SOCIAL FACILITATION

• Social facilitation is the tendency for people to do better on simple tasks when in the presence of other people. This implies that, whenever people are being watched by others, they will do well on things that they are already good at doing.

• In social facilitation, individual contributions can be identified and hence they will do better.

• During normal training days, Lee always practised alone in the jogging track. He found it very exhausted and find it very hard to breakthrough his limit.

• However during the racing day, there were a lot of other competitors and under this circumstances. He then realized that he ran much faster than when he was training alone.

• This is because of the social facilitation.

EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

• Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide.

• Because of fame, Lee is motivated to go pass his limits to get the first place.

• So he was ahead of most the competitors.

• The motivation factor in this case is the medal. If it wasn’t for the medal, Lee would not have run as fast as he would.

DOWNWARD COUNTERFACTUAL THINKING

• Downward counterfactual thinking is the tendency to create a positive alternative outcome to life events that has already happened or occurred. Something which is different from what has actually happened.

• Lee was overtaken by one of the competitor. He tried his best to catch up but the distance between them just kept getting bigger and finally, his opponent crossed the finish line before he did.

• As hard as he tried, he still couldn’t get first place. But he just told himself that he tried his best and at the very least, he was not the last.

• Lee’s way of thinking is also known as downward counterfactual thinking.

POST-DECISION DISSONANCE

• Post-decision dissonance means that after we have made a decision, we will feel dissonance regarding the possibility of it being wrong. We will often change our perceptions to reduce this dissonance and make the decision seem more attractive.

• This concept is just like “Sour grapes’’.

• Although Lee didn’t get the first place, he still felt a little bit jealousy to his friend who got the first place.

• However, he was not intend to show his dissatisfaction and tried to devalue that the champion was annoyed by so many people but luckily he was not.

• This way of thinking is post-decision dissonance.

THE PRIMACY EFFECT

• The primacy effect is the tendency for the first information presented to be remembered better or more easily, or for them to be more influential than those presented later. We also tend to assume that information at the beginning of something are of greater importance or significance.

• One year later, Lee entered high school.

• He becomes a popular student in the school since everybody knows that he was the one who got a place in the race last year. Every students in school admire him because of his sports ability although they don’t really know him in person. They just think that Lee is cool and awesome so they treat him as an idol.

• This situation shows the primacy effect.