Audience Effects on Squash Players' Performance

Summary In an unobtrusive field study of audience effects, the performance of 20 expert and 20 novice squash players was assessed under three randomly varied conditions: no audience, male audience, and female audience. It was expected that in accordance with Zajonc's nonspecific drive hypothesis, the performance of expert players would improve and that of novice players would deteriorate when observed by an audience. In addition, it was hypothesised that the relatively inferior and superior members within each pair would also react differently to audience presence. Results indicated that contrary to Zajonc's theory, there was no difference in reactions to an audience by expert and novice players, while inferior and superior partners within a pair tended to match their performances automatically when observed. These findings are interpreted as indicating that a more complex model, taking into account cognitive variables, as well as drive arousal, is needed to explain audience effects in natural situations. The actors' subjective definition of the situation confronting them is as important a determinant of their reaction to an audience as is their absolute level of skill or the arousal induced by an audience.