SOCIAL INHIBITION AND FACILITATION

Question 1

What is meant by social facilitation?

Answer 1

• Social facilitation concerns how people, other than the performer, can influence his or her attitudes and behaviour.
• Various groups of people, who are around when a performance occurs, will have a range of effects on the performer.

Question 2

What are the affects of social facilitation?

Answer 2

An audience of supporters or friends will help a performer to do well. They will cheer or make positive comments which could boost the performer’s self-confidence and assist performance.
• Other groups such as peer groups or family will have the same affect.

Question 3

What is social inhibition?

Answer 3

the negative influence of others, who may be watching or competing, which leads to a decrease in sports performance

Question 4

What is Zajonc’s drive theory of social inhibition?

Answer 4

1. presence of audience or coactors increases the arousal level of performer
2. increase in arousal makes it more likely that the performers dominant response will occur
3. if skill is simple or if performer is an expert, the dominant response is likely to be correct one and performance will improve
4. if the skill is complex or if performer is novice, dominant response is likely to be incorrect and performance will decline

Question 5

How does ‘homefield advantage’ link to social facilitation?

Answer 5

• teams win more at home than away
• this is to do with the nature of the crowd and whether they are hostile
• some research suggests play at home is a disadvantage
• at home you feel increased pressure in front of people as you know them and they feel like they’re being evaluated
• Teams are more aggressive and commit more fouls when playing away.

Question 6

Do introverts or extroverts perform better in front of crowds?

Answer 6

extroverts because they tend to seek situations with high arousal levels because their RAS is lacking stimulation while introverts shy away from social situations because they have high levels of internal arousal

Question 7

are elite or novices more likely to perform well in front of a crowd?

Answer 7

elite because the dominant response more likely to be correct. motor programmed stored in long term memory and can be applied with little conscious thought and distractions are less likely to interfere with automated response

Question 8

list Other factors influence social facilitation

Answer 8

• nature of audience
  if crowd is noisy and competitive, performer may feel anxious
• physical proximity of the crowd
  if crowd is close, performer may feel threatened or reassured

Question 9

What are strategies to combat social inhibition?

Answer 9

• selective attention to minimise distractions
• prepare athletes to cope with audience by using a video of crowd while training and inviting people to watch training
  Stress Management techniques to control arousal
• mental rehearsal
• breathing control
• positive thinking
• negative thought stopping
• other team mates need support to reduce pressure
• reduce importance of events
• over learn skills so they become automatic
• Develop self efficacy