❌Social Facilitation And Inhibition

Question 1

Who proposed the theory of the influence of others on performance?

Answer 1

Zajonc (1965)

Question 2

What does BEDTOP stand for?

Answer 2

the Behavioural Effects Due To Others Present

Question 3

What did Zajonc suggest?

Answer 3

In sport there are 4 types of others who can be present when playing sport.

Question 4

What are the 4 types of others?

Answer 4

The audience
The co-actors
The competitors
The social reinforcers

Question 5

What is the audience?

Answer 5

Those who just watch the event

Question 6

What are examples of the audience?

Answer 6

Spectators

Large TV audience

Question 7

What are co-actors?

Answer 7

Those who are doing the same task but are not involved in direct competition.

Question 8

What are examples of co-actors?

Answer 8

A jogger on the opposite side of the road

Another cyclist who passes by while out on a training ride.

Question 9

What are competitors?

Answer 9

Those who are in direct competition

Also known as competitive co-actors

Question 10

What are examples of competitive co-actors?

Answer 10

Cyclists in the Tour de France

Runners in a 100m sprint

Question 11

What are social reinforcers?

Answer 11

Those who have a direct influence on the event.

Question 12

What are examples of social reinforcers?

Answer 12

The coach

Question 13

Which of the others in sport are passive?

Answer 13

The audience

The co-actors

Question 14

What does the others present in sport being passive mean?

Answer 14

They do not exert a direct influence on the event but their mere presence causes an increase in arousal - the players are aware of being watched.

Question 15

What are the competitors and social reinforcers said to be?

Answer 15

More actively involved in the event and can give encouragement, advice or cause distractions.

Question 16

What is social inhibition?

Answer 16

The negative effect of the presence of others on performance.

Question 17

What is social facilitation?

Answer 17

The positive effect of the presence of others on performance.

Question 18

Who is more likely to experience social inhibition?

Answer 18

Beginners - They will experience anxiety and over-arousal when being watched and will perhaps not be able to cope with the pressure from the crowd, causing a poor execution of skills

Question 19

Who is more likely to experience social facilitation?

Answer 19

Experts - will be able to cope with the demands of the crowd and will be motivated and encouraged by the support: skills performance can be enhanced

Question 20

How can co-actors affect a simple skill?

Answer 20

They can help.

E.g - trying to be the last person to stop when doing sit-ups with a group

Question 21

How can the presence of others affect a complex skill?

Answer 21

Increased levels of arousal can mean that the performer is unable to deal with a lot of information - as arousal increases, then the ability to process information decreases

Question 22

What’s the relationship between performance and the dominant response in the presence of others?

Answer 22

Experts are more likely to have well learned and familiar responses, so when performing in the presence of others, such well-learned responses are performed automatically, with ease, and there is little pressure.

A novice is likely to be the opposite - has an incorrect dominant response and in the presence of others is more likely to procure an incorrect action.

Question 23

What’s evaluation apprehension?

Answer 23

The perceived fear of being judged.

Question 24

When can evaluation apprehension occur?

Answer 24

If the people watching are known to the player

Question 25

What makes the effects of evaluation apprehension worse?

Answer 25

If the audience is seen as expert or knowledgable, such as a scout, or the audience is critical.

Question 26

How can you prevent social inhibition?

Answer 26

Getting the players familiar with playing in front of a crowd 
Gradually introducing evaluation 
Improving focus and concentration 
Goal setting 
Near transfer 
Over-learning 
Selective attention 
Somatic relaxation 
Cognitive relaxation

Question 27

What is meant by getting the players familiar with playing in front of a crowd?

Answer 27

The coach should allow the team to train with the distraction of an audience so that they get used to being watched - a concept called familiarisation.

Question 28

What’s an example of familiarisation?

Answer 28

Some team sports, young players can often be taken to the game by parents who will stay and watch.

Question 29

What is meant by gradually introducing evaluation?

Answer 29

The audience should be built up gradually, but so should the level of assessment and evaluation of the performance.

Question 30

What’s an example of gradually introducing evaluation?

Answer 30

Informal team chats about the game and asking the players what they thought of their performance could be a starting point.
This may lead to formal assessment sheets, statistics and one-on-one interviews, as the players become more experienced, so that their performance comes under review and they can deal with such scrutiny.

The coach could try to reduce the importance of the event.

Question 31

What is meant by improving focus and concentration?

Answer 31

The players could try to really focus on the game and not the audience so they focus attention on the things that matter and not the things that are irrelevant.
They may use selective attention

Question 32

What is meant by goal setting?

Answer 32

Establish process goals - focus on technique.
Performance goals - personal records
Likely to reduce arousal becuase there is decreased emphasis on winning.

Question 33

What is meant over-learning key skills?

Answer 33

Practicing so frequently, so repeatedly, to such a high quality, its considered over learned.
Dominant response will always be good.
Strengthening the S-R bond

Question 34

What is meant by selective attention?

Answer 34

Ignore irrelevant stimuli - audience

Question 35

What is meant by somatic relaxation?

Answer 35

Before performance need to loosen.
PMR
Good used of breathing

Question 36

What is meant by cognitive relaxation?

Answer 36

Imagery
Thought stopping
Mental rehearsal
Decrease the importance of the event