Social Facilitation Research Research Articles

Moving in the presence of others – a systematic review and meta-analysis on social facilitation

ABSTRACT Social facilitation is an old research topic in psychology with diverse results: Performance in cognitive or motor tasks is either facilitated, inhibited or not affected, argued to be a function of task complexity. In his narrative review, Strauss, B. (2002. Social facilitation in motor tasks: A review of research and theory. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 3(3), 237–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1469-0292(01)00019-X) found the presence of others to positively affect condition-based tasks (general drive hypothesis, Zajonc, R. B. (1965). Social facilitation. Science, 149(3681), 142–146. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.149.3681.269), and to negatively affect coordination-based tasks (capacity hypothesis, Manstead, A. S. R., & Semin, G. R. (1980). Social facilitation effects: Mere enhancement of dominant responses? British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19(2), 119–135. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1980.tb00937.x). This systematic review and meta-analysis focused exclusively on movement-based tasks, identifies the prevalence and magnitude of social facilitation, moderated by condition- and coordination-demands. Through forward searches (Scopus, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Academic Search Premier, ProQuest Dissertations, OvidSP) and backward searches, we identified N = 82 human studies (7008 participants) over 100 years. In the systematic review, condition-based tasks are generally facilitated, while results of coordination-based tasks performed under time and precision pressure differed (cf. Bond, C. F., & Titus, L. J. (1983). Social facilitation: A meta-analysis of 241 studies. Psychological Bulletin, 94(2), 265–292. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.94.2.265). The meta-analytic moderator analysis of coordination- and condition-based tasks aligned with the systematic review. The experimenter’s influential presence was emphasized. We support the capacity hypothesis and draw conclusions for the state of the theory and experimental limitations specific to social facilitation research.

Effect of Anthropomorphic Design on the Effectiveness of Motivational Messages

The potential for social robots to provide assistance to those in need continues to increase though optimal design for user acceptance and engagement continues to be elusive. The design of social robots for user motivation specifically has not been well researched yet evidence does indicate that virtual agents can be motivational. Theory of mind and social facilitation research points to the motivational potential of social robots. This study examines the effect of human-like appearance (i.e. anthropomorphism) on the effectiveness of motivational messages. Results indicate that images of humans paired with motivational messages were perceived as significantly more motivating than anthropomorphic images and zoomorphic images paired with motivational messages. There were no differences in motivation between anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images. Data indicates that participants tended to prefer human images to anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images for motivational purposes.

Third Party Observers

Abstract Third party observers have been found to significantly impair neuropsychological test performance on measures of attention, verbal memory, verbal fluency, and cognitive symptom validity. One measure of the importance of a research-based finding for clinical practice is effect size. Effect sizes were calculated for selected social facilitation literature and empirical studies of the impact of a third party observer on formal neuropsychological measures. The average effect size estimate found for the social facilitation research was large. Effect size estimates associated with findings from the third party observer research were, on average, medium for memory measures and small for motor and attention/executive measures. These findings indicate that the presence of an observer during a neuropsychological evaluation should be expected to have a clinically meaningful impact on an examinee's test performance, with memory measures particularly vulnerable.

The effect of personality on social facilitation whilst performing a sports related task

The aim of the experiment was to investigate the effect of personality on social facilitation in a sporting context. After initial screening of 50 subjects by administration of the E.P.I., a group of 20 were selected for the experiment. Of these, 10 were designated as extraverts and 10 introverts. The task selected was a table tennis serve into a target area marked by grids. Subjects were required to perform the task both alone and in front of an audience. The results were analysed using a two-way ANOVA with one repeated measure. There were no significant main effects, but a highly significant interaction ( F 1.18 = 17.7, P < 0.001) between personality type and audience condition was revealed. This effect was due to the predicted pattern of extraverts performing better than the introverts in the presence of an audience and vice versa for the alone condition. It is concluded that the personality dimension of extraversion/introversion is a significant factor in social facilitation research.

Reducing Evaluation Effects in Mere Presence

Abstract To test for mere presence effects without evaluation, subjects were told that the person present was part of a “blind experimenter” procedure and was not allowed to know anything about the task. Facilitation of a simple copying task was found, but only when the confederate could not be monitored by the subjects. This finding supports the existence of mere presence effects without evaluation. Support is also given to a monitoring model of mere presence effects, although a particular form of the distraction hypothesis cannot be ruled out. A new test of the validity of self-report measures in social facilitation research leaves open the question of whether demand characteristics have influenced previous self-report measures.

