This fully resourced lesson pack covers Social Facilitation and Group Dynamics as specified in AQA A-Level PE Section 3.2.3 (Sport Psychology). Created and refined by a specialist PE teacher with 9 years’ AQA sixth-form experience.

Every slide is structured around AO1 (knowledge), AO2 (application to sport) and AO3 (analysis and evaluation), with embedded tasks, sport-specific examples and exam-style questions throughout.

WHAT’S INCLUDED (17 slides):

• Social facilitation vs social inhibition (Zajonc): presence of others increases arousal and drives the dominant response; facilitation occurs when dominant response is correct (experts on well-learned skills); inhibition when dominant response is incorrect (novices or complex tasks)
• Evaluation apprehension: concern about being judged by an audience amplifies arousal effect; only occurs when audience is perceived as capable of evaluating
• Strategies to overcome inhibition: progressive audience exposure; mental rehearsal and pre-performance routines to maintain focus
• AO3 evaluation of Zajonc’s model: explains expert/novice performance differences; evaluation apprehension extends the model; practical implications for training environments
• Tuckman’s model of group formation: Forming (polite, uncertain, testing boundaries); Storming (conflict over roles — necessary stage); Norming (shared values, cooperation and role clarity); Performing (cohesive, productive unit — maximum output)
• Task cohesion (working together to achieve a performance goal) vs social cohesion (liking each other); both types, their relationship to performance and examples
• Steiner’s model: Actual Productivity = Potential Productivity − Losses due to Faulty Group Processes; coordination losses (poor communication, timing) and motivation losses (social loafing)
• Ringelmann effect: individual effort decreases as group size increases — contribution becomes harder to identify
• Social loafing: deliberate or unconscious reduction in effort within a group — individual performance hidden
• Strategies to improve cohesion and overcome loafing: identify and publicise individual contributions; set individual targets within team goals; build team identity through shared rituals; use video analysis for individual accountability
• Spot task: underperforming football team in storming stage with social loafing — three immediate coaching strategies
• Exam practice: 2-mark and 8-mark questions with full model answer (AO1/AO2/AO3)
• Active recall questions and stretch synoptic challenge

PERFECT FOR:
• Year 12 and Year 13 AQA A-Level PE lessons
• Consolidation and revision of group dynamics and social facilitation
• Cover lessons — fully self-contained with embedded tasks and model answers

WHY BUY FROM PEAK PE RESOURCES?
Aligned precisely to the AQA specification and mark scheme descriptors, with sport examples drawn from real exam questions. Used and refined across multiple real exam cohorts.