Chapter Ten: Performance

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Chapter Ten Performance

• William P. Wattles, Ph. D.
• Francis Marion University

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Social Facilitation

• Improvement in task performance when people work
  in the presence of others

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Social Facilitation

• Social Facilitation The process whereby the
  presence of other people
• 1) enhances performance on easy tasks (dominant
  responses) but,
• 2) impairs performance on difficult tasks
  (non-dominant responses).

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Dominant Response

• The reaction elicited most quickly and easily by
  a given situation
• A well- practiced response

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Non-dominant response

• An unpracticed response

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Zajonc Cockroach experiment 1

• Cockroach placed in a tube with a bright light at
  one end. To escape the light, the cockroach had
  to run down the tube and into a darkened box at
  the end.
• IV Presence or absence of other cockroaches
• DV Speed of escape Results Cockroaches were
  faster to escape when other cockroaches were
  present.

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Zajonc Cockroach experiment 2

• The cockroach had to turn a corner to escape the
  bright light. Results Cockroaches slower to
  complete task when other cockroaches present.

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Coaction tasks

• Working go the same task with another person
  present.

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Audience Task

• Individual performs a task in front of an audience

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Compresence Hypothesis

• Mere presence of others enhances performance
• Presence of others of our species is important

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Evaluation apprehension

• People feel anxious when being evaluated by
  others.

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Performance and anxiety

• Yerkes-Dodson curve
• Adaptive anxiety helps people prepare, practice,
  and rehearse
• Maladaptive anxiety causes distress and
  dysfunction

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Distraction-conflict Theory

• Performance decreases caused by distraction of
  attending to others.

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Task Demands

• Combination processes dictated by group and
  problem

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Additive Tasks

• Tasks that can be completed by adding together
  individual inputs.
• Group usually exceeds individual.

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Disjunctive task

• Group must generate a single solution.
• Groups usually outperform individuals

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Conjunctive task

• Task not completed until slowest member finishes.

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Discretionary Task

• A task that can be completed using many different
  combinations.

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Unitary Task

• No subtasks exist

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Divisible Task

• Subtasks can be identified

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The End