Question

Which of the following is an example of social facilitation?

A. The football player who practices hard so he can be on the varsity team
B. The Olympic bicycle racer who goes faster when he is racing against a person rather than the clock
C. The bowler who bowls best when he is practicing on his own
D. The tennis player who is frustrated when the crowd yells at her

Answer 1

The correct answer is option B, The Olympic bicycle racer who goes faster when he is racing against a person rather than the clock

Step-by-step explanation:

In social facilitation, a person works/performs better than his/her normal work/performance as he/she is in presence of other people. There are basically two type of social facilitation –

a) co-action effects – when a person works with other person as a co-worker

b) audience effect – when a person works in the mere presence of another person.

In this case , an Olympic racer competes with another racer, thus this would be a co –action effect.

Answer 2

Option B i.e The Olympic bicycle racer who goes faster when is racing against a person rather than a clock.

As the social facilitation refers to the improvement of performance produced by the presence of others, The Olympic bicycle racer who goes faster when is racing against a person rather than a clock is the best example of social facilitation.

The tennis player who is frustrated when the crowd yells at her is not an example of social facilitation. Though there are presence of people, but their yell at her frustrated her which would worsen her performance.