Social Facilitation - Major Theoretical Approaches

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."