Last week I mentioned that Winter was coming so it was time to brush off some tricks I use to stay motivated throughout the Winter. I set my sights on some big goals and filled in my skeleton plan. Now this week, Winter is definitely here in RVA in the form of light snow, ice, and freezing temperatures. 
I first learned about Social Facilitation in a Social Psychology class at Roanoke College back in the late 80s. I found it all fascinating. From what I remember, competing with people who are like you and maybe slightly more proficient (faster, stronger, better at violin, etc) can often increase overall performance. I would argue it is more fun too. At least for me.
The first significant paper on social facilitation is widely attributed to Norman Triplett in 1898, where he observed cyclists rode faster with others and conducted experiments showing children reeled fishing lines quicker in pairs than alone, establishing that the presence of others affects performance, even if sometimes impairing it, laying groundwork for later theories by Zajonc (1965) and others. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Key Details of Triplett's Work (1898):
Observation: He noticed competitive cyclists performed better when riding with others (pacing/shelter) compared to cycling alone.
Experiment: He designed a lab study where children wound fishing reels, finding they often performed faster when working alongside another child (co-action) than when by themselves.
Early Insights: Triplett noted that while many improved, some children worked slower or showed no difference, hinting at the complexity of the phenomenon, which later researchers like Robert Zajonc would expand upon with drive theory. [2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8]
Later Developments:
Zajonc's Drive Theory (1965): Robert B. Zajonc's article in *Science* proposed the mere presence of others increases arousal (drive), enhancing performance on simple tasks (dominant responses) but hindering complex ones.
Other Theories: Subsequent research explored cognitive factors like evaluation apprehension (concern about being judged) and attention. [2, 7, 9, 10]
In essence, Triplett's 1898 work, though observational and experimental, stands as the foundational paper, marking the birth of social psychology and its study of social facilitation. [2, 5]
AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/psychology/social-facilitation
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n7zODMZf00
[4] https://www.thoughtco.com/social-facilitation-4769111
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Triplett
[6] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25608-x
[7] https://docs.rwu.edu/fcas_fp/219/
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3CEPdR3rUo
[9] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.149.3681.269
[10] https://psycnet.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/1089-2699.5.3.163
