Personality Traits and Social Facilitation and Inhibition

Dosadašnja istraživanja socijalne facilitacije i inhibicije pokazuju da su ljudi uspješniji na jednostavnim i dobro naučenim zadacima kada ih izvode pred publikom te da se izvedba pogoršava kada složene i nove zadatke rješavaju pred publikom. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati javlja li se socijalna facilitacija/inhibicija na jednostavnim i složenim matematičkim zadacima te ispitati efekt osobina ličnosti na javljanje ovoga fenomena. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 70 studenata psihologije (5 muškaraca i 65 žena). U istraživanju su korišteni Petofaktorski upitnik ličnosti, Rosenbergova skala samopoštovanja te dvije forme jednostavnih i složenih matematičkih zadataka. U prvoj fazi ispitanici su nakon ispunjavanja dva upitnika ličnosti rješavali jednostavne i složene matematičke zadatke sami ili pred publikom koju su činili eksperimentatorica i jedan student/ica. Za svaku skupinu zadataka ispitanici su imali 3 minute za rješavanje. U drugoj fazi istraživanja svaki je ispitanik dobio drugačiju formu zadataka, obrnuti redoslijed težine zadataka i drugačiji uvjet rješavanja (sami ili pred publikom) u odnosu na prvu fazu. Dobiveni rezultati pokazuju da ispitanici podjednako uspješno rješavaju matematičke zadatke u situaciji kada su sami i kada su pred publikom. Međutim, dobivena je značajna interakcija neuroticizma i uvjeta rješavanja, kao i interakcija neuroticizma, uvjeta rješavanja i složenosti zadatka. Ispitanici s niskim neuroticizmom uspješnije su rješavali zadatke pred publikom, dok su ispitanici s visokim neuroticizmom zadatke uspješnije rješavali dok su bili sami. Ispitanici s niskim neuroticizmom uspješnije su rješavali jednostavne zadatke pred publikom, dok su ispitanici s visokim neuroticizmom bili uspješniji na jednostavnim zadacima kada su ih rješavali sami. Visoko neurotični ispitanici složene su zadatke uspješnije rješavali sami, dok je izvedba nisko neurotičnih ispitanika u oba uvjeta bila podjednaka. S obzirom na navedene rezultate, možemo zaključiti da povišeni neuroticizam može dovesti do smanjene učinkovitosti osobe tijekom izvođenja različitih zadataka. Kod emocionalno nestabilnih osoba za optimalnu je izvedbu na zadacima potrebno prilagoditi uvjete rada i pokazivanja znanja ili vještina kako bi odgovarali njihovim potrebama, s obzirom da su uspješniji u situacijama kada rade sami.Previous research on social facilitation and inhibition showed that people are more successful on simple and well-trained tasks when they are performed in front of the audience and that performance is impaired when complex and new tasks are solved in front of the audience. The aim of this study was to examine whether social facilitation / inhibition occurs on simple and complex mathematical tasks and to examine the effect of personality traits on the occurrence of these phenomena. Seventy students of psychology participated (5 men and 65 women) in the study. The research included the Big Five Inventory, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and two forms of simple and complex mathematical tasks. In the first phase, after completing two personality questionnaires, the participants solved simple and complex mathematical tasks by themselves or in front of the audience that was made by the experimenter and another student. For each task group, participants had 3 minutes to solve the tasks. In the second phase of the study, each participant received a different task form, reversed task complexity and different condition of task-solving (alone or in front of the audience) in relation to the first phase. The results showed that participants were equally successful in solving mathematical tasks when they were alone and when they were in front of an audience. However, there is a significant interaction between neuroticism and condition of task-solving, and between neuroticism, condition of task-solving and task complexity. Low-neurotic subjects showed improved performance on math tasks in front of audience, while high-neurotic subjects were more successful on math tasks when solving the tasks alone. Low-neurotic subjects showed improved performance on simple math tasks when they were solving them in front of an audience, while high-neurotic subjects showed improved performance on simple tasks when solving them on their own. High-neurotic subjects were particularly successful on complex tasks when solving them alone, while low-neurotic subjects had equally successful performance on complex tasks in both conditions. Given these results, we can conclude that high levels of neuroticism can lead to reduced effectiveness when a person is performing different tasks. For optimal performance of emotionally unstable people, working conditions and conditions under which such people demonstrate their knowledge and skills need to be adapted to suit their needs, as they are more successful in situations in which they work alone