Major Theoretical Approaches
Norman Triplett pioneered research on social facilitation in 1898. Triplett found that cyclists had faster race times when in the presence of other cyclists. Triplett theorized that the faster times were because the presence of others made individuals more competitive. Further research led Triplett to theorize that the presence of others increases individuals’ performances in other situations as well. Floyd Allport coined the term "social facilitation" for the first time in 1924. Floyd Allport, commonly considered the founder of Social Psychology, conducted studies in which participants sat alone, or with other participants, and did a variety of tasks such as word association tasks and multiplication assessments. He found that people performed better when in a group setting than when alone for the majority of tasks. (see Floyd Henry Allport). At this time, social facilitation simply meant an "increase in response merely from the sight or sound of others making the same movement."
Read more about this topic: Social Facilitation
Famous quotes containing the words major, theoretical and/or approaches:
“You should hurry up ... and acquire the cigar habit. It’s one of the major happinesses. And so much more lasting than love, so much less costly in emotional wear and tear.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Post-structuralism is among other things a kind of theoretical hangover from the failed uprising of ‘68Ma way of keeping the revolution warm at the level of language, blending the euphoric libertarianism of that moment with the stoical melancholia of its aftermath.”
—Terry Eagleton (b. 1943)
“Perfect happiness I believe was never intended by the deity to be the lot of any one of his creatures in this world; but that he has very much put in our power the nearness of our approaches to it, is what I steadfastly believe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)