SOCIAL FACILITATION OF WORD ASSOCIATIONS

Hypothesized that the presence of an audience serves as a drive energizer, leading to an increased probability of a dominant response and to a decreased latency of its emission. 40 male undergraduate Ss supplied associations to 184 words both alone and in the presence of an audience. 1/2 of the Ss worked 1st alone and then in the presence of an audience, and 1/2 in the reverse order. Latency was substantially shorter in social condition. Probability of emission of dominant responses was measured by the commonality of association and also by their uniqueness. Social condition increased the commonality of association in 1 of the 2 orders. When Ss began alone and finished in the presence of an audience, no effects were found in the commonality of their response. There was a significant difference in commonality on the 1st 1/2 of the session between Ss responding alone and those responding in the presence of an audience. The 2nd measure of dominance, uniqueness of responses, was affected by the presence of an audience consistently with results on commonality. Ss emitted fewer unique responses when in the presence of an audience. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.