figure in the development of sport psychology as an academic discipline was Dorothy Hazeltine Yates. Yates was a professor of psychology at San Jose State University in the 1940s. During this era, there was focus on developing psychological strategies that would help athletes perform at high levels. One of the most popular psychological strategies at the time was learning skills associated with relaxation, as it was believed to be a main factor of athletic success (Kornspan, 2009). Yates also taught relaxation and self-regulation skills to military aviators (Kornspan, 2009). This application of sport psychology to another area was perhaps one of the first forays into a field that is today known as performance psychology.

Up until the 1960s the field was very fragmented, and specific training was sparse if available at all. As we are about to see, the field changed rather quickly during the same time that training programs started to become more readily available and conferences and organizations started to serve as homes for scholars in the field of sport psychology. As you could expect, there was little before the 1960s in terms of unifying theory or overarching ideas the scholars were working on. The work that was being conducted was quite siloed and this likely hindered the development of the field.

19.2.4. The 1960s–1980s

The development of physical education programs in the United States and sport science programs around the world lead to further specialization of scholars who were interested in conducting research that broadly fit the definition of psychology in sport settings. The creation of sport psychology occurred when faculty broke away from motor learning and started focusing more on issues surrounding social aspects of sport, motivation, athletic performance, and personality factors. This new set of research interests provided scholars the opportunity to explore new horizons of psychology specific to the sport domain. Many scholars started to gain interest in the research questions more related to sport psychology, which led to the formation of many conferences and organizations which still stand today. In 1965, the First World Congress of Sport Psychology was organized in Rome. At this initial meeting, the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) was founded. Both the Congress and ISSP are still in existence today with the World Congress occurring every four years.

Shortly after the development of the World Congress and ISSP, there was an uptick in the number of conferences and organizations that were started. In 1966, the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) was formed, and they held their first conference in 1967. Also in 1967, the British Society of Sports Psychology and the French Society of Sports Psychology were formed (Eklund & Tenebaum, 2014). In 1969, the European Federation of Sport Psychology (FEPSAC) was formed, and the membership quickly elected a Bulgarian named Ema Geron as their first president. Dr. Geron worked as a full professor at universities in Bulgaria and Israel and was considered a stabilizing force for sport psychology in Europe (Tenenbaum et al., 2011). It was also during this time that more literature became available for people interested in the field of sport psychology. Bruce Ogilive and Thomas Tutko wrote the book Problem Athletes and How to Handle Them (Ogilive & Tutko, 1966). Ogilvie is considered a pioneer in North American applied sport psychology and was actively was actively working with athletes as a consultant during this time. John Lawther published his book Sport Psychology in 1972 making the field more visible and increasing interest in the academic discipline. Rainer Martens published Social Psychology and Physical Activity in 1975 creating specific texts targeted at those interested in studying and understand sport psychology. In 1979, the Journal of Sport Psychology (which is now the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology) was founded and published for the first time. There were also an increasing number of consultants working with professional and international level teams including Richard Suinn (United States), Brent Rushall (Canada), Antonli Alekseev (Russia), and Miroslav Vanek (Czechoslovakia; Eklund & Tenebaum, 2014). To sum up this time period, there were more opportunities to communicate sport psychology information via conferences and journals, and there were more people becoming interested in a new academic subdiscipline which led to much of the growth we see over the next few decades. There was also an increase in sport psychology consultants working with athletes during this time.

19.2.5. 1980s–2000s

In 1980, Dorothy Harris was hired as the first ever resident sport psychologist for the United States Olympic Committee. Harris was a pioneer in the field of sport psychology as a full professor at Pennsylvania State University. She helped create graduate training in sport psychology at Pennsylvania State University, constructed an impressive line of research, was the first woman to win a Fulbright scholarship in sport psychology, and the first woman president of NASPSPA (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). During this time, journals continue to be created for the dissemination of knowledge in sport psychology. Those journals include The Sport Psychologist (1986), and Journal of Applied Sport Psychology (1989).

Organizations during this time continued to develop focusing on supporting research in sport psychology including, Division 47 (Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology) in the American Psychological Association (APA; 1986), British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES; 1984), the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP; 1986), the Spanish Federation of Sport Psychology (1987), the Australian Psychological Association creates a specialization in Sport Psychology (1988), and Asian South Pacific Association of Sport Psychology ([ASPASP] 1989; Eklund & Tenenbaum, 2014). The early leaders in these organizations helped promote the field and wrote many of the articles and texts that are often considered foundational readings today.

These organizations also started to discuss the role of a sport psychology professional. AASP created it certified consultant designation. In the United States, there were issues around professional practice ethics for people trained in both psychology and sport sciences. Later in this chapter, we will discuss some of the major training pathways that someone should consider when thinking of becoming a sport psychology professional in the US. The discussion about clinical psychology, sport science training, and the debate about the naming of sport psychology professionals rages during this time period (with many of the debates still largely unresolved).

