Social Facilitation and Motor Performance: a Meta-analysis

Title of Document: SOCIAL FACILITATION AND MOTOR PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS David P. Oviatt, Master of Arts, 2005 Directed By: Dr. Seppo Iso-Ahola, Department of Kinesiology The purpose of this study was to examine the specific social conditions and contexts in which motor performance is facilitated or inhibited and to synthesize the findings of previous research into the theoretical framework that best explains the trends in the data. In 39 studies, the presence of others had small to moderate effects on motor performance. The main findings indicate that the mere presence of individuals does slightly facilitate performance. Similarly, in co-acting dyads, moderate facilitation effects were found for complex tasks. However, participating in activities with groups of individuals leads to decreased performance through social loafing. Evaluation also results in performance declines across all conditions. These metaanalytic results are discussed in relation to the Attentional Processes model. Additionally, the majority of excluded studies involved the home advantage/choke phenomena, thus a discussion of this literature was also included. SOCIAL FACILITATION AND MOTOR PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS