Driven by distraction: An integrative review of social facilitation theory and research

Social facilitation refers to the enhancement of an organism's dominant responses by the simple physical presence of species-mates, independent of any informational or interactional influences the others may exert. This phenomenon represents the consequences of the most elementary transition from a nonsocial to a social environment, and is one of the first research areas in experimental social psychology. The present analysis examines the status of three different explanations for socially facilitated behavior. Substantial weaknesses exist in the propositions that the presence of others elicits a reflexive alertness or preparedness response (Mere Presence) and that the presence of others increases drive through classically conditioned anticipations of positive and negative outcomes (Learned Drive). A third proposition argues for increased drive due to response conflict involving incompatible tendencies to attend to others and to ongoing task requirements (Distraction/Conflict). The basic assumptions of the Distraction/Conflict hypothesis are found to have considerable empirical support, and a wide variety of apparently anamolous results are integrated into the attentional conflict framework. Finally, a synthesis of the three approaches is proposed wherein slightly modified versions of the Mere Presence and Learned Drive theories serve to specify two common antecedents for the arousal of attentional conflict (the Attentional Processes model). Connections between the Attentional Processes model and past and future research are explored.     

Binocular fixation in the newborn baby.

Three experiments are reported in which the newborn baby's ability to fixate binocularly was investigated, using the corneal reflection technique for measuring eye fixation position. Two criteria for consistent binocular fixation were assessed. These are (1) the two eyes will be optically more divergent when fixating more distant targets, and (2) each eye will be scored as being on-target when corrections for the expected deviations of the pupil center from the fixated stimulus are introduced.In the first experiment vertical arrays of lights were separately shown at distances of 10 and 20 in. from the subjects' eyes (with the retinal image size and luminance of the stimuli held constant). The 12 newborns who gave results at both viewing distances reliably converged to both stimuli, the optical divergence of the pupil centers of the eyes increasing with presentation of the more distant stimulus. In Expt 2 similar stimuli at 5 and 10 in. from the eyes were shown. It was again the case that the subjects reliably converged to the stimulus at 10 in. This was no so for the stimulus at 5 in., and many subjects fixated this stimulus with monocular vision. The failure to converge is probably due to an inability to accommodate to this near distance. In Expt 3 different stimuli (a vertical strip of light, an outline triangle and square, and an array of squares) were presented a constant distance (10 ± 1 in.) from the eyes. The majority of the 15 subjects binocularly fixated all three stimuli: for those subjects who failed to converge consistently to these stimuli the observed alternatives to binocular fixation were monocular fixation, divergent strabismus, and a third category of response that is most probably an indication of inattention to the stimulus. It can be concluded that the newborn baby possesses the ability to fixate binocularly an appropriately presented stimulus, and has the basic requirements for binocular vision.     

Visual placing by human infants

Prior research has not agreed that extension of the arms by the human infant on approach to a surface is a visual response. In this research, human infants 8 to 11-months-old extended their arms on approach to a patterned surface covered with glass. The arms did not extend to a patterned surface 14 in. below the glass. Thus, the response is a visual, not a vestibular, proprioceptive one. Ambiguity of the visual stimulus that elicits the response is shown by the finding that the infants also extended their arms almost as much to a gray surface just beneath the glass as they did to the patterned one.     

Difference measurement and simple scalability with restricted solvability

Let A, B be two sets, with B ? A × A, and ≤ a binary relation on B. The problem analyzed here is that of the existence of a mapping u: A → R, satisfying:

$\text{(a,b) ? (}\text{a}\text{?}\text{,}\text{b}\text{?}\text{)}\text{iff}\text{∨∧ μ(b) ? μ(a) ? μ(}\text{b}\text{?}\text{) ? μ(}\text{a}\text{?}\text{)}$

whenever (a, b), (a′, b′) ∈ B. In earlier discussions of this problem, it is usually assumed that B is connected on A. Here, we only assume that B satisfies a certain convexity property. The resulting system provides an appropriate axiomatization of Fechner's scaling procedures. The independence of axioms is discussed. A more general representation is also analyzed:

$\text{(a,b) ? (}\text{a}\text{?}\text{,}\text{b}\text{?}\text{)}\text{iff}\text{∨∧ F[μ(b), μ(a)] ? F[μ}\text{b}\text{?}\text{]}$

, where F is strictly increasing in the first argument, and strictly decreasing in the second. Sufficient conditions are presented, and a proof of the representation theorem is given.     

