[HN Gopher] Social Facilitation
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       Social Facilitation
        
       Author : laurex
       Score  : 31 points
       Date   : 2021-04-26 13:55 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | codezero wrote:
       | I see something similar happen when a startup goes from a bunch
       | of self sufficient teams to one that requires collaboration and
       | cross-team coordination, and hierarchies form. It's not the
       | hierarchy that is the problem, but that at this stage half the
       | people at the company are independent self-starters, and the
       | other half are organizers and that can hold folks back for a
       | period. Eventually the self sufficient people go to another
       | startup, and the business hires folks more flexible working with
       | cross collaboration and more organizational overhead.
       | 
       | I'd put my low effort, unqualified pin on the Social Orientation
       | Theory side of things :)
        
       | financialize wrote:
       | https://simondedeo.com/?p=705
        
       | cyberlab wrote:
       | > The Yerkes-Dodson law, when applied to social facilitation,
       | states that "the mere presence of other people will enhance the
       | performance in speed and accuracy of well-practiced tasks, but
       | will degrade in the performance of less familiar tasks."
       | 
       | So in other words - people would enjoy showing off because they
       | know they're potentially being judged and do better because of
       | peer pressure? That's how I read it anyway
        
         | CoreFailure wrote:
         | I think there's a more positive interpretation to be found as
         | well.
         | 
         | Think of any type of task that you can get "in the zone", or a
         | "flow state" with. Having an audience that reacts positively to
         | your work can create a positive feedback loop that causes you
         | to do better on the task. You tend to do better at things you
         | enjoy doing.
         | 
         | The opposite can also be true. If you do something you're
         | unfamiliar with, chances are your audience won't react
         | positively to watching you do it. This can create a negative
         | feedback loop that causes you to do worse. (I think this is
         | changing though, with the advent of "Let's Play"s, streaming
         | culture, and the voyeuristic enjoyment of watching someone
         | improve at something over time).
        
         | WorkLobster wrote:
         | I pictured it as more that being in a social atmosphere means
         | someone is more likely to relax and let their practised
         | subconscious take the lead, than give it their full attention
         | and perhaps be too critical or detail-oriented.
        
         | vadansky wrote:
         | >will degrade in the performance of less familiar tasks.
         | 
         | So why can't anyone (including me) type properly when screen
         | sharing over zoom?
        
           | lowbloodsugar wrote:
           | The examples given as "things that can improve with an
           | audience" like cycling, or weight lifting, are all things
           | where you practice something specific.
           | 
           | If you did the same demo, over and over, for five years,
           | you'd probably do better at it in front of an audience,
           | according to this wiki entry. But it says that things that
           | are less familiar - demoing this new feature that you added
           | yesterday - will suffer.
           | 
           | Software Engineering is not cycling, or weight lifting, or
           | opera, or ballet. It is non-routine.
        
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       (page generated 2021-04-26 23:02 UTC)