TITLE: Social Facilitation in Group Settings

Reading passage

Social facilitation is a psychological concept that describes the tendency for individuals to perform differently when in the presence of others compared to when they are alone. The presence of others can enhance performance on simple or well-learned tasks, a phenomenon known as the facilitation effect. Conversely, it can hinder performance on complex or unfamiliar tasks, often referred to as social inhibition. This occurs because the presence of others increases arousal, which can either improve or impair performance depending on the task complexity and the individual’s expertise.

Listening transcript

Alright, class, today we're diving into social facilitation. Imagine you're a pianist about to perform a piece you’ve practiced many times. If your friends are watching, you might play even better, right? This is the facilitation effect in action. The audience's presence boosts your arousal and helps you focus, leading to an impressive performance. But, let’s flip the scenario. Suppose you’re learning a new, difficult piano composition, and the same friends are watching. Suddenly, you make more mistakes. Here, the pressure from their presence increases your anxiety, which makes it harder to concentrate on the new piece. This is social inhibition, where the audience’s presence actually hinders your performance due to the complexity of the task at hand.

Speaking task instruction

Explain the concept from the reading and use the professor’s examples to show how it works. Preparation time: 30 seconds, Response time: 60 seconds.

Sample student response

Social facilitation is when people perform differently in front of others than when they're alone. If a task is simple, they do better, called facilitation. But if it's hard, they might do worse, known as inhibition. The professor gave two examples. First, a pianist playing a familiar piece in front of friends might play better because their presence helps the pianist focus. This is facilitation. But, if the pianist is learning a new piece, they might make more mistakes with friends watching. Here, the pressure makes it harder to concentrate, showing social inhibition. So, social facilitation depends on how well someone knows the task and the presence of an audience.