The effects of mere presence and a mirror on performance of a motor task

Abstract Two main types of theories have generally been proposed to explain the effect of an audience on behavior. One is based on the assumption that an audience heightens an individual's arousal level and the other, that self-directed attention is heightened in the presence of an audience. Female subjects (N = 60) performed a number of trials of either an easy or a difficult hand-eye coordination task, in one of the following three conditions: alone, while viewing their reflection in a mirror, or with a nonmonitorable person present. Contrary to the predictions derived from the attention-based theories, a person and a mirror were shown to be associated with opposite effects on performance.