Social Facilitation

What Social Facilitation covers

Social Facilitation is examined in A2 Unit 3, Evaluating physical education. It covers audiences, co-actors and performance, theories of social facilitation and home field advantage and reducing social inhibition.

The 3 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Audiences, co-actors and performanceSocial facilitation and inhibition, co-actors and passive audiences, how an audience helps or hinders, novices and experts, type of skill, personality and whether audiences always improve performance.Open →
• Theories of social facilitationZajonc's drive theory and the dominant response, evaluation apprehension, distraction-conflict theory, self-presentation theory and choking, and the link with the inverted-U theory.Open →
• Home field advantage and reducing social inhibitionHome field advantage and when it turns against a team, and reducing social inhibition through selective attention, practice with an audience, mental rehearsal, stress management, private learning and grooving skills.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: better performance because others are present. Social inhibition: worse performance because others are present.

• Co-actors vs Passive audience

  Co-actors: people doing the same task alongside a performer. Passive audience: people watching without interacting.

• Drive theory vs Evaluation apprehension

  Drive theory: the view that mere presence of others raises arousal. Evaluation apprehension: the view that arousal rises only when a person feels judged.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is social facilitation?

   Model answer

   Social facilitation is the improvement in performance caused by the presence of others. The presence of others raises arousal.

2. 2

   What is social inhibition?

   Model answer

   Social inhibition is the decline in performance caused by the presence of others. Novices are especially affected.

3. 3

   What are co-actors?

   Model answer

   Co-actors are people doing the same task at the same time but not competing directly. Other runners at a training session are co-actors.

4. 4

   What is a passive audience?

   Model answer

   A passive audience is people watching without interacting. Spectators at a match form a passive audience.

5. 5

   How can an audience improve performance?

   Model answer

   An audience raises arousal, which helps simple and well-learned skills. Experienced performers often perform better in front of crowds.

6. 6

   How can an audience worsen performance?

   Model answer

   Raised arousal can disrupt complex or new skills. Novices may make more mistakes in front of others.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Social Facilitation revision questions

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

3 subtopics: audiences, co-actors and performance, theories of social facilitation and home field advantage and reducing social inhibition. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Social Facilitation organised?

By the WJEC 601-8485-1 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.