Social facilitation as a self-presentational display, and social performance impairment attributable to perceived public failure, are examined in a study of context effects in verbal learning. Female undergraduates (N=72) served as subjects with one male who served as an "audience." Performance data indicate that, consistent with the present analysis (but not with drive theories of social facilitation), the learning of simple paired-associate items is socially impaired when those items are embedded within a difficult task. An observer's presence does not impair complex verbal learning when complex items appear within an easy task. Questionnaire responses suggest a naturally-occurring confound between task complexity and perceived failure. (Author)