Question

When practicing her recital song at home, a teenage girl sounds perfectly in pitch to her family and friends. However, when performing at the recital in front of a large audience of peers, strangers, and coaches, her pitch and tone are off, resulting in a poor performance. This second performance is best explained by: A. drive reduction theory. B. instinct approach theory. C. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. D. the Yerkes-Dodson law.

Short answer

D. the Yerkes-Dodson law.

Step-by-step solution

- Understand the scenario

Analyze the situation where the girl performs well in practice but poorly in front of an audience. Note that the setting changes from a comfortable environment to a more stressful one.

- Evaluate each theory

Consider each theory in the context of the scenario:A. Drive Reduction Theory: Focuses on reducing physiological needs and might not directly explain performance under stress.B. Instinct Approach Theory: Involves innate behaviors which don't align directly with the change in performance due to stress.C. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Involves fulfilling different levels of needs. Stress-related performance might involve safety or esteem needs but doesn’t specifically explain performance drop under stress.D. Yerkes-Dodson Law: Suggests optimal performance occurs at a moderate level of arousal, with performance declining under too much or too little arousal (stress). This directly relates to the nervousness of performing in front of an audience.

- Choose the best explanation

Given that the scenario involves performance affected by stress, the Yerkes-Dodson Law (option D) best explains why the girl performed poorly in front of the audience. Increased stress can lead to decreased performance.

Key concepts

Performance Under Stress

Stress can profoundly impact performance. When in a familiar environment, such as practicing at home, stress levels are low, and individuals often perform better. However, in more stressful situations, like performing in front of a large audience, stress levels rise. This rise can cause a significant decline in performance, as seen in the teenage girl’s scenario during her recital.

Under stress, the body's fight-or-flight response is activated, which can manifest as:

• Increased heart rate
• Sweaty palms
• Knots in the stomach
• Difficulty concentrating

These symptoms can disrupt one's focus and ability to perform tasks effectively. Recognizing this helps to understand why the teenager, who was pitch-perfect at home, experienced difficulty during her recital in a stressful setting.

Optimal Arousal

The Yerkes-Dodson Law plays a critical role in understanding optimal arousal and performance. This psychological theory outlines that performance improves with physiological or mental arousal but only to a certain extent. Here are key points to understand this law:

• Moderate arousal leads to optimal performance.
• Low or high arousal can lead to poor performance.
• Everyone has a different 'optimal arousal' level.

In this context, during the teenage girl's recital, her arousal shifted from a low to high state, bypassing the optimal arousal point. This caused her performance to suffer. An important takeaway is that incremental stress can enhance performance, but too much stress can be detrimental. Understanding and managing arousal levels can help in improving performance under various circumstances.

Psychological Theories

Psychological theories offer frameworks to explain behaviors and phenomena, such as performance changes under different conditions. For example:

• Drive Reduction Theory: Emphasizes reducing physiological needs but doesn't explain stress-induced performance changes.
• Instinct Approach Theory: Centers on innate behaviors, but isn't directly related to stress impacts.
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Suggests prioritizing basic needs, where stress might affect higher-level needs like esteem, but doesn't specifically explain performance shifts.

The Yerkes-Dodson Law emerges as the most relevant theory for our scenario. It provides a clear explanation of why moderate levels of arousal (stress) can optimize performance while too much arousal results in a decline. This theory can be applied in various settings to better understand and manage performance-related stress across different tasks and environments.