Social Facilitation

productivity noun [ U ] US ​ /ˌproʊ·dʌkˈtɪv·ɪ·t̬i, ˌprɑd·ək-/ ​ the rate at which a person, company, or country does useful work:

A pleasant working environment increases productivity. _____________

More often than not, the challenge of keeping this rate uplifted has most of us taking wise decisions all day. But what of the ways that affect it beyond our conscious control? Well, in the presence of external factors, our minds do tend to behave differently. There are either delays or interruptions in our processing. The presence of others, active or passive also affects how much time they take to perform a task, in turn affecting their productivity. Social Facilitation, by Robert B Zajonc explains, with a series of experiments the ways in which our brain responds to external factors: mainly audiences and peers (co-action).

Did you know? In experiments of group participation, it is observed that people have higher response rates than in person. [The quality of responses can still be poor!]