How do other people and being in a team affect a performer?
Social facilitation and inhibition, evaluation apprehension, the stages of group formation, cohesion, and the causes of reduced individual effort in groups.
A focused WJEC A-Level PE answer on social facilitation and group dynamics, covering the effect of an audience, evaluation apprehension, Tuckman's stages of group formation, task and social cohesion, and the Ringelmann effect and social loafing.
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What this dot point is asking
WJEC wants you to explain social facilitation and inhibition and the role of arousal and evaluation apprehension, describe how groups form and become cohesive, and explain why individual effort can drop in a group (the Ringelmann effect and social loafing) and how to prevent it.
Social facilitation and inhibition
For an expert in the autonomous stage, the dominant response is correct, so the audience facilitates performance. For a beginner, whose dominant response may be wrong, the audience inhibits performance. Evaluation apprehension, the fear of being judged or assessed, intensifies the effect, especially when the performer believes the audience is knowledgeable and judging them. Strategies to combat inhibition include training with an audience (familiarisation), improving skills to the autonomous stage, using selective attention to block out the crowd, and stress-management techniques.
Group formation and cohesion
A group is more than a collection of individuals; it has a shared goal, interaction and mutual awareness. Cohesion is the tendency of a group to stick together and stay united, with two dimensions: task cohesion (working together to achieve the shared goal) and social cohesion (members getting on and enjoying each other's company). High cohesion generally helps performance, especially in interactive (team-dependent) sports.
Reduced individual effort in groups
- The Ringelmann effect is the finding that average individual performance decreases as group size increases (for example, in a tug of war, individuals pull less hard as the team grows).
- Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to reduce effort in a group because they believe their contribution is not being identified or valued.
Both reduce the group's actual productivity below its potential. Coaches reduce them by identifying and monitoring individual contributions (statistics, individual feedback), setting individual as well as team goals, clarifying roles so each member is accountable, building cohesion and a sense of responsibility, and reinforcing effort.
Examples in context
Example 1. Home advantage. A skilled team often performs better at home because a supportive crowd raises arousal and, for autonomous performers, facilitates the correct dominant responses. WJEC uses this to link social facilitation to a familiar phenomenon.
Example 2. The under-pulling tug-of-war team. As a tug-of-war team grows, each member pulls slightly less hard, the classic Ringelmann demonstration, because individual effort becomes harder to identify. This shows why making contributions visible matters.
Try this
Q1. Define social facilitation. [1 mark]
- Cue. The positive effect that the presence of others (an audience or co-actors) has on performance.
Q2. Explain why evaluation apprehension can worsen a beginner's performance in front of a crowd. [3 marks]
- Cue. The fear of being judged raises arousal further; by drive theory this makes the dominant response more likely, and for a beginner that response is often incorrect, so errors increase.
Q3. Name Tuckman's four stages of group formation in order. [2 marks]
- Cue. Forming, storming, norming, performing.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC 20195 marksExplain, using the concept of social facilitation, why the presence of an audience improves the performance of an expert but can harm that of a beginner.Show worked answer →
Social facilitation is the positive effect that the presence of others (an audience or co-actors) has on performance; social inhibition is the negative effect.
The presence of others increases arousal. By drive theory, increased arousal makes the dominant response more likely.
For an expert, whose skills are in the autonomous stage, the dominant response is the correct one, so the higher arousal facilitates performance and they perform better in front of a crowd.
For a beginner, whose dominant response may be incorrect, the higher arousal makes errors more likely, so the audience inhibits performance.
Evaluation apprehension (the fear of being judged) increases this effect, especially when the performer believes the audience is assessing them.
Markers reward defining social facilitation and inhibition, the rise in arousal making the dominant response more likely, and the expert-beginner contrast, ideally with evaluation apprehension.
WJEC 20214 marksExplain what is meant by social loafing and describe two strategies a coach could use to reduce it.Show worked answer →
Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to reduce their effort when performing in a group, because they believe their individual contribution is not being identified or valued (linked to the Ringelmann effect, where average individual performance falls as group size increases).
Strategies to reduce it include: highlighting and monitoring individual contributions (so players know their effort is seen), giving individual feedback and statistics, setting individual as well as team goals, developing group cohesion and a sense of responsibility, and reinforcing effort. Naming roles clearly so each player is accountable also helps.
Markers reward a correct definition of social loafing and two valid strategies focused on identifying and valuing individual effort.
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