Social facilitation & Inhibition

• Social facilitation

  The positive influence on sports Performance of others who may be watching or competing
• Social Inhibition

  The negative influence on sports performance of others who may be watching or competing
• Zajonc (1965) identified the following factors as affecting performance

  1. The presence of an audience increases arousal
  2. .Increases in arousal will trigger the dominant response
  3. If a skill is well learned, the response will be correct
  4. If the skill is new or poorly learned, the response will be incorrect
• Evaluative apprehension

  This increases arousal levels, which in turn increases heart rate and causes other detrimental effects
• Example of evaluation apprehension

  A person trying out for netball may feel a heightened sense of arousal leading to incompetence, not just because others are around but because of the fear that others are observing and judging them.
• Effects of social facilitation & Inhibition on performance

  • Home vs Away
  • Personality (Type A vs B, Introverts vs extroverts )
  • Level of experience (beginners vs experts )
  • Type of skill
  • Other influences
• Home vs Away

  • Teams more often win at home, maybe due to the nature of the audience
  • Some research suggests it is harder to win at home due to increased pressure
• Personality

  • Type A (high anxiety) personalities perform less well in front of an audience than Type B (low anxiety)
  • Extroverts tend to perform better in front of a crowd than introverts
• Levels of experience

  • Performing in front of peers can aid experts but increase the anxiety of novices
  • Elite skilled individuals perform better than beginners due to the dominant response being correct.
• Level of experience

  • Previous experience in front of an audience can help alleviate nerves and improve performance
  • If a performer has failed in front of an audience, they may expect to fail again.
• Type of skill

  • Gross skills are helped by high arousal, therefore an audience can facilitate performance
  • Fine or complex skills are helped by lower arousal, so an audience could inhibit performance
• Other influences

  • The nature of the crowd - if they are hostile or noisy , a performer may feel more anxious
  • The proximity of the audience - a close audience could make a performer feel threatened and increase arousal.
• Strategies to minimise social inhibition

  • Imagery techniques to "shut out" the audience
  • Relaxation techniques
  • Training with an audience present
  • Remaining calm and focused