Coleman Roberts Griffith was an American sport psychologist.
21 Facts About Coleman Griffith
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Coleman Griffith's ideas were met with resistance, but he helped the Cubs to be successful while there.
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Coleman Griffith ended his career in the department of education at the University of Illinois until his retirement in 1961.
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Coleman Griffith completed his undergraduate degree at Greenville University in Illinois in 1915, where he met his future wife, Mary Louise Coleman.
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Coleman Griffith received his PhD in psychology in 1920 at the University of Illinois under the supervision of Madison Bentley.
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Coleman Griffith's dissertation focused on the vestibular system of the white rat.
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Coleman Griffith offered an introduction to psychology course with a focus on the interests of an athlete.
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In 1927, after receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship, Coleman Griffith studied at the University of Berlin.
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Coleman Griffith was later named head of the Bureau of Institutional Research.
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Coleman Griffith held this position until 1944 and was then named provost of the University of Illinois.
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Coleman Griffith ended his position of provost in 1953, and in 1956 he was named head of the National Education Association's Office of Statistical Information.
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Coleman Griffith retired from the department of education at Illinois in 1962 and worked for the Oregon State System of Higher Education thereafter.
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In 1918 Coleman Griffith began informally investigating psychological factors related to basketball and football by observing the teams at the University of Illinois.
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Coleman Griffith tested football players' reaction times with a Sanborn reaction-time apparatus in 1920.
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In 1925 Coleman Griffith was appointed director of the newly opened Athletic Research Laboratory.
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Coleman Griffith interviewed athletes and designed precise interview questions to learn more about these athletes' experiences during competition.
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Wrigley believed that Coleman Griffith could help the team by giving them a psychological advantage.
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Coleman Griffith was replaced by the catcher, Gabby Hartnett, whose late-season heroics, hitting the famed "Homer in the Gloamin'" against the rival Pittsburgh Pirates, led the Cubs to a World Series berth against the New York Yankees.
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Coleman Griffith worked part-time during 1939, but only wrote four short reports and continued dealing with distrust from management.
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Coleman Griffith built on his writings in the field of sports psychology through Psychology and Athletics as well as many contributions to a journal called The Athletic Journal.
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Coleman Griffith wrote about the basic problems and psychological components of athletic performance such as skills, learning, habit, attention, vision, emotion, and reaction time.