Question

in 70 words or more please define social facilitation. How has the definition of social facilitationevolved? Why do you think it has changed? and examples please.

Answer 1

Social facilitation refers to the tendency for individuals to perform differently when in they are in the presence of others in comparison to when they are alone. In particular, individuals tend to perform better on tasks that are simple or well-rehearsed and worse on tasks that are complex or new ones. Individuals differ in terms of their susceptibility to the effects of social facilitation. Personality factors that make individuals more prone to social influence enhance the effects. Other contributing factors maybe external to the environment such as a supportive crowd or a hostile crowd. In addition, the proximity of the crowd or the size of the crowd could influence the result of the audience effect.

The notion that the mere presence of others causes a change in performance has been challenged. Over the years, years, cognition and motivation based models constructed in an expectancy theory and task-centres framework is shown as a plausible alternative explanation for the effects of social facilitation (e.g., Griffith et al., 1989). This reflects a focus on innate perpetual and information processing factors that determine the impact of others on the performance. The metacogntion that arise from the awareness of being judged by a capable audience that leads to social facilitation has also been investigated.

References:

Griffith, T. L., Fichman, M., & Moreland, R. L. (1989). Social Loafing and Social Facilitation: An Empirical Test of the Cognitive-Motivational Model of Performance. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 10(3), 253-271. doi:10.1207/s15324834basp1003_4

Beehr, Terry A.; Ferris, Gerald R.; Gilmore, David C. (1978). "Social Facilitation: A Review and Alternative Conceptual Model". The Academy of Management Review. 3 (2): 338–347. doi:10.5465/amr.1978.4295344. JSTOR 257673.