The effect of social inhibition is to reduce the effectiveness of actions performed by an individual in the presence of outside observers. Such extraneous spectators can be both real and imaginary. The effect has a strong connection with the phenomenon of facilitation, the mechanism of which is directly opposite to social inhibition.
The origins of the phenomenon
The first researcher in the sphere of the influence of viewers on behavioral characteristics and the psyche was a psychologist from the American Institute of Indiana named Norman Triplet. The scientist was a fan of cycling and noticed that the competitors showed the best time in group competitions compared to single races.
Before showing the discovery to the public, Triplet conducted a series of experiments that confirmed his hypotheses. Soon, the researcher discovered that competition helps to release hidden energy, which is not available under normal conditions.
Other experiments that were conducted by researchers from different countries found that the presenceThe viewer helps the subjects to perform the simplest actions more efficiently. At the same time, a number of further studies have established that the presence of observers does not always bring a positive outcome of the work.
Certain experiments have shown that the presence of outsiders has a negative effect on the quality of the performance of a given work. At that time, the researchers could not yet create on the basis of all this one theory that would explain both the effects of social facilitation and inhibition. For this reason, research in this area was stopped for a long time.
New theory
The next person to notice there was a problem was Robert Zyens, a social psychologist. This man proposed a completely new activation hypothesis. Zyens' theory argued that both the effects of social inhibition and facilitation manifest themselves through general arousal.
He also discovered some of the nuances of this process. He found that examples of social inhibition manifest themselves while solving not the simplest intellectual tasks. The scientist drew attention to the fact that the effectiveness of performing ordinary actions is only stimulated by the presence of a spectator. While performing complex tasks with not the most obvious outcomes, the possibility of making a mistake increases.
Dominant responses are stimulated due to arousal in both cases. Robert Zyens conducted about three hundred studies with his assistants and tens of thousands of volunteers and strengthened his theory with data obtainedin practice.
Key Factors
As a rule, scientists note three factors influencing the effect of social inhibition. First, there is the fear of evaluation, which means that observers contribute to anxiety simply because we care about their opinion.
Distracted attention. When a person begins to think about the reaction of others or the effectiveness of the work of partners, attentiveness, as well as the correctness of the performance of work, decreases, thus supporting the hypothesis of fear of assessing one's own actions.
The presence of a viewer. The very fact of the presence of an observer can already become an irritant and cause social inhibition. How strong the reaction will be depends on the number of viewers and the degree of their significance for the person, the attitude of the viewers towards him and the degree of occupancy of the audience.
Distraction
An alternative point of view on the question, the distraction/conflict hypothesis, is becoming increasingly popular. The hypothesis states that in the course of any activity that someone is watching, the attention of the individual is torn between the spectators and control over the work being done.
Such mutual activity can increase arousal and increase or decrease work efficiency. It depends on whether the person has already faced this task or not. In addition, the strength of the effect may depend on a number of factors.
Overload Theory
Another alternative to social inhibition is overload theory, which states thatthat the factors of distraction do not lead to an increase in arousal, but to an overload of brain activity. At this time, a person has an overabundance of information data in the working memory area.
In relation to complex tasks, human productivity fades, because his attention is focused on extraneous things, due to which he loses concentration on his main task.
Influence on science
The effect of social inhibition has not been fully studied and is increasingly attracting the attention of scientists. Therefore, with enviable regularity, they continue to check and recheck the various factors of this process.
One of the last big experiments was conducted in 2014, during which the features of social inhibition and examples of this condition in autistics were studied. At the moment, we can say for sure that the phenomenon cannot be considered separately from the cases of its manifestation.
Team Management
The effects of social facilitation and inhibition are one of the main problems in the method of managing a group of people. In the work of the team, the level of development of this team itself plays an important role. For example, observing well-developed socially and psychologically groups has only a positive impact on their work.
In particular, this affects the solution of difficult problems that have different outcomes. Thus, the creation of a strong and developed group is the main condition for solving such problems.