Task performance and perceptions of anxiety: averaging and summation in an evaluative setting.

Suggests that individuals' "stage fright," or perceptions of anxiety and performance, is a function of tendencies to both average and summate the impact of audience members. We found that under certain conditions adding an evaluative member to an audience decreased anxiety, whereas in other conditions the addition of evaluative members increased anxiety. These results are not expected from social impact theory or social facilitation research and suggest that individuals do not react to groups of individuals in a manner analogous to the way in which trait information is typically averaged in forming impressions of individuals (Anderson, 1981). An averaging-summation model that does account for these findings is presented. This research has implications for research on crowding, stress, social influence, and affective responses.

Social influence and sex effects on task performance and task perceptions

A laboratory experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of observer presence and subject sex on both performance quantity and quality, job satisfaction, and task perceptions. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) results demonstrated statistically significant multivariate effects on the performance measures. Significant main effects of observer presence were found for performance quality but not quantity. A significant observer presence x subject sex interaction was found for performance quantity. The results for task perceptions supported the hypothesis that the situational factors would make salient the significance of the task. Main effects of observer presence were found for task significance only. Also there was a significant observer presence x subject sex interaction on perceptions of task significance. No effects were found on job satisfaction, consistent with past research. The results are discussed relative to social facilitation research in the broader context of social influence.

A test of theories of social facilitation using a musical task

A study is reported which examined the effects of the presence of others, recording equipment, and a mirror on performance of a musical task. These three performance conditions were designed to test predictions derived from the mere presence, evaluation apprehension, and objective self‐awareness accounts of social facilitation phenomena. The relationship between task performance and individual differences in test anxiety was also assessed. Eighty subjects were each assigned to one of 16 conditions in a 2 (male vs. female) × 2 (well‐practised vs. poorly practised) × 4 (others present, evaluation, mirror, alone) design. Results showed that task performance, as measured by melodic errors, did not conform to any of the theoretical predictions. The findings are discussed in the context of other social facilitation research, and an attentional model of social facilitation phenomena is advanced as a possible explanation for failures to obtain effects predicted by drive‐based theories.

THE STATUS OF AROUSAL IN RECENT SOCIAL FACILITATION LITERATURE: A REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF ASSUMPTIONS IMPLIED BY THE CURRENT RESEARCH MODEL

Zajonc has suggested that the presence of others is innately arousing, and that general arousal controls performance. The following review evaluates this hypothesis in the light of empirical evidence from current social facilitation research. It appears that in most studies arousal level is not related to audience presence or to the quality of performance. It is suggested that these mainly negative results are probably due to the simplistic and inadequate nature of the current social facilitation research model. It restricts itself to the study of only one mediational process and views the subject as a passive receiver of information. This model emphasizes the intensity of behavior but neglects the directional aspect. Cognitive, strategic aspects of behavior are largely neglected. It is suggested that the model should consider at least two operationally distinct mediational processes. The first can be defined in terms of the effort invested voluntarily in task performance and controlled by strategic plans and intentions. The second can be defined in terms of arousal and reflects what happens to the subject unintentionally.

The Significance of Nonsignificant Findings

The replication by Landers et al. (1978) of the Martens' (1969) social-facilitation study is evaluated. The atypical constant error (CE) performance curve obtained in the Martens' study may diminish the external validity of the CE results, but not the internal validity. Furthermore, the validity of the AE results as well as the highly significant physiological corroborative data remain unscathed. Finally, the conclusions about social facilitation research reached by Landers et al. are questioned in light of their nonsignificant, noncorroborated, and statistically nonpowerful results.

Social facilitation

Video-recording procedures have been used in previous research as a motivational manipulation. The present study investigated the permanent recording o f behavior as a manipulation o f evaluation apprehension and its effects upon behavioral performance and upon autonomic arousal. Twenty-four subjects (12 males, 12 females) were randomly assigned to one o f four conditions formed by completely crossing two levels o f audience status (peer or authority) with two levels o f behavioral record (nonpermanent or permanent). Another 24 subjects were assigned to an external control group to the 2 X 2 design. Subjects'performance on a hidden-word task and their arousal level (as assessed by the Palmar Sweat Index) were measured. Analyses o f variance results showed a significant performance (p<.05) and a significant arousal (p<.05) difference between the behavioral record conditions as predicted. The control group was also found to be significantly (p < .05) different f rom the experimental groups on the behavioral performance measure. The results were related to previous research findings and interpreted within the context o f the evaluation apprehension notion presented within social facilitation research.

