Performance and Learning Goal Orientations as Moderators of Social Loafing and Social Facilitation

Abstract

The social loafing and social facilitation phenomena were examined in contexts that encourage the adoption of either performance or learning goals. Social loafing and social facilitation were operationalized using a manipulation of evaluation potential by others (copartici-pants and experimenter) present in the experimental situation. Performance goal instructions were controlling and emphasized the test like nature of the task, whereas learning goal instructions were autonomy-supportive and emphasized its learning aspects. As expected, increases in evaluation potential resulted in increases in performance, lending support to a hypothesized continuum of evaluation potential underlying social loafing and social facilitation. The social facilitation effect was more pronounced in the performance goal compared to the learning goal context. In contrast, the social loafing effect was not moderated by context. Implications for group situations are discussed.