All Topics  
Social facilitation

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Social facilitation
 
 
  Topics Social facilitation Topic Home

Social facilitation is the tendency for people to be aroused into better performance on simple tasks (or tasks at which they are expert or that have become autonomous) when under the eye of others, rather than while they are alone (audience effect), or when competing against another (coactor effect). Complex tasks (or tasks at which people are not skilled), however, are often performed in an inferior manner in such situations.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Social facilitation'
Start a new discussion about 'Social facilitation'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Social facilitation is the tendency for people to be aroused into better performance on simple tasks (or tasks at which they are expert or that have become autonomous) when under the eye of others, rather than while they are alone (audience effect), or when competing against another (coactor effect). Complex tasks (or tasks at which people are not skilled), however, are often performed in an inferior manner in such situations. This effect has been demonstrated in a variety of species. In humans, it is strongest among those who are most concerned about the opinions of others, and when the individual is being watched by someone he or she does not know, or cannot see well.

Research

The earliest published research on social facilitation was conducted by Norman Triplett
Norman Triplett

Norman Triplett was a psychologist at Indiana University. In 1898, he wrote what is now recognized as the first published study in the field of social psychology ....
 in 1898. Triplett observed that among bicycle racers, the presence of other cyclists tended to increase performance, leading to faster race times. Research on social facilitation progressed slowly over the next few decades as the presence of others seemed to increase performance in some situations, and decrease it in other situations.

In 1965, Robert Zajonc
Robert Zajonc

Robert B. Zajonc was a Polish-born American social psychology psychologist who was known for his decades of work on a wide range of social and cognitive processes....
 breathed new life into social facilitation research by accounting for the previously unexplained dual nature of the phenomenon. According to Zajonc, the presence of others serves as a source of arousal
Arousal

Arousal is a physiology and psychology state of being awake. It involves the activation of the reticular activating system in the brain stem, the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system, leading to increased heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility and readiness to respond....
. Arousal increases the likelihood of an organism making habitual or well learned responses. This improves performance at simple tasks and impairs performance at complex or difficult tasks (see Yerkes-Dodson Law
Yerkes-Dodson law

The Yerkes-Dodson law is an empirical relationship between arousal and performance, originally developed by psychologists, Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson in 1908....
). Zajonc demonstrated this effect in several different species, including laboratory rat
Rat

Rats are various medium sized, long-tailed rodents of the Family Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus....
s and cockroach
Cockroach

Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria. This name derives from the Latin word for "cockroach", blatta.There are about 4,000 species of cockroach, of which 30 species are associated with human habitations and about four species are well known as pest s....
es.

More recently, Baron (1986) proposed an alternative view of social facilitation, one that is based on attention and distraction. He suggested that task performance is dependent upon the number of cues or distractions present in the situation. Today, most social psychologists believe that social facilitation in humans is influenced by both arousal (as in Zajonc's theory) and cognitive
Cognition

Cognition is the science term for "the process of thought."Its usage varies in different ways in accord with different disciplines: For example, in psychology and cognitive science it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological Functionalism s....
 processes (such as distraction, and also evaluation apprehension).

Related concepts

Social loafing
Social loafing

In the social psychology of groups, social loafing is the phenomenon of people making less effort to achieve a Objective when they work in a group than when they work alone....
 is the tendency of individuals to slack
Slacker

The term slacker is commonly used to refer to a person who avoids work , or an educated person who is Economic materialism and viewed as an underachiever....
 in a group when work is pooled and individual performance is not being evaluated. A good example of social facilitation is a foot race (where the individual runs faster when there are other runners) as opposed to a group tug-of-war (where the work is pooled, and an individual's lack of performance is hard to notice).

See also

  • Arousal
    Arousal

    Arousal is a physiology and psychology state of being awake. It involves the activation of the reticular activating system in the brain stem, the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system, leading to increased heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility and readiness to respond....
  • Audience effect
    Audience effect

    The audience effect is the impact that a passive audience has on a subject performing a task. It was first formally noted in various psychology studies in the early 20th century....
  • Social loafing
    Social loafing

    In the social psychology of groups, social loafing is the phenomenon of people making less effort to achieve a Objective when they work in a group than when they work alone....
  • Social psychology
    Social psychology (psychology)

    Social psychology is the science of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others....
  • Yerkes-Dodson law
    Yerkes-Dodson law

    The Yerkes-Dodson law is an empirical relationship between arousal and performance, originally developed by psychologists, Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson in 1908....