Evaluation potential as a determinant of coaction effects

Abstract

Two purposes of the study were: (a) to test the hypothesis that increasing number of coactors result in increasing impairment in motor performance; and (b) to determine what component(s) of the coaction situation produce the social facilitation phenomenon. Alone, dyads, triads, and tetrads were the four coactor levels. Three levels of evaluation potential were created: the normal coaction situation (direct evaluation), the removal of visual cues but knowledge of others' performance outcome (indirect evaluation), and no potential for evaluation (no evaluation). Results supported the hypothesis that increasing numbers of coactors results in increasing impairment of motor performance. The results also provide qualified support for Cottrell's (1968) hypothesis that evaluation apprehension, rather than the mere presence of others, is the source of the social facilitation phenomenon. © 1972.