Performance Psychology

In Performance Psychology, Dr. Charles H. Brown Jr. demonstrates his approach to working with clients seeking to enhance or improve their performance. Performance psychology is the systematic application of psychological principles and techniques to performance, particularly when there is a time element and one must perform on demand. Performance clients typically have skills and abilities that have allowed them to achieve various levels of success in their selected areas of performance.

The performance psychologist's goal is to help the clients build on and broaden their skills and learn new habits to help perform consistently at high levels in pressure situations. In this session, Dr. Brown works with a young woman who seeks to increase her running distance so she can complete a half marathon. Although this example involves a recreational athlete, the model and principles are applicable to all contexts in which an individual must perform under pressure: elite athletes, performing artists, business persons, and individuals dealing with life and death situations such as those encountered in medicine, the military, and law enforcement.