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Comment by cyberlab | Hacker News Reader

> The Yerkes-Dodson law, when applied to social facilitation, states that "the mere presence of other people will enhance the performance in speed and accuracy of well-practiced tasks, but will degrade in the performance of less familiar tasks."

So in other words - people would enjoy showing off because they know they're potentially being judged and do better because of peer pressure? That's how I read it anyway

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I think there's a more positive interpretation to be found as well.

Think of any type of task that you can get "in the zone", or a "flow state" with. Having an audience that reacts positively to your work can create a positive feedback loop that causes you to do better on the task. You tend to do better at things you enjoy doing.

The opposite can also be true. If you do something you're unfamiliar with, chances are your audience won't react positively to watching you do it. This can create a negative feedback loop that causes you to do worse. (I think this is changing though, with the advent of "Let's Play"s, streaming culture, and the voyeuristic enjoyment of watching someone improve at something over time).

>will degrade in the performance of less familiar tasks.

So why can't anyone (including me) type properly when screen sharing over zoom?

The examples given as "things that can improve with an audience" like cycling, or weight lifting, are all things where you practice something specific.

If you did the same demo, over and over, for five years, you'd probably do better at it in front of an audience, according to this wiki entry. But it says that things that are less familiar - demoing this new feature that you added yesterday - will suffer.

Software Engineering is not cycling, or weight lifting, or opera, or ballet. It is non-routine.

I pictured it as more that being in a social atmosphere means someone is more likely to relax and let their practised subconscious take the lead, than give it their full attention and perhaps be too critical or detail-oriented.

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