SOCIAL FACILITATION
Norman Triplett researched bicycle records, from which he noticed that cyclists who competed
against each other performed better than those who cycled alone. He concluded the following:
the presence of another rider releases the competitive instinct, which increases nervous energy
and enhances performance. To test this proposition, he did another research involving children, in
which the children were more likely to perform better when they worked side by side then when
they worked alone. Later research proved mixed results; sometimes the presence of others
enhanced performance, but at other times performance declined. Zajonc proposed the following:
the presence of others increases arousal, which can a ect performance in di erent ways,
depending on the task at hand. He made a three step process:
1. The presence of others creates general physiological arousal, which energizes
behavior.
2. Increased arousal enhances an individual’s tendency to perform the
dominant response, which is the reaction elicited most quickly and easily by
a given stimulus.
3. On an easy task (simple or well-learned), the dominant response is usually
correct or successful. On a di cult task (complex or unfamiliar), the dominant
response is often incorrect or unsuccessful.
These two e ects of the presence of others, helping performance on easy tasks
but hurting performance on di cult tasks, are known as social facilitation. The
presence of others facilitates the dominant response, not necessarily the task
itself. This phenomenon is universal; occurring not only in human activities but
also among other animals, even insects. New research points to areas of the
brain that appear to be especially implicated in social facilitation e ects, and
these areas are associated with social judgements and motivations. There are
three di erent theories known for social facilitation:
• Mere presence / drive theory = Zajonc proposed that the mere presence of
others is su cient to produce social facilitation.
• Evaluation apprehension theory = the presence of others will produce social
facilitation e ects only when those others are seen as potential evaluators.
• Self-presentation theory = people will adjust their behavior when they are in a
group, because they are concerned with others thinking negatively about them (they will try
extra hard).
• Distraction-con ict theory = the presence of others will produce social facilitation e ects only
when those others distract from the task and create attentional con ict.
• Social orientation theory = people di er in their orientations toward social situations, and
these di erences predict who will perform social facilitation in the presence of others.
All three of the basic elements described by these theories can contribute to the impact others
have on our own performance.
SOCIAL LOAFING
On some tasks, e orts are pooled so that the speci c performance of any one individual can not
be determined. Max Ringelmann discovered already in the 1880s that people’s output declined
when they worked together rather than alone on simple tasks such as pulling a rope. There are
two possible explanations for this reduction in e ort:
• The individuals exerted less e ort when they acted collectively.
• The individuals demonstrated poor coordination when working together.
Alan Ingham and colleagues answered this question by using a rope-pulling machine and
blindfolding participants. They observed that the participants pulled almost 20% harder when
they thought they were pulling alone than when they thought they were pulling with others. Latané
and colleagues came up with the term social loa ng, which means a group-produced reduction
in individual output on tasks where contributions are pooled.this concept is not restricted to
simple tasks, but sharing responsibility with others also reduces the amount of e ort that people
put into more complex motor tasks, such as team sports and cognitive tasks. Several studies are
conducted to assess what factors can reduce social loa ng in college group projects, and the
following three strategies are o ered:
• Limit the scope of the project; projects that are very large and complex should be broken into
smaller components.
• Keep the groups small.
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Norman Triplett researched bicycle records, from which he noticed that cyclists who competed
against each other performed better than those who cycled alone. He concluded the following:
the presence of another rider releases the competitive instinct, which increases nervous energy
and enhances performance. To test this proposition, he did another research involving children, in
which the children were more likely to perform better when they worked side by side then when
they worked alone. Later research proved mixed results; sometimes the presence of others
enhanced performance, but at other times performance declined. Zajonc proposed the following:
the presence of others increases arousal, which can a ect performance in di erent ways,
depending on the task at hand. He made a three step process:
1. The presence of others creates general physiological arousal, which energizes
behavior.
2. Increased arousal enhances an individual’s tendency to perform the
dominant response, which is the reaction elicited most quickly and easily by
a given stimulus.
3. On an easy task (simple or well-learned), the dominant response is usually
correct or successful. On a di cult task (complex or unfamiliar), the dominant
response is often incorrect or unsuccessful.
These two e ects of the presence of others, helping performance on easy tasks
but hurting performance on di cult tasks, are known as social facilitation. The
presence of others facilitates the dominant response, not necessarily the task
itself. This phenomenon is universal; occurring not only in human activities but
also among other animals, even insects. New research points to areas of the
brain that appear to be especially implicated in social facilitation e ects, and
these areas are associated with social judgements and motivations. There are
three di erent theories known for social facilitation:
• Mere presence / drive theory = Zajonc proposed that the mere presence of
others is su cient to produce social facilitation.
• Evaluation apprehension theory = the presence of others will produce social
facilitation e ects only when those others are seen as potential evaluators.
• Self-presentation theory = people will adjust their behavior when they are in a
group, because they are concerned with others thinking negatively about them (they will try
extra hard).
• Distraction-con ict theory = the presence of others will produce social facilitation e ects only
when those others distract from the task and create attentional con ict.
• Social orientation theory = people di er in their orientations toward social situations, and
these di erences predict who will perform social facilitation in the presence of others.
All three of the basic elements described by these theories can contribute to the impact others
have on our own performance.
SOCIAL LOAFING
On some tasks, e orts are pooled so that the speci c performance of any one individual can not
be determined. Max Ringelmann discovered already in the 1880s that people’s output declined
when they worked together rather than alone on simple tasks such as pulling a rope. There are
two possible explanations for this reduction in e ort:
• The individuals exerted less e ort when they acted collectively.
• The individuals demonstrated poor coordination when working together.
Alan Ingham and colleagues answered this question by using a rope-pulling machine and
blindfolding participants. They observed that the participants pulled almost 20% harder when
they thought they were pulling alone than when they thought they were pulling with others. Latané
and colleagues came up with the term social loa ng, which means a group-produced reduction
in individual output on tasks where contributions are pooled.this concept is not restricted to
simple tasks, but sharing responsibility with others also reduces the amount of e ort that people
put into more complex motor tasks, such as team sports and cognitive tasks. Several studies are
conducted to assess what factors can reduce social loa ng in college group projects, and the
following three strategies are o ered:
• Limit the scope of the project; projects that are very large and complex should be broken into
smaller components.
• Keep the groups small.
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