Social Facilitation

What Social Facilitation covers

Social Facilitation is examined in Component 2, Psychological and social principles of physical education. It covers social facilitation, social inhibition and types of others, Zajonc's dominant response and evaluation apprehension and home advantage, distraction, proximity and coping with an audience.

The 3 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Social facilitation, social inhibition and types of othersSocial facilitation and inhibition, positive and negative audience effects, passive others, co-actors, audiences and interactive others, rivals in a 1500 m race, Triplett's cyclists of 1898, and introverts and extroverts in front of a crowd.Open →
• Zajonc's dominant response and evaluation apprehensionZajonc's 1965 model and the dominant response, experts and novices, the inverted-U hypothesis, simple, gross, complex and fine skills, the shot putter and the darts player, and Cottrell's evaluation apprehension with its blindfolded audience.Open →
• Home advantage, distraction, proximity and coping with an audienceSignificant others, home-field advantage and matches behind closed doors, the distraction effect and distraction-conflict theory, the proximity effect, familiarisation, selective attention, overlearning and stress management.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Social Facilitation further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Social facilitation vs Social inhibition

  Social facilitation: improved performance caused by the presence of others. Social inhibition: worse performance caused by being watched or accompanied.

• Passive others vs Interactive others

  Passive others: an audience or co-actors who do not compete directly. Interactive others: competitors and spectators who engage directly with the performer.

• Co-actors vs Audience

  Co-actors: people doing the same task alongside without direct competition. Audience: people watching the performance without taking part.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is social facilitation?

   Model answer

   Social facilitation is an improvement in performance caused by others being present. The performer usually improves because arousal rises.

2. 2

   What is social inhibition?

   Model answer

   Social inhibition is a decline in performance caused by others being present. The decline often happens because arousal rises too far.

3. 3

   Give two positive effects an audience can have on a performer.

   Model answer

   An audience can raise arousal and motivation, so effort increases. A crowd can also boost confidence when a skill is well learned.

4. 4

   Give two negative effects an audience can have on a performer.

   Model answer

   An audience can raise anxiety and cause a performer to choke. Attention may shift to the crowd, so important cues are missed.

5. 5

   Who are passive others?

   Model answer

   Passive others are people present who do not compete against or respond to the performer. An audience and co-actors are passive others.

6. 6

   What is a co-actor?

   Model answer

   A co-actor is someone doing the same task at the same time without competing directly. Two cyclists training side by side are co-actors.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Social Facilitation revision questions

What does Social Facilitation cover in Edexcel A-Level Physical Education?

3 subtopics: social facilitation, social inhibition and types of others, zajonc's dominant response and evaluation apprehension and home advantage, distraction, proximity and coping with an audience. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Social Facilitation organised?

By the Edexcel 9PE0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.