19.2.6. 2000–2020

At the turn of the century, even more journals were developed that focused on sport psychology included Psychology of Sport and Exercise (2000), International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (2004), the Journal of Sport Psychology in Action (2010), and Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology (2012). During this time, more universities than ever are offering training in sport psychology.

Opportunities for employment in the field are likely as high as they ever have been. Professional sports teams are hiring sport psychology professionals who are trained in providing mental health services or performance enhancement techniques (sometimes jobs would like a professional trained in both). Universities and colleges are also hiring sport psychology professionals, but they tend to put more stock in professionals who are trained via a mental health route. This distinction is important to understand because there are two major training routes in North American sport psychology. These two routes will be elucidated further later in the chapter. Unfortunately, due to the early divides in the field, and unresolved issues around training there are two clear outcomes of how a sport psychology professional can work in today’s field.

Sport psychology during this time is growing around the world. There are universities on most continents that support training in sport psychology. A recent ISSP conference in Seville, Spain drew participants from over 70 countries (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). This worldwide growth in the field is quite exciting, but does bring about many challenges that still need to be addressed in terms of education, training, and job creation.

19.2.7. Women in Sport Psychology

Like most academic disciplines, the story of women scholars has often been overshadowed by their male counterparts. We have already discussed the groundbreaking work of Ema Geron, Dorothy Harris, and Dorothy Yates. In addition to these early scholars, sport psychology has pulled many concepts, ideas, and theories from pre-eminent women scholars in psychology including Carolyn Sherif, Susan Harter, and Carol Dweck (Krane & Whaley, 2010). Many of these scholars’ ideas and theories helped advance sport psychology. It is clear that modern sport psychology has been shaped by female scholars.

A thoughtful review of the role of women scholars in sport psychology was conducted by Vicki Krane and Diane Whaley (2010). Early in their paper, they introduced that women scholars have always been present in sport psychology, but they have often been overlooked for a variety of reasons including sexism. The focus of this review was to re-place women back into the history of sport psychology. Women scholars have been foundational in the development of many societies that focus on sport psychology and have been presenting at the conferences since their inception (Krane & Whaley, 2010). Dorothy Harris and Jean Williams each authored early texts in applied sport psychology, with the Williams text still being used today (with many updates over the years; Harris & Harris, 1984; Williams & Krane, 2021). Dorothy Harris, Diane Gill, Jean Williams, and Tara Scanlan all were early scholars in sport psychology that presented at early NASPSPA conferences.

Krane and Whaley (2010) also highlighted eight women scholars, nominated by their peers, who are considered trailblazers in sport psychology. These scholars were a part of a focus group that reflected on their careers, including the challenges of building the field through scholarship and contributions to their professional organizations and universities. This paper highlighted the careers of Joan Duda, Deborah Feltz, Diane Gill, Penny McCullagh, Carole Oglesby, Tara Scanlan, Maureen Weiss, & Jean Williams (Krane & Whaley, 2010). Their contributions to the field as of 2010 included “...advising 157 masters, 147 doctoral, and 11 postdoctoral students; at least 500 refereed journal articles, 20 textbooks, 200 book chapters, and well over 800 national and international conference presentations; President of 9 national or international organizations (21 total presidencies among them); and editors of Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (JSEP), Journal of Applied Sport Psychology (JASP), Research Quarterly for Sport and Exercise (RQES), and Quest.” (Krane & Whaley, 2010, p. 361, italics added). This contribution to the field does not just manifest in terms of quantity, but these scholars’ work is known for its high level of quality. It is important to also consider that these numbers were as of a decade ago and most of these scholars are still active researchers today.

Although the Krane and Whaley review of trailblazers in sport psychology ended before 2010, there are still women scholars currently pushing the frontiers of scientific advancement in sport psychology. Joan Duda has been cited by scholars in the sport sciences with over 45,000 citations in academic articles and book chapters! Professor Duda has also served as the President of the European College of Sport Science, which is an organization that promotes multi- and interdisciplinary research in the sport and exercise sciences. She is not alone in her contributions to the field. Gabriele Wulf is a highly cited scholar in the field of sport psychology and motor learning, and Maria Kavussanu is the editor-in-chief of Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, a leading journal and official journal of Division 47 of the American Psychological Association. While it is near impossible to reduce an academic career to a single metric, it is evident that women have a central role in the current state of sport psychology.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

It is clear that women have had a strong hand in the development of the field of sport psychology. Without the contributions of these scholars (and many more not listed here), our field would not be what it is today. Moving forward, we should continue to look for other voices from underrepresented minority groups who have not been as visible in the field including people of color, individuals with disabilities, individuals from countries who do not have strong academic institutional support, and others who have not been heard from before. These unheard voices can only make our field stronger as we continue moving forward.