Social Facilitation/Inhibition

1. Social Facilitation/Inhibition • Does the presence of others (such as an audience, visitors, etc) facilitate or inhibit performance? • An audience, or presence of others appears to facilitate performance of well-learned skills, but to inhibit learning of new skills. • Implications for teaching/coaching • Minimize visitors during instruction or keep them out of sight • Encourage visitors/observers during performance/after learning • Effects of visitors on learning when their presence has become routine is unknown.

2. Ringelmann experiment (1913) Inhibition of motivation Team tug of war – measurement of pull contributed by individuals People Pull factor (times sum pulling alone) 1 1 2 1.9 3 2.5 . . . . . . 8 4 This effect is aka “social loafing.”

3. Explanations for social loafing • Coordination loss – not all pulling at same time • Motivational loss – The focus of attention is on the group, not the individual • Sucker effect – Individuals reduce theior effort because others are doing so, meaning anyone who does not is doing more than their fair share. • Free-rider effect – Individuals reduce effort because they observe that extra effort is not necessary to success of the group. • Lack of group cohesion – Individuals reduce effort because they do not feel bonded to the group.

4. Implications for teaching/learning • Attempts at cooperative learning may result in LOWER individual efforts unless these problems are addressed. • Pay attention to individual motivation even when dealing with a group or team effort. • Make sure a group really is a group and not an artificial set of individuals

5. Arousal vs Performance • Performance Arousal

6. Implications for teaching and coaching • The teacher’s or coach’s job is to help the performer achieve an optimal level, not necessarily maximal level of arousal. • Discuss: What techniques can be used to increase arousal? What can be used to decrease it? How can you know if arousal is too high or too low?

7. More on arousal • Arousal is affected by the social context of performance. It is increased by: • Audience presence and size • Competition • Reactions of others • Sheep effect – Reaction of a child to falling down depends on parent’s reaction • Politicians use this all the time

8. Social Effects in Group Goal Setting • Specific, though attainable, goals usually result in greater performance than vague goals such as “do your best” • Groups tend to work to create polarization. That is, to make people move father in whatever direction they are inclined to go individually. • Individuals with conservative (cautious) goals become more so in a group, for example. • Also applies to political/social issues. As such is a fundamental reason for encouraging free speech, no matter how extreme. The free exchange of ideas results in LESS polarization.

9. Burnout and Staleness • Particularly in age group level competition, athletes with great talent sometimes become stale or lose interest in their sport. Why is this? What might be done about this? • Burnout also happens to teachers and coaches. What can be done about this?

10. Social Identity • Def: How individuals see themselves in terms of group membership. • There is a human tendency to divide the world up into two groups, called “us” and “them.” • Some general behaviors/facts regarding group membership selection: • Self image is related to group membership status. We seek to join the most high status groups. • We seek to gain status by association with groups • Sometimes our association with a group may even be entirely in our minds. E.g. fans of Cowboys

11. more • We tend to see our own group as “better.” • We tend to protect our own group through rationalization. • “We won the game. The referee was unfair.” • We tend to preserve our group identity when it is to our advantage, but deny group membership when it is not. • “We won. They lost” • We tend to adjust our own behavior to an amazing extent to preserve our group identity. (Ashe experiment)

12. Mental Practice/Mental Imagery • Mental Practice – mentally rehearsing a skill without physical practice. • A football player might mentally go through a play • A gymnast might mentally work through a routine • Mental Imagery – mentally visualizing a performance or its outcome, often focusing on what a successful performance feels like. • A football player might visualize catching a pass for a touchdown. The gymnast might visualize sticking a landing or receiving a gold medal.

13. The theory behind mental practice and imagery is that mental rehearsal of a skill utilizes the same cognitive portions of the brain as its physical rehearsal. • Also, the visualization of success may serve as a source of motivation. • Research suggests: • Mental practice is better than no practice • Mental practice is not as effective as physical practice • Physical practice is better than both physical and mental if the total time for both is held constant. • Research on mental imagery is largely inconclusive.

14. Observational Practice • Def: practice or learning by watching others • Effective if feedback is not critical to performance • Or, if performance involves a previously learned skill under new conditions • Not as effective for skills requiring feedback or entirely new skills.