social facilitation + inhibition

Social facilitation

Positive influence of other who may be watching or competing on sport

Social inhibition

The negative influence of others who may be watching or competing, which leads to a decrease in sports performance

Factors affecting influence of an audience

Personality of performer

Type of skill performed

Level of experience

Introverts + extroverts

extroverts tend to seek social situations with high arousal and so, tend to perform better with an audience

Beginners and experts

• Previous experiences in front of an audience can affect performance. more skilled and elite, more likely to perform better in front of others than as a beginner as the crowd could distract your focus.

Simple and complex skills

• Lower levels of arousal are better to increase performance if the skill is more complex due to the decision making and concentration required. If skill is more simple, higher levels of arousal can be managed and are often better to increase performance.

Gross and fine skills

• If skill is a gross skill then higher levels of arousal  from the presence of others is desirable to increase performance.

• If the skill is fine and intricate then the arousal form an audience could cause social inhibition if not managed

Evaluation apprehension

When a performers arousal level or anxiety increases because they can see judgement by others in the audience. The performer thinks or perceive that others are judging them so they become anxious and less confident which negatively impacts on performance .

This could be because they know someone in the crowd or there is a coach or scout who’s opinion matters to them

Strategies to help limit effects of social inhibition or apprehension

• Mental rehearsal/imagery may help to block out the audience so that they don't distract the performer

• Practicing in front of an audience may help the performer to become accustomed to them and stop them having a negative effect.

• Using selective attention to only focus on relevant cues