Social facilitation effects on runway and maze behavior in mice

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From 1897 until beginning of World War 11, social facilitation was subject of active research (Zajonc, 1965). Some studies found that presence of others had a facilitating effect on task performance, while others reported an inhibiting influence. No general theories were forthcoming to explain conflicting results of these studies. Renewed interest was generated in 1965 when Zajonc reviewed literat ure of area and suggested a hypothesis that would resolve disagreement in earlier findings. He reasoned that presence of others of same species (conspecifics) acted as a source of general drive. Zajonc (1965) speculated that the presence of others, as spectators or as coactors, enhances emission of dominant responses [p. 273]. He theorized that during learning, appropriate response is not dominant, and presence of others hampers acquisition. However, after task is learned, presence of others facilitates performance. conclusion that odor and mirror conditions were too unlike actual presence of conspecifics to elicit facilitative effects in cockroaches. Other studies of social facilitation have used nonhuman species such as fish (Welty, 1934), birds (Hake & Laws, 1967; Tolman, 1968a, b), rats (Morrison & Hill, 1967; Simmel, 1962), dogs (James, 1953, 1960; James & Cannon, 1955), opossums (Platt & James, 1966; Platt, Sutker, & James, 1968), and primates (Harlow & Yudin, 1933; Stamm, 1961). All of these studies measured effects of social facilitation on naturally occurring behaviors rather than on learning tasks (eating, drinking, running in dogs, swimming in fish, or exploratory behavior in rats), and all organisms with exception of rats and opossums were allelomimetic species (species in which tendency is strong to imitate actions of a conspecific with some degree of mutual stimulation). The present study was designed to evaluate Zajonc's hypothesis using a nonallelomimetic mammalian species (mice) in both natural and learning situations. Mice were chosen because