According to Robert Zajonc's (1969, 1980) social facilitation theory, would you play pool better alone, or when others are observing you? Explain your answer

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: It all depends on how good a pool player you are or on how difficult the shot is. Social facilitation theory posits that the presence of other members of our species causes vigilance and arousal, and that the arousal in turn facilitates good performance on easy or well-learned tasks, but impedes performance on difficult or not-so-well-learned tasks. If you are a good pool player, you would probably play better when others are observing you; if you are a poor pool player, the arousal caused by others' presence would probably cause you to play worse than if you played alone.