An Analysis of Social Facilitation Effects in Terms of Signal Detection Theory

The currently favored model of social facilitation is confined to the study of audience and coaction effects on response tendencies only. It does not distinguish between stimulus bias on the one hand and response bias on the other, both of which may have social origins. An analysis of social facilitation phenomena, based on signal detection theory (SDT), is put forward. This approach makes possible an operational distinction between stimulus bias—i.e., effects on “sensitivity”—and response tendencies—i.e., effects on “the criterion.” An experiment is reported demonstrating the importance of this distinction. Increased errors observed in an audience condition would be interpreted as response bias within the currently favored response dominance hypothesis. But this could be misleading; response tendencies, considered in terms of the SDT criterion, do not differ between audience and alone conditions. Rather, subjects in these two conditions do differ significantly in their sensitivity, which apparently is impaired by the presence of others. This paper has three purposes. First, it outlines some of the limitations of the currently favored account of social facilitation research based on Hull-Spence drive theory (Spence, 1956). Second, it suggests a broader and more flexible interpretation based on SDT. Third, it presents a social facilitation experiment in which performance was analyzed in SDT terms, i.e., distinguishing between socially produced stimulus bias and socially produced response bias. The results support the argument for employing a less restricted model than the one currently favored.

Distraction as a source of drive in social facilitation research.

Distraction-conflict theory maintains that findings from social facilitation research result from the fact that the presence of others distracts subjects, thereby creating attentional conflict, which in turn produces drive effects. In support of this position, there already is a large amount of data indicating that presenting various forms of distraction during task settings produces drive effects. The present research complements these data by demonstrating that in a close replication of a well-known social facilitation study, subjects show indications across several measures of being more distracted in audience conditions than when they are alone. Moreover, this effect occurs regardless of whether the audience facilitates (simple) performance or impairs (complex) performance. These results are taken as support for distraction-conflict theory. Research in the area of social facilitation generally supports Zajonc's (1965) suggestion that the presence of others facilitates task performance on simple well-learned tasks and impairs performance on complex poorly learned tasks (Cottrell, 1972; Geen & Gange, 1977). We have argued (Sanders & Baron, 197S) that these drivelike effects occur because the presence of species mates creates attentional conflict within subjects in social facilitation research settings. This is presumed to be true because there are a variety of reasons to attend to species mates in such settings (such as a desire for social comparison), while at the same time there is pressure to work quickly and diligently on the task. Our feeling is that the resulting conflict could easily account for the drive effects described above (Brown & Farber, 1951; Kimble, 1961). In short, our position (referred to below as distraction-conflict theory) is that in typical social facilitation research, the crucial feature of audience and coaction treatments is their distracting

Distraction as a source of drive in social facilitation research.

Distraction as a source of drive in social facilitation research.

Form of evaluation and audience expertness as joint determinants of audience effects

A more stringent test was made of Martens and Landers' (1972) conclusion that direct evaluation of performance and outcomes leads to greater performance impairment than indirect evaluation of outcomes only. Expert and nonexpert audiences viewed Subjects performing a motor task with visual information and knowledge of outcomes (direct evaluation), with no visual information but knowledge of outcomes (indirect evaluation), and the absence of both visual information and knowledge of outcomes (no evaluation). Contrary to Martens and Landers, with an expert audience, both direct and indirect evaluation impaired performance equally. Results indicated that at least two factors in social facilitation research, audience characteristics and form of evaluation, can be considered interactive determinants of evaluation potential. These results directly support Cottrell's (1968) notion that the potential for evaluation characterizing a social situation is the chief source of audience and coaction effects in humans.

Paired-associate learning as influenced by birth order and the presence of others

Social facilitation research has shown that the presence of coactors affects performance in a way similar to the effects of general drive level Learning of competi-tional material is inhibited while the learning of noncompetitional material is facilitated. Research on affiliation need suggests, however, that drive level will be reduced in the presence of others, particularly for first-born individuals. The present experiment was designed to test these hypotheses. First- and later-bom Ss were tested either individually or in groups on a paired-associate task known to be competitional The results suggest that the later-bom Ss show a social facilitation effect while the first-bom Ss an affiliation effect. The results are significant, however, only for male Ss. The results for females tend to support a social facilitation position for both birth-order positions.