Mere presence and social facilitation: One more time

Abstract

Does the mere presence of another person produce social facilitation? This classic question was addressed once again, using a procedure similar to that of H. Markus (1978, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 14, 389–397), but modified to remove some critical ambiguities of interpretation. Forty-five college undergraduates worked alone, in the presence of an individual wearing a blindfold and earphones, or in the presence of an evaluative experimenter. Prior to realizing that the experiment had actually begun, each subject performed both a simple task (typing his or her name) and a difficult task (typing the name backward with ascending numbers interspersed between the letters). Compared to the alone condition, performance times in both audience conditions were faster for the simple task and slower for the difficult task—the criterial pattern for social facilitation. This study, then, provides the clearest evidence to date that mere presence is dufficient to produce social facilitation.