Zajonc and his colleagues used cockroaches to study social facilitation.When other roaches were present the roaches would run faster down a straightaway to escape a bright light.They took longer in the presence of other roaches when they had to run a maze to escape light.This research supports the idea that:

Question

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The presence of other same-species individuals elicits arousal, which in turn enhances the dominant response (in this case, running faster down a straightaway). However, the presence of others can also impede performance on more complex or unfamiliar tasks (in this case, navigating a maze). This phenomenon is known as social facilitation.

Zajonc and His Colleagues Used Cockroaches to Study Social Facilitation