Definition of Social Facilitation:

• Social Facilitation refers to the phenomenon where an individual performs differently when in the presence of others compared to when alone.
• It's a human psychological process indicating that people often perform better on simpler or well-learned tasks and worse on complex or new ones when they are in the presence of others and their individual performance can be evaluated.

Types of Social Facilitation:

• Co-action Effects occur when an individual's performance is influenced by the mere presence of others performing the same task. It doesn't involve any sort of competition or evaluation.
• Audience Effects happen when an individual's performance changes in response to being observed by others. Here, the underlying factor is being evaluated by viewers.

Zajonc's Drive Theory:

• This theory proposed by Robert Zajonc suggests that the mere presence of others increases arousal, thus enhancing the emission of dominant responses.
• To put simply, if a task is simple or well-rehearsed, arousal can enhance performance. If a task is complex or unfamiliar, increased arousal can impair performance.

Evaluation Apprehension Theory:

• This theory goes beyond mere presence and suggests that what really matters is the perceived judgement, or evaluation apprehension.
• It suggests that individuals are facilitated only when they know they are being watched and evaluated by others.

Home Advantage in Sports:

• Social facilitation is also linked with the idea of 'home advantage' in sports, a situation where players tend to perform better at home due to supportive audience.
• The audience can act as a psychological stimulus for better performance due to players' increased effort levels and emotional arousal.

Influencing Factors:

• The impact of social facilitation can be affected by factors like the skill level of the performer, the complexity of the task, the personality of the performer, and the familiarity with the audience.

Role of Coaches:

• Coaches play an important role in helping athletes manage and use social facilitation to their advantage by helping them prepare mentally for the presence and possible influence of others.
• They can use strategies like psychological skills training (PST), facilitating team cohesion, and creating supportive environments to manage the effects of social facilitation.