5.1 Social facilitation

Question 0

Give an example of social facilitation.

Answer 0

Athletes run faster when an audience is present.

Question 1

What is social facilitation?

Answer 1

The concern with how and why activity is increased (facilitated) when others are present.

Question 2

What is coaction effects?

Answer 2

Refers to the presence of others independently carrying out the same task at the same time (such as athletes running at the same time) who’s usually facilitates performance.

Question 3

Who found that cyclists rode faster with others an that children could reel a fishing line faster in pairs than on their own?

Answer 3

Triplett (1898)

Question 4

As well as facilitate performance, what can the presence of others do To behaviour that is not learnt well?

Answer 4

It can inhibit behaviour that is complex or not well learnt.

Question 5

What did Schmitt (1986) show?

Answer 5

He made participants do two tasks; a) type their name into a computer, b) type their name backwards with numbers in between. It was shown that an audience facilitated performance of the easy task but inhibited performance on the complex task.

Question 6

Explain arousal theory?

Answer 6

The presence of others causes an increase in arousal, this causes the individual to respond with their dominant response. Social facilitation or inhibition occurs as their dominant response.

Question 7

Who showed similar results of social facilitation in cockroaches?

Answer 7

Zajonc

Question 8

What is the study for arousal theory?

Answer 8

Michaels et al (1982)
The aim was to investigate the presence of an audience on performance of above average and below average pool players.
Method: observe and record players from a distance (unknown to the players). Label individuals as above or below average. 4 researchers then went over to the table and watched. Recorded improvement/decrease in ability.
Results: above average = improve when watched (social facilitation)
Below average = decreased when watched (social inhibition).

Question 9

What does the arousal theory not explain?

Answer 9

Why someone is competent in a task may still perform poorly in front of an audience.

Question 10

What law explains what arousal theory cannot? Explain this law briefly?

Answer 10

Yerks-Dodson law. Level of arousal can reach an optimum level to increase social facilitation. After this, task performance decreases. Graph.

Question 11

What does the arousal theory not acknowledge? Why do people think this is important?

Answer 11

Cognitive processes. People believe that thought of competition in co-action, and thought of being judged when watched by am audience, are important factors.

Question 12

What is evaluation apprehension theory?

Answer 12

Increased arousal due to apprehension and anxiety caused by being evaluated by others.

Question 13

Who developed evaluation apprehension theory?

Answer 13

Carttell (1968)

Question 14

What did carttell believe about an increase in arousal?

Answer 14

He believed an increase in arousal is a learnt response, as people associate the presence of others with evaluation on their performance.

Question 15

What is the study for evaluation apprehension theory? Explain it?

Answer 15

Henchy and glass (1968). Investigating whether concern about being evaluated is needed to produce a dominant response. Method: 4 conditions of a task -
- alone (controlled condition)
-with 2 ‘experts’
- with 2 non experts
-alone but recorded for later evaluation.
Results: conditions with experts and recorded produced dominant responses. Alone and with non experts produced similar responses.

Question 16

What is a negative of evaluation apprehension theory?

Answer 16

It does not explain the social facilitation seen in animals, who presumably do not experience experience apprehension theory.

Question 17

What are the two effects in distraction-conflict theory?

Answer 17

• distraction causes an impaired performance in tasks, both simple and hard tasks.
• conflict increases arousal and leads to dominant response.

Question 18

What is the study for distraction-conflict theory?

Answer 18

Sanders et al (1978)

Question 19

What is the sanders study for distraction-conflict theory?

Answer 19

Aim to investigate whether distraction results in social facilitation in simple tasks and social inhibition in complex tasks. The method as so give a simple task and complex digital copying task. The conditions were: done alone, Done with co actor either performing same (distracting) task or performing different (not distracting) task. The results were that facilitation on easy task and inhibition on hard task.

Question 20

What is a positive of distraction conflict theory?

Answer 20

Can explain results in animals as they may get distracted too.