Effects of Perceived Competence and Audience Gender on Motor Task Persistence in Athletic and Non-Athletic Women.

Abstract

Research investigating the effects of social facilitation has been inconclusive in determining whether the mere presence of others or the presence of others accompanied by the anticipation of evaluation, is a necessary and sufficient condition for reported changes in performance. With respect to recent developments in the organization of physical education classes m and ated by Title IX, issues regarding the exact nature and effects of such evaluation on girls and women, differing in attitudes toward motor learning appear critical in maximizing persistence during the learning of motor tasks. To clarify these issues, two experimental designs were used. Design I (three factors: (1) two levels of Athletic History, (2) two levels of Audience Gender, and (3) four levels of Group History) compared 40 college women reporting athletic histories (athletes) to equal numbers reporting no competitive athletic involvement (non-athletes). Subjects received false feedback ratings following their performances on a computerized video-pong game. Ratings were either higher or lower than those of a confederate audience composed of either three females, or two males and one female. Design II compared all 80 subjects with five no-audience controls for each of the athlete-non-athlete conditions. Univariate and multivariate analyses of variance for a 2 x 2 x 4 design (Design I), and Student's t-test comparisons between means (Design II) indicated that athletes differed from non-athletes when the number of criterion acquisition trials was measured. An interaction showing that non-athletes took longer to reach criterion when working before a mixed audience was suggested. When athletes and non-athletes were compared to their respective no-audience controls, only the athletes working before a female audience did not show a decrement in persistence during experimental extinction. These findings were discussed with reference to Cottrell's evaluation apprehension hypothesis, Zajonc's social facilitation theory, and the reformulation of Seligman's learned helplessness model. Educational implications with respect to Title IX, included a consideration of ability assessment and peer grouping in physical education to maximize persistence in learning. Several suggestions for future research were presented.