SELF-EFFICACY THEORY - IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL FACILITATION AND SOCIAL LOAFING

Two experiments indicate that the areas of social facilitation and social loafing are complementary and can be conceptualized in terms of self-efficacy theory. In Experiment 1, efficacy expectancies were manipulated by false performance feedback, and outcome expectancies were manipulated by 3 group conditions (alone, coaction, and collective). In Experiment 2, efficacy expectancies developed spontaneously while participants performed easy or difficult tasks, and outcome expectancies were manipulated by 3 evaluative conditions (alone, evaluation, and no evaluation). Consistent with social facilitation research, high-efficacy evaluated participants performed better than alone participants, whereas low-efficacy evaluated participants performed worse than alone participants. Consistent with social loafing research, high-efficacy nonevaluated participants performed worse than evaluated participants, whereas low-efficacy nonevaluated participants performed better than evaluated participants.