Hostile audiences may spark superior performances

People generally expect to take comfort when fans or loved onesattend their piano recitals, athletic events or speeches, many behavioral studies have shown. But people may actually perform more adroitly when faced with an audience of harsh critics, new findings suggest.

Psychologists Jennifer Butler, PhD, of Wittenberg University, and Roy Baumeister, PhD, of Case Western Reserve University, conducted a series of studies to determine the effect that supportive audiences had on skilled performance. Their results indicate that people may perform better at difficult tasks when they're being observed by hostile strangers as opposed to their parents, spouses or the hometown fans, the psychologists report.

In one test, for example, 40 participants had to take a math test while either a friend or stranger watched. Those who performed before a friend reported feeling less stress, but made more errors and took longer to carry out the task, than those being observed by a stranger.

In another experiment, the researchers assigned 93 participants to play a computer game and told them to strive for a certain score. For some, the score was easily attainable, while for others it was more difficult. Participants who performed with a supportive observer present were more likely to miss the score than those being watched by an adversarial or neutral observer. (Observers, who were undercover research assistants, were labeled supportive if they had a small financial stake in the game-player's success, and adversarial if they could win money based on the game-player's failure.)

The psychologists surmise that performers who face an adversarial audience may try new strategies or take lucrative risks when carrying out a difficult task because they feel they have less to lose: The audience already dislikes them. People facing a group of supporters, on the other hand, may 'choke' under the pressure of trying to meet their audience's expectations.

The results of the studies appear in the November Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 75, No. 5, p. 1213-1230).

-S. Sleek



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