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A test of theories of social facilitation using a musical task
Author(s) -
Abrams Dominic,
Manstead A. S. R.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8309.1981.tb00497.x
Subject(s) - social facilitation , psychology , apprehension , facilitation , melody , task (project management) , context (archaeology) , test (biology) , social anxiety , test anxiety , cognitive psychology , social psychology , anxiety , musical , developmental psychology , art , paleontology , management , neuroscience , psychiatry , economics , visual arts , biology
A study is reported which examined the effects of the presence of others, recording equipment, and a mirror on performance of a musical task. These three performance conditions were designed to test predictions derived from the mere presence, evaluation apprehension, and objective self‐awareness accounts of social facilitation phenomena. The relationship between task performance and individual differences in test anxiety was also assessed. Eighty subjects were each assigned to one of 16 conditions in a 2 (male vs. female) × 2 (well‐practised vs. poorly practised) × 4 (others present, evaluation, mirror, alone) design. Results showed that task performance, as measured by melodic errors, did not conform to any of the theoretical predictions. The findings are discussed in the context of other social facilitation research, and an attentional model of social facilitation phenomena is advanced as a possible explanation for failures to obtain effects predicted by drive‐based theories.