Final answer:
Social facilitation explains why Kimber runs faster in the presence of others. It is related to the psychological impact of group settings on individual performance, such as running faster speeds in a race. Understanding percentiles, like the 40th percentile, helps to compare an individual's performance against that of a larger group.
Step-by-step explanation:
The presence of others causing Kimber to perform at a higher level is called social facilitation. This is a psychological phenomenon in which people perform differently when in the presence of others versus when they are alone. For instance, some runners may find that they can run at faster speeds or maintain a better pace when alongside other runners, due to the competitive nature or motivational influence of others. This can be seen in races, where it is more desirable to have a higher speed, which corresponds to a low finish time and thus a low percentile ranking.
In the context of races and running speeds, the 40th percentile indicates that 40 percent of runners ran at speeds of 7.5 miles per hour or slower, and 60 percent ran faster. Therefore, being at or above the 40th percentile is better for competitive running, as it means the runner is faster than at least 40 percent of the participants.