Social Influence

Stage Fright

I am blessed to have the opportunity to volunteer in my son’s second grade classroom once or twice a month. This allows me to see what he does throughout his day, and it also allows me to get to know the other kids in his class. Recently the parents and families of 58 second graders were at the school for the annual Second Grade Music Program. We gathered to see our children perform; to bask in the obvious talent; and to support this part of their education.

As our seven and eight year olds walked out onto the stage and up the risers to their specific predetermined spot, dressed in their finest duds, the sounds of parental pride filled the air. We each searched for our child and their friends, and the atmosphere in that stuffy gymnasium was charged with joy. The music began and the children’s voices were soft, their eyes firmly on their teacher, they were frozen in place. As the first song ended, the music teacher turned to welcome us, in typical student fashion, the fidgeting and horseplay started. I began to watch all the students, and noticed in particular one boy from my son’s class. This young man is quiet, mostly keeping to himself, content to be on the sidelines. He is comfortable sitting at his desk quietly, securing a spot on the back edge of the carpet during carpet time. All signs point to him not wanting to be noticed. Yet he was the one my eye was drawn to this night.

“But does the presence of observers always arouse people? In times of stress, comrade and be comforting. Nevertheless, with others present, people perspire more, breathe faster, tense their muscles more and have higher blood pressure and a faster heart rate” (Geen & Gange, 1983; Moore & Baron, 1983) (as cited by Myers, 2010 p 270). “Even a supportive audience may elicit poorer performance on challenging tasks” (Butler & Baumeister, 1996) (as cited by Myers, 2010 p 270). There was no doubt that standing and singing was a challenging task for this boy. He was not disruptive or distracting, but it was obvious to anyone watching him that this evening, on the risers in front of all those people, remaining in the moment, doing what was asked of him was out of his comfort zone.

His parents were proud of him, they enjoyed him, just as we were proud and enjoyed watching Douglas. We weren’t expecting Grammy performances from our offspring, but each of them are rock-stars in our eyes.

Reference

Myers, D. (2010) Social Psychology (10^th ed.) McGraw-Hill. New York, New York