PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Slacker, Normative Social Influence, White Noise
2 Jul 2018
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07/05/2018 Interpersonal Processes – Social Facilitation and Social Loafing
Social facilitation – improved performance in the (mere) presence of others on easy or well-
learned tasks
Social inhibition – decreased performance in the (mere) presence of others on difficult or
poorly-learned tasks
Triplett (1898): observed that cyclists were faster when racing against others than when
they raced against the clock
o7 theories of social facilitation:
1. Suction theory
2. Shelter theory
3. Encouragement theory
4. Brain worry theory
5. The hypnotic suggestion theory (wheels)
6. Automatic theory
7. Dynamogenic factor theory (this was the one he mostly focused on)
oDynamogenic factor theory – presence of others acts as a stimulus to arouse the
competitive instinct; nervous energy (arousal) is released when with others, not
when alone; sight of movement in other persons inspires more effort
oHe had children come to the lab to wind fishing reels either alone or in the presence
of another child
oCompleted 6 trials each and did so in alternating fashion
oChildren were faster in competition than by themselves
Types of social facilitation studies
oCo-action effects: observe behaviour when individuals are all simultaneously
engaged in the same activity in full view of each other
oAudience effects: observe behaviour when in occurs in the mere presence of passive
spectators
Social inhibition (Pessin, 1933)
oAsked participants to learn lists of nonsense syllables (e.g. gyx, pix, kpi, pln) – either
alone or in front of an audience
oAlone – participants took 9.85 trials to learn 7 syllables
oAudience – participants took 11.27 trials to learn 7 syllables
oSocial inhibition – decreased performance in the mere presence of others
Contradictory findings! Social facilitation against social inhibition
Mere presence theory of social facilitation (Zajonc, 1965)
oThis theory explains both sets of findings
oThe presence of other people – as spectators or as co-actors – leads to arousal which
has different effects on performance (i.e. helps or harms performance)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Interpersonal processes social facilitation and social loafing. Social facilitation improved performance in the (mere) presence of others on easy or well- learned tasks. Social inhibition decreased performance in the (mere) presence of others on difficult or poorly-learned tasks. Social loafing why does my group always have some slacker in it; the reduction in individual motivation and effort that occurs when individuals work collectively compared to when they work alone or co-actively. Occurs when an individual is in the presence. Occurs when an individual is in a group. Interpersonal processes social facilitation and social loafing of an audience or a co-actor. The individual"s performance cannot be evaluated or differentiated. Examined social loafing in the domains of shouting, cheering and clapping. Study 1 participants cheered and clapped for 5s (either alone or in groups) Found amount of noise increased as groups increased.
