Social Influences on Behavior Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social Influences on Behavior Paper - Essay Example According to Zajonc, people perform better on dominant tasks, i.e., simple, familiar or well learned tasks, when others are around than when others are not around (as cited in D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007). On the contrary, on non-dominant tasks, i.e., complex, unfamiliar or novel tasks, the presence of others causes social interference or inhibition, thus impairing the performance. An instance where social facilitation can be seen in effect is in the sports scenario. The differences in performance levels of teams on the home ground and away can be explained by the concept of social facilitation. David Dryden Henningsen, Mary Lynn Henningsen and Mary Braz, through their study on a college basketball team, have very effectively supported this view. For their experiment, data was gathered for "78 NCAA division I men's teams from the 2000-2001 college basketball season" (D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007). Statistics were collected for each game te ams played over the season where a home team could be clearly designated. Home and away totals were recorded for shots attempted and made with regard to free throws, field goals and three point shots. The results showed that teams performed better for shooting tasks at home than on the road. Significant home performance advantage was noted for the easier task of field goal shooting while this was not noted for the more difficult three point shooting. This is very much consistent with social facilitation. Interestingly, home performance advantage was not observed for the easiest task which was free throw shooting. The authors conclude that it is possible that free throw shooting is a dominant task and that "anytime a college basketball player shoots a free throw before a crowd, social facilitation occurs and that the benefits of being at home or being a better shooting team are bounded by a ceiling effect" (D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007). According to Silva and A ndrew (as cited in D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007), the home advantage is "created more by impaired performance by visiting teams than by improved performance by home teams." According to them, free throw shooting levels were overall the same for home and visiting teams while home performance advantage was not seen for field goal shooting. This, according to them, was because free throw shooting is a simpler task than field goal shooting, so social inhibition occurs for field goals and not for free throws when teams are on the road. While Robert Zajonc put forward the drive theory, where he used the term, "dominant response," Cortrell's theory of social facilitation, which uses the term "evaluation apprehension," states that "rather than the mere presence of others, it is the worry of being adjudged that affects performance" (as cited in "Social Faciliation," 2006). Another major theory of social facilitation as put forward by Saunders et al. (as cited in "Social Faciliation," 2006), uses the term "distraction conflict," according to which participants in high distraction condition performed better on simple tasks but worse on complex ones. From the above theories, it is clear that social facilitati

Case study - Physiological responses in cross-country sprint skiing; a

- Physiological responses in cross-country sprint skiing; a in regulation, control and homeostasis. (1500 words) - Case Study Example One of the changes that promote greater oxygen diffusion is the contraction of the muscles takes a lot of oxygen because the oxygen is needed to replace Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) that has undergone the process of hydrolysis at the time relaxation of muscles. Therefore, relaxation of muscles is essential because it leads to increase the supply of blood for metabolisms. Another change is the vascular resistance of the skeletal muscles. The resistance of skeletal muscles leads to build up of pressure in the arteries. There is buildup of pressure is due to the narrowing down of the diameter of the arteries, thus leading to increased heartbeat. There are several capillaries around the cardiac muscles; therefore when there is resistance to the flow of the blood, the diffusion distance is also reduced. The reduced distance for the diffusion in turn affects the exchange of gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide. Buffering agents reverse the hydrogen ion that reduces the PH and maintain it b etween 7.38 and 7.42 which is a neutral Potential Hydrogen. There are extracellular buffer agent and the intracellular buffer agents. The extra cellular buffers are like bicarbonates and ammonia while the intracellular buffers are like proteins and phosphates. Moreover, the kidney can also work by eliminating the toxic substances that accumulate in the body tissues but in the case of thorough exercise it may not be efficient. In addition, renal physiology is active in maintaining the level of PH in the body. In a way of responding to the low PH or the acidity, the tube-like cells reabsorb bicarbonate from the fluids that flows in the body tube. The tubular cells are in the linings of tubes like the collecting duct. Again the collecting duct has cells those secrets a lot of hydrogen ions thus manufacturing a lot of bicarbonates, a process known as ammonia genesis. The process leads to the formation of ammonia buffer. The air temperature during the race is 8 C, which