Professional athletes perform better before an audience than when alone. This best illustrates:

A. social facilitation.
B. group polarization.
C. the bystander effect.
D. the mere exposure effect.



Answer :

Final answer:

Social facilitation explains how individuals perform better in the presence of an audience depending on task complexity and skill level.


Explanation:

Social facilitation is the phenomenon where individuals perform better when in the presence of an audience compared to when alone, especially for tasks that involve well-practiced or instinctive behaviors. This can be observed in various settings, such as sports performances or simple tasks like solving basic math problems.

Robert Zajonc outlined that social facilitation occurs primarily when individuals engage in dominant responses, while tasks requiring novel or complex behaviors may be inhibited by the presence of others. The level of physiological arousal plays a crucial role in determining the impact of an audience on task performance.

Overall, social facilitation illustrates how the presence of others can either enhance or hinder individual performance depending on the nature of the task and the individual's level of proficiency, highlighting the interplay between social context and behavior.


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