Background:Audience effects Flashcards
What can the effect of an audience cause?
Making you perform better (facilitation) or worse (inhabited)
What is social facilitation?
Suggests when we are performing tasks that are easy or that are highly skilled, then the precede of other people leads to an improvement.
What is the basis of Zajoncs theory?
That the effect of the audience occurs as a result of an increased arousal.
What are the two types of tasks in Zajoncs theory?
Dominant task
Non-dominant task
What is a dominant task?
Tasks that are familiar, simple or well learned.
What is a non-dominant task?
Tasks that are unfamiliar,complex or novel.
What does a dominant response require?
It requires less arousal, so when increased arousal levels it results in social facilitation.
What happens to a non-dominant response in-front of a crowd?
Arousal levels are already high to complete the skill so even more arousal from the crowd results in over-arousal and can lead to social inhibition.
What can happen if over aroused?
Catastrophe and social inhibition
What difficulties did Zajonc not account for?
-Type of audience
-Arousal levels needed
-Experience of performer
What were the results from Michael’s study on audience effects?
The precedes of the audience improved above average players performance however impaired the performance of below average players
What did Cotterall suggest?
That social inhibition effects could be explained by the level of anxiety.
What did cotterall say the audience has?
They have power to reward, approve them and praise the athletes or punish them with disapproval
According to cotterall, why does an athlete experience high anxiety levels?
It’s the results of evaluation apprehension
What is evaluation apprehension?
The fear of being judge negatively by the audience
