Social facilitation is a theory proposed by Zajonc (1965;
1980), which describes the idea that the presence of others can either enhance
our performance if the task is easy or well-learned or impair our performance
if the task is difficult. Zajonc (1965) believed the presence of others causes
physiological arousal, which heightens a person’s tendency to perform the
dominant response. The dominant response is the automatic, natural response
that comes most quickly and easily to us (Zajonc, 1965). Therefore, on an easy
task that we are well-practiced with, the dominant response is more likely to
be the correct response, but with difficult tasks, the dominant response may
not be the best response (Zajonc, 1965).
Zajonc (1969) even tested out his social facilitation theory
on cockroaches! The cockroaches were placed on either a simple or more
complicated track and raced toward the goal box (Zajonc, 1969). When they raced
in front of a crowd of spectator roaches, they raced faster on the simple track
(easy task) than when they raced on the difficult track (hard task), supporting
Zajonc’s (1965) theory of social facilitation. Therefore, social facilitation
is universal and applies to other animals (even insects) in addition to humans
(Zajonc, 1969).
Social facilitation is central to the life of an athlete.
Its so interesting that I have been applying this theory my entire life and
never even knew it! We had volleyball practices constantly in order to prepare
for games. We trained so much to make sure that when we are under intense game
situations, the automatic dominant response is the successful reaction we want.
When under extreme pressure, we often don’t have time to process our options
and responses; they just come naturally. Once the set of volleyball skills we
need becomes easy and well-practiced, a good dominant response will take over
when it matters during games. I guess practice really does make perfect in some
cases!
References:
Zajonc, R. B. (1965). Social facilitation. Science, 149, 269- 274.
Zajonc, R. B.,
Heingartner, A., & Herman, E. M. (1969). Social enhancement and impairment
of performance in the cockroach. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 82-92.
Zajonc, R. B.
(1980). Compresence. In P. B. Paulus (Ed.), Psychology
of group influence (pp. 35-60). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
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