Ciarán Dalton Psychology, LLC.
  • Home
  • Services
  • About Me
  • Contact Me
  • Blog/Running Thoughts
  • Testimonials

Just Play

the broad street run 2013 and social facilitation

5/6/2013

0 Comments

 
I worried that this year’s run would be different. I worried that my time would eclipse my 1:06:22 mark in 2008. This worry stemmed from tracking miles on Nike+. I was concerned because Nike+ informed me that my average training pace was between 7:30 and 8:00 minutes per mile. Even when I pushed myself, I was lucky to maintain a 7:15 pace for an extended period of time. How is it that I finished with my best time of 1:01:30 and a pace of 6:10 per mile? Social facilitation, which is the tendency for people to do better when performing simple tasks while in the presence of others, could provide the answer. I’m not saying the Broad Street Run is simple, but the task of running is, plus I had trained diligently. Thus, on Sunday, I was performing a simple and familiar task. Performing a simple task in the presence of others often causes us to do better. This would explain why my race time was so much better versus when I was training by myself. This is not only true for athletic tasks, it can occur when we are at work or doing a hobby. However, when performing a difficult and complex task, the opposite often happens. Think about the last time you had to perform an unfamiliar and complex task in front of others, whether on the field, at school, or at work. Your performance most likely suffered under the bright spotlight, whereas it probably would have been better if you were alone. So the next time you are in the center of attention while doing something unfamiliar and you mess up, cut yourself a break and practice more in the future in anticipation that you will improve over time.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Ciarán Dalton

    Enter your email address above to receive notifications when a new blog entry has been published. Please feel free to comment. Discussion helps increase understanding and directs future blog topics. 

    Archives

    September 2020
    March 2020
    April 2019
    November 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    June 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013
    June 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.