Social facilitation/inhibition

define social facilitation

performing in front of an audience increases arousal so increases performance

define social inhibition

performing in front of an audience increases arousal too much so performance decreases

social facilitation/inhibition depends on

personality - extroverts get facilitation because crows stimulates RAS, introverts get inhibition because crowd overstimulates RAS

skill type - gross skills get facilitation because adrenaline increases so O2 to the muscles increases, fine skills get inhibition because adrenaline increases + causes loss of motor control

experience - experienced performers get facilitation because they are used to performing in front of a crowd, inexperienced performers get inhibition because they aren’t used to it

stage of learning - autonomous learners get facilitation because they have a correct dominant response, cognitive learners get inhibition because they have an incorrect dominant response

Zajonc application to drive theory

dominant response (natural pre-learned action) produced at high arousal

ways to reduce social inhibition (6)

positive self-talk

mental rehearsal

fully groove skill for correct dominant response

practise with audience

selective attention

confidence building strategy

describe home advantage theory

performing in front of large, supportive home crowd massively increases performance

home advantage theorist

Pollard

criticisms of home advantage effect (3)

may increases anxiety for introverts

may perform better away

effect dependent on type of skill

describe proximity effect

how close the crowd is to the performer can inhibit or facilitate performance

proximity effect theorist

Schwartz

criticisms of proximity effect saying close proximity will facilitate (2)

closer audience inhibits introverts

closer audience inhibits fine skills

describe evaluation-apprehension theory

increased arousal only occurs if performer feels they’re being judged + this can cause inhibition if anxiety increases or facilitation if motivation increases

evaluation-apprehension theorist

Cottrell

criticisms of evaluation-apprehension (2)

depends on significance of person judging them

depends on personality, skill type + experience

describe distraction-conflict theory

presence of audience can distract performer from complex skills so the skill doesn’t get their full attention

distraction-conflict theorist

Baron

criticisms of distraction-conflict (3)

experienced performers can block out crowd

proximity has effect

depends on performer’s personality