Psychology Practical Experiment Essay Example

any questions. I will control whether or not there is an audience present. Both groups will be given the same instructions and the task will take place in the same room.

As part of measuring variables, the task will be timed and the time will be accurately recorded by the computer to the nearest second.

I chose to analyze the results using the Mann-Whitney test because it specifically tests for differences between two conditions.

The data can be easily converted to ordinal data for evaluation. Ethics are important, so I will debrief each participant and answer any questions after they complete the task. The research focuses on how the presence of people affects performance, particularly in sports, and examines the effects of social facilitation. Social facilitation occurs when others' presence increases arousal and enhances dominant responses. Previous studies, including Zajonc's drive theory, suggest that the presence of others, especially when they pay attention as an interested audience, results in increased arousal. According to Zajonc's theory, this heightened arousal leads to dominant responses that can be either correct or incorrect.

The study revealed that individuals with greater skills outperform those with less skill in a given task. The participants in this study were instructed to repeatedly pronounce words, some of which had more prominence than others. The frequency at which the words were displayed increased, and the participants had to quickly guess the word being shown. The results indicated that when an audience was present, the participants were more inclined to guess the prominent words. Allport conducted another experiment where participants were asked to write down associations for words on a blank sheet of paper. They completed this task either

alone or in front of two other individuals, and it became evident that when working in the presence of others, 93% of the participants generated a higher number of associations. In a separate investigation by Zajonc, cockroaches underwent training to move towards a light within a t-maze. Below the maze, there was a box where their fellow cockroaches could observe them and possibly detect their scent.

'Roaches displayed faster and more accurate performance in their t-mazes when surrounded by other 'roaches compared to when no audience was present.