Social Facilitation

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison E. Seitchik ◽  
Adam J. Brown ◽  
Stephen G. Harkins
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Social Facilitation ◽  
Task Analysis ◽  
Complex Tasks ◽  
Mere Presence ◽  
Prepotent Responses

Research conducted for more than a century has shown that the presence of others improves performance on simple tasks and debilitates it on complex tasks, whether these others are audience members or coactors. In this chapter, we review theories offered to account for how two features of these others, their mere presence and/or the potential for evaluation they represent, produce these effects, and we conclude that we are no closer now to isolating the relevant process(es) than we were 100 years ago. We then consider the molecular task analysis proposed by Harkins (2006) as an approach to attacking this problem, followed by a review of the work supporting the mere effort account suggested by this analysis. Finally, we place the mere effort account in the larger context represented by the Threat-Induced Potentiation of Prepotent Responses model, which aims to account for the effect of threat on task performance.

Exploring the Effects of Extraversion on Social Facilitation and Vigilance Task Performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 1216-1220
Author(s):  
Victoria L. Claypoole ◽  
Grace E. Waldfogle ◽  
Alexis R. Neigel ◽  
James L. Szalma
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Social Facilitation ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Task Design ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Vigilance Performance ◽  
Mere Presence ◽  
Design Factors ◽  
And Task

Vigilance, or sustained attention, is the ability to maintain attention for extended periods of time. Recently, research on vigilance has focused on identifying individual differences and task design factors that may improve cognitive-based vigilance performance. One such factor is social facilitation, which leads to improved task performance when at least one individual is present. But, relatively little is known about the personality factors, such as extraversion or introversion, which may influence the effects of social presence, and in turn affect vigilance performance. Given this gap in the literature, the present research seeks to determine how personality, specifically extraversion, is related to vigilance performance in the presence of another individual. A total of 39 observers completed a 24-minute vigilance task either alone, in the mere presence of another person, or in the evaluative presence of another person (i.e., an individual monitoring their performance). The results indicated that extraversion was negatively correlated to the proportion of correct detections and sensitivity ( A’).

Status and Evaluation Potential in the Social Facilitation and Impairment of Task Performance

1979 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin G. Miller ◽  
Marion F. Hurkman ◽  
Jennesse Barker Robinson ◽  
Richard A. Feinberg
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Social Facilitation ◽  
The Social

Mere presence and social facilitation: One more time

1986 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd H Schmitt ◽  
Thomas Gilovich ◽  
Natan Goore ◽  
Lisa Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Social Facilitation ◽  
Mere Presence

scholarly journals Effect of Prior Performance Experience before Audiences on a Dominant and Nondominant Motor Response

1982 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Lucinda Hollifield
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Social Facilitation ◽  
Motor Response ◽  
Rotary Pursuit ◽  
Task Groups ◽  
Prior Performance ◽  
Experience Effects ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Mediating Factor ◽  
Performance Results

The purpose of this study was to determine if children's prior performance experience was a mediating factor in their performance of a dominant or novel task in an audience or no audience situation. Eighty 9-year-old boys were divided into experienced (n = 40) and nonexperienced (n = 40) groups based on prior youth sport experience and the absence of any performance experience before a formal audience. Half of each group learned a rotary pursuit task until they could perform the task with at least 60% accuracy. The other half did not practice the task. Groups were again divided for task performance in an audience or no audience situation so that the following treatments were observed for both experienced and nonexperienced groups: dominant task, no audience; dominant task, evaluative audience; novel task, no audience; novel task, evaluative audience. Task performance for each subject was five 20-sec trials on the photoelectric rotary pursuit task. The mean score of each set of five was used for data analysis. An audience of four passive adults was present in each audience condition and made evaluative notations following each performance. Results of a 2 × 2 × 2 (experience × task dominance × audience) ANOVA failed to support Zajonc's (1965) social facilitation theory and Cottrell's (1968) modification of this theory. The well-learned task was inhibited by the presence of an evaluative audience while performance of a novel task was enhanced. No significant experience effects were evident.

scholarly journals Hard to Resist?

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 214-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Johannes ◽  
Harm Veling ◽  
Thijs Verwijmeren ◽  
Moniek Buijzen
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Sampling Design ◽  
Sequential Sampling ◽  
Stop Signal ◽  
Stop Signal Task ◽  
Impact Performance ◽  
Access Information ◽  
Prepotent Responses

Abstract. Because more and more young people are constantly presented with the opportunity to access information and connect to others via their smartphones, they report to be in a state of permanent alertness. In the current study, we define such a state as smartphone vigilance, an awareness that one can always get connected to others in combination with a permanent readiness to respond to incoming smartphone notifications. We hypothesized that constantly resisting the urge to interact with their phones draws on response inhibition, and hence interferes with students’ ability to inhibit prepotent responses in a concurrent task. To test this, we conducted a preregistered experiment, employing a Bayesian sequential sampling design, where we manipulated smartphone visibility and smartphone notifications during a stop-signal task that measures the ability to inhibit prepotent responses. The task was constructed such that we could disentangle response inhibition from action selection. Results show that the mere visibility of a smartphone is sufficient to experience vigilance and distraction, and that this is enhanced when students receive notifications. Curiously enough, these strong experiences were unrelated to stop-signal task performance. These findings raise new questions about when and how smartphones can impact performance.

Social Facilitation of Human Performance: Mere Presence Effects

1977 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Rajecki ◽  
William Ickes ◽  
Christine Corcoran ◽  
Kathy Lenerz
Keyword(s):  
Social Facilitation ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Mere Presence

Social Facilitation as a Function of the Mere Presence of Others

2001 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Platania ◽  
Gary P. Moran
Keyword(s):  
Social Facilitation ◽  
Mere Presence

Communication between Crews: The Effects of Speech Intelligibility on Team Performance

1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 630-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie A. Whitaker ◽  
Starr L. Fox ◽  
Leslie J. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Team Performance ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Speech Communication ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Radio Communication ◽  
Communication Structure ◽  
Complex Tasks ◽  
Transmission Factors ◽  
The Impact

Speech is a critical method of communication among group members while they are trying to accomplish a task. The present research program is designed to determine the impact of speech communication on performing a variety of communication-intensive tasks. A model describing performance as a function of auditory workload has guided this research. This model states that transmission, linguistic, and individual factors each contribute to auditory workload and hence influence task performance. The current study focused on two transmission factors: speech intelligibility and communication structure. Previous work in this program has reported the performance of two- or three-person crews operating alone to accomplish various tasks. The present study examined the team performance of two crews operating interactively to accomplish more complex tasks. Speech intelligibility was varied from 100% to 25% and was measured using the Modified Rhymes Test. Twelve crews were tested at the Closed Combat Test Bed using M1A2 tank simulators. The results of this study are consistent with those predicted by the auditory workload model; decrements in task performance occur at higher levels of intelligibility for more complex tasks than for less complex tasks. In addition to the task performance measured in this study, verbal protocols taken from recorded transcripts were coded as evidence of the changes in communication structure when speech intelligibility is varied. The implications of these findings for communication using cellular telephones and radio communication are discussed.

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