Does your performance on something such as a sport or concert change when you know there is an audience?
Social scientists have identified something called the audience effect. It’s the shift in our performance when we know people are watching. In live, face-to-face situations, the audience effect can make athletes or musicians perform better, but it can sometimes psych them out and make them choke, too. When I know there is someone watching me play tennis, I can see a change in how I play. However, that change is not always good.
A group of researchers conducted an experiment to test the audience effect with small children. The took several 4-5 year olds and showed them patterns of colored bugs and were asked to predict what was next in the sequence. However, one group repeated the answers into a tape recorder, one group was asked to record their explanations, and the last group had to explain to an audience.
The results showed that the children that were asked to record their answers, proformed worst. The children that had to explain their work to an audience, did the best. Researches also found the same effect with adults and adolescents.
This idea of audience effect is why people think blogging and writing on the internet, is a better way to get students to write more thoughtfully. When you are blogging and posting on social media, you are expecting someone to actually read it. Unlike when you are writing a paper you know only the teacher will read.
After learning about this in a class im taking, I too think blogging is a good way to get students to write more thoughtfully.
I agree with what you are saying, when I am in front of a crowd at my lacrosse games I perform a lot better than when I’m by myself. I like to think that its because I do better under pressure, but really I just feel like I don’t have room to mess up in front of a crowd. As far as writing goes into the classroom I agree that we should teach kids how to write using public writing site, such as blogging. It will add some pressure to their writing and could cause them to write better. It could also teach them different styles of writing.