Social facilitation

Social facilitation occurs when one’s behavior or performance is affected in some manner by the presence of other people. Either the simple presence of a coactor, someone performing the same task but who is not in COMPETITION, or the presence of an audience may influence how a person does a job. Typically the presence of others enhances the performance of simple or well-learned tasks, while the performance of complex or unpracticed tasks tends to deteriorate. Social facilitation may be the product of increased levels of energy (arousal), evaluation apprehension, or the distracting effect of having an audience. Psychologist Robert Zajonc proposed that the presence of other people increases physiological arousal, or excess physical energy. This arousal then facilitates the performance of whatever response is dominant for the actor. Thus, performance of easy or well-learned (dominant) tasks should get better with an audience, but performance of difficult or poorly learned tasks should suffer. However, psychologist Nickolas Cottrell argued that evaluation apprehension, or nervousness about having one’s performance judged by others, also could account for social facilitation. This explanation suggests that people are aware that others’ evaluations of them often dictate future rewards or punishments. Thus, actors may experience increased nervousness in social situations because they are concerned with what type of impression they may convey to their audience. Evaluation apprehension subsequently increases arousal, which, as Zajonc proposed, then facilitates performance of the actor’s dominant response. Psychologist Robert S. Baron suggested that the presence of others might be distracting for the actor. When an actor’s attention is divided between the task at hand and the audience, a mental conflict arises regarding the focus of attention. This mental conflict might increase arousal, which then tends to facilitate the dominant response. Performance of very simple and well-learned tasks probably is less affected by the distraction of an audience than by performance of complex or unpracticed tasks. All three explanations of social facilitation predict that the tendency for an audience to facilitate or hinder performance depends on how challenging the task is and on the actor’s level of expertise. However, in some instances, expertise may completely override task difficulty. For example, experts at difficult tasks, such as golfing, typically have practiced so often that successfully executing the task has become their dominant response. Therefore, throngs of spectators at a professional golf tournament tend to enhance the professional’s game but likely would hinder the novice. Overall, the effects of social facilitation are very well documented, lending additional credence to the saying that “practice makes perfect.”
See also HAWTHORNE EXPERIMENTS; INDUSTRIAL-ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY; SOCIAL LOAFING.