James was the lead in the school play. It was opening night. Mr. Ramirez, the director, asked James if he was ready to go on and reminded him about a few last-minute changes in the script. A number of thoughts and feelings came over James as the curtain went up. James became anxious when he saw all the faces of the audience members. Then he saw his mother, who is a professional actress, sitting in the front row. James could not relax. At that instant, he saw his psychology teacher in the audience. He knew that he needed to use the concepts learned in her class to make sense of these thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.
Describe how each of the following concepts might help James give a strong performance.
State-dependent memory
Arousal theory
Positive reinforcement
Selective attention
Imagery
Social facilitation
Sensory adaptation

Check below for the answer and explanations

Explanation:

State-dependent memory: is the process of remembering things because they happen when you were in a state that is similar to your current state. Before the opening night, James would have gone through series of rehearsals, it will be easy for him to recollect the things he said or did during the rehearsal and apply same in the opening night.

Arousal theory: This theory explains that people tend to have a better performance when they are psychologically motivated. James felt motivated when he saw his psychology teacher in the audience. This motivation will enhance is performance.

Positive reinforcement: James motivated himself by wanting to use the concept learnt in his psychology class to have a positive thought about the surrounding atmosphere. This is a positive reinforcement because James felt motivated after this consideration.

Selective attention: This is the process of focusing only on relevant information or object. James paid more attention to those whose presence can aid his performance. He did not have to set his gaze on every member of the audience.

Imagery: In this context, imagery is the use of mental, imaginary pictures to influence one's thought process. As James is on the stage, there should be a mental picture of when he was taking similar roles during the rehearsals, this will help him perform better.

Social facilitation: The presence of a large audience aids the performance of some people. They tend to perform better in the presence of crowd. James can utilize the advantage of the cheers and the applause he receives from the audience for a better performance.

Sensory adaptation: As James spends more time outside performing, his senses tend to adapt to that atmosphere and the initial fright and timidity will disappear. At this stage, he begins to perform incredibly well.