Response discriminative and reinforcement factors in stimulus control of performance on multiple and chained schedules of reinforcement

Discriminative control of the response rates of two groups of rats was equated by training them to cease bar pressing in light-out no-tone ( + ) and to respond during tone and light. Multiple-schedule subjects received food at the same rate for responding during tone or light as for nonresponding in + . For the chained-schedule subjects responding in tone or light only produced + where food was received for nonresponding. In extinction tests multiple-schedule subjects emitted approximately twice the responses to tone-plus-light as to tone or light presented individually (additive summation). The rats trained on the chained schedule, in which the tone and light each controlled substantial response rates but were never paired with food, showed no summation when the tone and light were presented together. The results indicate that discriminative control of response rates and reinforcement differences between schedule components determine stimulus control.     

Sufficient conditions for an ordered-ring isomorphism onto a positive subinterval: A lemma for polynomial measurement

This paper discusses a sufficient set of conditions for a structure to be ordered-ring isomorphic to a positive subinterval of the real numbers. It extends our previous results concerning bounded versions of Hölder's Theorem (Falmagne, 1971). The main result can serve as a basic lemma for establishing representation theorems in polynomial conjoint measurement when the empirical sets contain neither large elements nor ones close to the natural zero.     

Note on the invariance of response latency in shuttlebox avoidance learning

Rats trained to avoid shock by running in a shuttlebox showed an orderly increase over trials in the probability of avoidance but no corresponding change over trials in the latency of the avoidance response. Both responding in the presence of shock (escapes) and responding prior to shock onset (avoidances) appeared to be stationary in time. Latencies were found to vary with different experimental conditions but in every case to be invariant over trials.     

Is social comparison irrelevant for producing choice shifts?

After 15 years of research on group induced shifts in individual choice, two hypotheses, social comparison (involving image maintenance) and persuasive arguments (involving attitude change), have emerged as the leading explanatory contenders. Burnstein and his associates have recently reported a series of studies that they feel clearly establish the persuasive arguments hypothesis as the best explanation for the shifts. The present paper takes issue with their conclusion. A study is presented that supports a social comparison interpretation of one of the experiments reported in Burnstein and Vinokur (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1973, 9, 123–137). In addition, a critical analysis of several other key studies reported by Burnstein and his associates yields the conclusion that neither hypothesis completely accounts for the available data. Rather, both image maintenance and attitude change processes may operate in a complementary manner, with persuasive arguments facilitating the shifts motivated by social comparison. Parallels are drawn between the factors that affect choice shifts and those that affect conformity behavior.     

Physiological arousal in the context of a specified anticipatory period and experimentally induced expectancy for shock

Anticipatory and reactive components of skin conductance and heart rate were assessed under different levels of shock expectancy. Sixty college males received two shock and two nonshock trials of a 12-light count-up where shock occurred at the eighth light. Expectancies were experimentally induced via 20 preliminary trials during which a red light substituted for shock. The red light appeared on 18/20, 10/20, and 2/20 preliminary trials for 90, 50, and 10% expectancy groups, respectively. Prior to each test trial, subjects estimated the likelihood of receiving shock. Major findings were that: (a) mean probability estimates corresponded closely with values provided by preliminary trials; (b) tonic skin conductance during anticipation was higher with greater expectancy for shock; (c) phasic change in skin conductance to the count-up lights was greatest in the 90% group during anticipation; and (d) reactivity at impact tended to be greater with higher anticipatory arousal. The relationship of event probability to stress was discussed with respect to length of the anticipatory periods and methods used to establish expectancies.