In the areas of social and industrial-organizational psychology, the theory of social facilitation is fundamental to understanding the ways in which human beings learn, interact with one another, perform their jobs and certain tasks, and so on. The practical implications of this idea are limitless, as well as its impact on various areas of psychological research. At its core, social facilitation refers to people’s tendencies to perform simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present, and to perform more complicated tasks less effectively (Aiello and Douthitt, 2001). Since Norman Triplett (1898) performed one of social psychologies first ever experiments, countless studies have been conducted either in applied or experimental settings, or with animal or human subjects, examining the causes, effects, and general nature of social facilitation, which has spawned dozens of theories.
In 1898, Norman Triplett, a sports psychologist, conducted an experiment that he claimed demonstrated “the dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition” (Triplett, 1898). In this experiment, he told children to wind the string on a fishing reel as quickly as they could and found that children wound faster when they worked with competing co-actors than when they worked alone. He concluded that “the bodily presence of another contestant…serves to liberate latent energy” (Triplett, 1898). This simple experiment may have spawned dozens of subsequent studies, but it wasn’t until Robert Zajonc (1965) that the study of social facilitation really came into its own. Zajonc revolutionized the field when he proposed an explanation that could account for both performance gains and losses (Aiello and
SOCIAL FACILITATION 2
Douhitt, 2001). In his paper, Zajonc discusses audience effects and describes numerous studies in which the results supported the hypothesis that individuals will perform exceedingly better on well-learned tasks when in front of an audience than when alone—because an audience has arousal consequences (Zajonc, 1965). However, it was also seen that, when an individual is learning a new task, the presence of spectators will significantly hinder their ability to learn. Therefore, it can be asserted that, for a student to be most successful, he/she should study alone in an isolated setting, yet, when it comes time to take the exam, he/she should be in the presence of many other students.
Although Zajonc’s audience arousal theory was widely accepted, there were many competing or alternate theories that began to emerge.
Social Loafing is an important concept that can be identifiable in our day to day lives such as through school work, household chores, employment and even sporting activities. The current research investigated the effect of social loafing on collective and coactive conditions through an experiment which asked participants to complete a brainstorming task asking them to list as many ways to use a pencil as they could. The results indicated that social loafing was non-significant in both collective and coactive conditions. However, group work improved the amount of answers the participants had. The results have important effects for reducing or eliminating social loafing to ensure that the participants are accountable for their own activities regardless if in an individual setting or group. Karau & Williams (1993) formed the conceptual idea that participants performing a group task would identify aspects of social loafing and thus having group cohesiveness would eliminate participant loafing. Shepperd, Stephen, Wright and Rex (1989) also established the social loafing concept to be related to impression management. Impression management being a goal directed conscious or unconscious process in which participants attempt to influence the perception of others (Stephen, Wright and Rex, 1989). In another theoretical concept of social loafing, Kerr (1983) demonstrated the free rider effect by addressing the role of the “sucker” in experiment groups. In stating this, it is evident that the many concepts surrounding social loafing derive from the same fundamentals. Though there are conflicting views within social loafing, results from this experiment do not show a significant difference of social loafing between collective groups and coact...
Myers, David G. “Chapter 14: Social Psychology.” Psychology. 10th ed. New York, NY US: Worth
The idea of the social learning theory has been a recent finding, defying traditional and widely accepted beliefs among society. Social learning explores the idea that humans do not simply mimic what they see, despite the popular belief that humans act upon subconscious or conscious desire. It is understood that humans do not simply act on whim, but act in certain ways to gain attention, recognition, or praise for their actions, showing the resolve and ambitious nature of humans. This theory, having been proposed in the 1970’s by a Stanford professor Alfred Bandura, challenged the traditional thought and introduced a concept that...
Many theories have been thought of over the years to attempt to explain why people behave the way they do. Many questions were brought up when thinking about that and the social learning theory is a popular theory in explaining this. Nobody really thought of the social learning theory too much until Albert Bandura wrote his idea of it. He actually wrote a book called “Social Learning Theory.” In this book, he states that behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning(Saul McLeod).
