Triplett (1898)

Background - Triplett

Norman Triplett (1861-1931):

* Worked as a high school science teacher
* Studied psychology (PhD on psychology of magic) at Indiana University
* Published the first ever study in social psychology (1898)

Background - cycling competitions

* Triplett was a keen sportsman and noticed that cyclists ride faster when in a group
* He analysed the results from cycling events and compared:
* Races against other riders
* Paced races against time
* Unpaced races against time
* Results:
* Riders in unpaced races were faster than in paced races and races against other riders.
* Found improvement over unpaced races - riders raced averagely 26% faster with other riders, and 23% faster in paced races
* Theories for these findings (why riders cycle faster in presence of other riders or pacing) - see table
* Key one is dynamogenic - theory of competition that the presence of another rider arouses the competitive instinct
* Triplett’s criticism of this analysis
* Men fast at one kind of racing may be comparatively slow at another - they find by experience the race that they are best fitted to excel, and specialise in that. I.e. **self-selection problem**
* Tested on natural data so externally valid but lacks internal validity - therefore, an experiment needed to be conducted…

Triplett (1898)

Pts - 40 children, aged 8-17

Method

* ‘Competition machine’ - 2 fishing reels that each pull a flag across a 4m circuit when reeled rapidly
* Stopwatch and kymograph - record the time and a graphical record of the rate at which pts turned the fishing reel

Procedure

* Pts had practice rounds until they were all familiar with the machine
* Trials - 6 trials across 4 rounds, lasting 30-40secs each, with 5 minutes rest in-between
* Conditions - so conditions can be compared with each trial
* Group A: alone, competition, alone, competition, alone, competition
* Group B: alone, alone, competition, alone, competition, alone

Triplett (1898) - results

* No statistical analysis at the time, so raw data and drawings were presented
* 3 tables presented - people were categorised into 3 groups based on how they performed
* Positively stimulated - faster times in competition (20 pts)
* Overstimulated - slower times in competition (10 pts)
* With stimulation brought loss of control. They had an intense desire to win but this resulted in overstimulation - laboured breathing, flushed faces, stiffening/contraction of arm muscles
* Little affected - same times in competition and alone (10 pts)

Debate and controversy

* Statistical analysis
* Other theories and research

D&C - statistical analysis

Statistical analysis of Triplett’s data (Strube, 2005)

* Found the only significant effect was comparing trial 3 between group A (competition) and group B (alone) - there were no other significant differences
* Within-subjects analysis showed significant but small (p=.048) difference in the contrast between average competition and average alone times
* Small reduction of 1.81% in trial times

D&C - other theories and research

* Ringelmann - social loafing
* Conducted studies in 1880s examining how group size affects individual effort
* Men in groups of different sizes pull on a rope - found the increase in total force exerted on the rope is less than would be expected from the addition of individual scores. I.e. the total force of the men together was less than the total of the men’s individual forces summed up.
* Therefore - motivational loss?
* Zajonc (1965)
* There were inconsistencies in findings on social facilitation in the 1940s and 1950s
* Zajonc used drive theory to explain these inconsistencies
* The presence of other people acts as a source of arousal. Arousal tends to facilitate the dominant response
* In simple/well-learned tasks, dominant responses tend to be correct. I.e. the presence of others should lead to social facilitation (better performance with others)
* In complex/novel tasks, dominant responses are usually incorrect or inefficient. I.e. the presence of others should lead to social inhibition (worse performance with others)
* Latané - differences in ‘others’ presence
* Social facilitation research shows observers, co-actors or audience members can lead to arousal, evaluation, distraction
* Social loafing research shows co-workers or teammates can lead to an opportunity to reduce efforts

Impact

* As the first social psychological experiment, Triplett set the standard, providing some of the hallmarks of good research
* Multiple methodologies
* Multiple theories, competing hypotheses
* Precision and attention to detail
* Modelling of real-world dynamics in a controlled environment
* Control of confounding variables
* Inspiration - sparked hundreds of studies on the way the presence of others affects individual motivation and effort
* Different ‘others’ - observers, co-actors/co-workers, audiences
* Different tasks - simple/well-learned, complex/novel
* Animals and humans
* Underlying processes
* Development of theories