Psychology Gets in the Game

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Psychology Gets in the Game

Sport, Mind, and Behavior, 1880-1960

Edited by Christopher D. Green and Ludy T. Benjamin Jr.

324 pages
12 images

Paperback

December 2009

978-0-8032-2226-7

$30.00 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

December 2009

978-0-8032-2673-9

$30.00 Add to Cart

About the Book

Although sport psychology did not fully mature as a recognized discipline until the 1960s, pioneering psychologists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, making greater use of empirical research methodologies, sought to understand mental factors that affect athletic performance. Though the psychologists behind the studies described here worked independently of one another and charted their own distinct courses of inquiry, their works, taken together, provided the corpus of precedents and foundations on which the modern field of sport psychology was built. The essays collected in this volume tell the stories not only of these psychologists and their subjects but of the social and academic context that surrounded them, shaping and being shaped by their ideas.

Author Bio

Christopher D. Green is a professor of psychology at York University. He is the coauthor of Early Psychological Thought: Ancient Accounts of the Mind and Soul and the coeditor of The Transformation of Psychology: Influences of 19th-Century Philosophy, Technology, and Natural Science. Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. is a professor of psychology at Texas A&M University and the author and editor of numerous books, including A History of Psychology in Letters and A Brief History of Modern Psychology.
 
Contributors: David Baker, Frank G. Baugh, Günther Bäumler, Angela H. Becker, Ludy T. Benjamin Jr., Stephen F. Davis, Donald A. Dewsbury, Alfred H. Fuchs, Stephen T. Graef, Christopher D. Green, C. James Goodwin, Matthew T. Huss, and Alan S. Kornspan.

Praise

"Providing excellent case studies of how experimental psychology was carried out in its early years, psychologists Christopher Green and Ludy Benjamin offer a look at those who did early work on what is now known as sport psychology."—S. R. Flora, Choice

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction: The Origins of Sport Psychology

      Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. and Christopher D. Green

1. The Dawn of Sport Psychology in Europe, 1880<EN>1930: Early Pioneers of a New Branch of Applied Science

      Günther Bäumler

2. E. W. Scripture: The Application of "New Psychology" Methodology to Athletics

      C. James Goodwin

3. Norman Triplett: Recognizing the Importance of Competition

      Stephen F. Davis, Matthew T. Huss, and Angela H. Becker

4. Karl S. Lashley and John B. Watson: Early Research on the Acquisition of Skill in Archery

      Donald A. Dewsbury

5. Psychology and Baseball: The Testing of Babe Ruth

      Alfred H. Fuchs

6. An Offensive Advantage: The Football Charging Studies at Stanford University

      Frank G. Baugh and Ludy T. Benjamin Jr.

7. Coleman Roberts Griffith: "Father" of North American Sport Psychology

      Christopher D. Green

8. Paul Brown: Bringing Psychological Testing to Football

      Stephen T. Graef, Alan S. Kornspan, and David Baker

9. Enhancing Performance in Sport: The Use of Hypnosis and Other Psychological Techniques in the 1950s and 1960s

      Alan S. Kornspan

Conclusion: The "Proper" History of Sport Psychology

      Christopher D. Green and Ludy T. Benjamin Jr.

Contributors

Index

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