Social Facilitation

• social facilitation - the positive influence of others, who may be watching or competing, on sport performance
• social inhibition - the negative influence of other, who may be watching or competing, which leads to a decrease in sports performance
• Evaluation Apprehension:

  • the increase in arousal level caused by being evaluated/judged
  • performance will be enhanced or impaired only in the presence or persons who can approve or disapprove our action
• Evaluation apprehension:

  • can be useful at times in spite of its tendency to create anxiety
  • at high levels, this can inform people that the situation is important and that they should focus their attention
  • research indicates that a person is less easily distracted when they have a heightened level of evaluation apprehension
  • the heightened level of attention can create anxiety
  • evaluation apprehension leads to an amplified level of attention that is both beneficial and detrimental
• Effects of social facilitation:

  home/away

  introvert/extrovert

  beginners/experts

  simple/complex

  gross/fine
• home/away - social facilitation

  • teams often win more at home than they do away
  • nature of audience
  • however, some may be pressured by people they know
• the nature of the audience can affect arousal level of the performer e.g noisy or very aggressive can increase anxiety

  the physical proximity of the audience can affect arousal levels. eg if the crowd is close, the performer may feel threatened
• Narrow band (link to inverted u theory)

  type A - high levels of personal stress

  • therefore, already high stress so presence of observers could over stress them and arousal could increase past optimum which will decrease performance

  type B - low levels of personal stress

  • therefore already low stress so presence of observers could increase arousal to their optimum levels and increase performance
• Extrovert/introvert:

  extrovert - tend to seek situation with high arousal levels so perform better with an audience.

  low internal arousal, therefore audience is likely to increase arousal

  introvert - tend to shy away from social situations and so will perform worse in front of a crowd.

  high internal arousal, therefore an audience is likely to increase arousal over optimal level and decrease performance
• Elite skilled performers are more likely to experience social facilitation and do well in front of an audience

  their dominant responses are more likely correct

  distractions less likely to interfere with these almost automatic responses
• Novice performers are more likely to have a decrease in performance in front of a crowd

  their dominant responses are likely to be incorrect

  their motor patterns are not yet learnt so when distraction arise it will interfere with performing skills
• Simple/gross e.g triple jump, shot put and javelin

  • high arousal caused by the audience can facilitate or help performer
  • these types of skills do not require high levels of perceptual processing and are often dynamic in nature, requiring high levels of arousal
• Fine/complex e.g snooker, golf putting

  • lower levels of arousal are more desirable to optimise performance. Therefore, the presence of others as an audience can inhibit performance of these skills
  • require more concentration and often more complex decision making and therefore an audience may interfere rather than help
• Techniques used for coping with audiences:

  • mental rehearsal
  • relaxation techniques
  • positive thinking
  • selective attention
  • include spectators in practice situations
  • over learning skills
  • confidence building
  • positive reinforcement