Audience effect

The audience effect is the impact that a passive audience has on a subject performing a task. It was first formally noted in various psychology studies in the early 20th century. During some studies the presence of a passive audience facilitated the better performance of a simple task; while other studies show the presence of a passive audience inhibited the performance of a more difficult task or one that wasn't well practiced, possibly due to psychological pressure or stress.

In 1965, Robert Zajonc proposed Drive theory as an explanation of the audience effect.

In a study conducted by MIT, donation rates increase with the presence of observers, and neuroimaging results revealed that activation in the ventral striatum before the same choice (“to donate” or “not donate”) was significantly effected by the presence of observers.

See also

• Audience theory
• Social facilitation
• Social inhibition
• Social loafing