Social Facilitation

Social Facilitation

1. this involves the effect of the presence of others on one's performance, we perform simple or well learned tasks well in front of others, but more complex tasks worse in front of others

   • when our performance is enhanced, it is called social facilitation
   • when our performance is hindered, it is called social inhibition

2. Triplett 1898

   • wanted to see whether or not performance is enhanced by the presence of others performing the same task
   • observed cyclists and found they performed worst when alone and best when competing
   • participants were told to wind in a fishing rod both alone and in pairs and were timed to see how long it took
   • performance was faster in the presence of others
   • performance is inhibited when alone and facilitated by the presence of others doing the same task

3. Allport, Chen and Daschiell found that people perform easy tasks well in front of others and complex task better without an audience