Social facilitation can influence even the best of us. This phenomenon occurs when we successfully complete relatively simple tasks in front of others. Contrastingly, when others are around, we tend to fail at completing more complicated chores. The idea of social facilitation has been experimented and contemplated on for years. As time has progressed, every study conducted always has remaining questions that need to be answered. Andrew Schauer, Warren Seymour, and Russell Geen put together a thorough analysis on social facilitation on the topic of beginning counselors during the 1980s. They examined the effects of observation and evaluation on anxiety levels within said counselors. Though the article had a great amount of information, they
The main focus of this research proposal is to address the study of social psychology and the role it plays in helping one understand human social behavior. In this proposal, one will attempt to explain how the field of social psychology will evolve within the next 10 years. Allport, (1985) maintains that social psychology is the scientific study that seeks to understand the nature of individual’s behavior and how they think, feel, and are influenced by others. To understand the framework of this proposal, one will focus on human social behavior as it relates to research in social psychology.
Social psychology is one of the many variations of psychology. By definition, social psychology is how humans influence each other’s way of behaving and thinking. Under social psychology, there are various ways to define human behaviour and understand why we behave in a particular manner. These approaches deal with multiple concepts such as conformity, obedience, and social influences. They help answer questions about our behaviour and actions, while also analyzing our cognitive processes in certain situations. Social experiments conducted throughout history have also led to more understanding in the aforementioned areas. With these understandings of social behaviour, society can benefit and become aware of themselves and their mentalities.
Various perspectives on behavior have changed the face of psychology over the centuries. Some of the most influential of these theories on behaviorism were made by John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, and Edward C. Tolman. The manner in which behavior is modified has become a growing debate in the aspect of which technique is more reliable and effective. The theories from these three men have become a foundation for many different schools of thought throughout modern psychology. Through their research, many modern psychologists have grown a better knowledge on why people react and behave during certain situations or in different environments. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the various theories of Watson and Skinner to that of Tolman.
Social Cognitive theory is a learning hypothesis in light of individuals with new practices can be learned by watching others. They learn by watching others and copying a model. This hypothesis is established from behaviorism, in light of the fact that the hypothesis manages subjective and enthusiastic parts of somebody 's conduct from watching and watching for comprehension behavioral change.
Suinn, R. M., & Clayton, R. D. (1980).Psychology in sports: methods and applications. Minneapolis, Minn.: Burgess Pub. Co..
Why do we do what we do? This is one question that summarizes the motive for psychology. The answer to this question is the reason why I declared psychology as my major. Current psychologists and those dating back to the year 1879, strove to achieve the answer to this reoccurring question. “The Father of Psychology”, Wilhelm Wundt, and those psychologists of-age, have been strenuously consulting and researching to truly understand the mind and its effect on human behavior. Over the last 127 years, an accumulation of various answers to that specific question have been made. In this paper, the main focus will be the working memory in athletics; how the conscious movements become unconscious and almost instinct-like, and how coaches can teach their athletes better, using explicit and implicit technique.
This observation journal will show different social psychology topics and real-life examples. This is to help understand and show the knowledge gained during this course. “Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context (Fein S., Kassin S., Markus H. 2016, p. 6).” Social psychology studies people during social situations such as parties, relationships, school, work and more.
Athletic competition does not appear to promote character development; instead, there are some studies that suggest that individuals with athletic experience have poorer attitudes toward fair play. Socially desirable behaviours such as friendliness, generosity and cooperation are inconsistent with physical activities that emphasize winning. However, physical activity may have the potential for personal growth in qualities including persistence, deeper self-reliance, commitment and motivation, and may increase resourcefulness. This is probably truer for noncompetitive physical activities than team competition.
Children who participate in sports are developing rapidly in sports skills, sportsmanship, and psychologically, but does this come from organized sports are just nature’s process. Children develop emotional and social benefits from participating in sports. Children experience character and leadership development through peer relations leading to an increase in self-esteem and a decrease in anxiety levels. Children will get opportunities to experience positive and negative emotions throughout their practice and games trials. It is important for the coach to understand the “psychology of youth sports and physical activity participation” (Weinberg & Gould, 2011 p.516).
Social Learning Theory can be used to explain many different kinds of human behaviors that are observational. In a college classroom, professor dress attire is a major role in the students learning process due to the lack of perceived credibility. Saul McLeod of Simply Phycology explains that social learning is a behavior that is learned from the surrounding environment though observational learning. McLeod also explains that this type of learning can have either a positive of negative effect. “Reinforcement can be positive of negative, but the important factor is that it will usually lead to a chance in a person’s behavior.” (McLeod, 2011) This is a perfect example of why instructors need to dress well in the classroom. If not, the students behavior; the credibility of the instructor, will change due to unprofessionalism in dress attire. However, those positive effects can lead to students’ perception of the instructor to be very credible and thus leading to increased morale, participation, and even achievement.