The Experimental Psychology of Competition

Vaughn, James E.; Diserens, Charles M.

doi:10.1080/00220973.1938.11010120

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In a similar vein, our intention in this article is to highlight how competition can contribute to outstanding performance and the role of psychology in explaining this relationship. Whether in sports, politics, or business, competition is a daily part of life and has played a role in human activity throughout history (Bronson & Merryman, 2013; Garcia, Tor, & Schiff, 2013; Vaughn & Diserens, 1938). Indeed, competition is ubiquitous in modern society, as reflected in current competition shows on TV in cooking, dancing, singing, finding a mate, map reading, surviving in the wilderness, and eating the formerly inedible.…”

Section: Competition and Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition's Role in Developing Psychological Strength and Outstanding Performance

Worrell

Knotek

Plucker

et al. 2016

Review of General Psychology

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Competition, a topic closely associated with outstanding performance, continues to be a contentious topic ( Bonta, 1997 ; Murayama & Elliot, 2012a , 2012b ), particularly in the realm of education and schooling ( D. W. Johnson & Johnson, 1987 , 2009 ). Is competition a useful or detrimental strategy for promoting outstanding performance? Does competition contribute positively to performance or should it be avoided? In this article, we took on the challenge of exploring the relationship between competition and high performance and making recommendations about how competition can be used in promoting adaptive youth development. We begin by defining competition and outstanding performance. We then discuss competition in the context of the positive psychology movement, followed by brief reviews of literature showcasing how competition is related to enhanced performance in sport, organizational settings, and academic domains. Next, we discuss competition's relationship to creativity. The article closes with a discussion of the implications of this work for practice and research. It is our hope that this work will result in increased attention to high performance psychology as an important focus for scholarship and application in a wide range of arenas, from schools and the workplace to athletic and artistic venues.

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Section: Competition and Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition's Role in Developing Psychological Strength and Outstanding Performance

Worrell

Knotek

Plucker

et al. 2016

Review of General Psychology

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“…Many aspects of life involve competitions: Animals and plants compete for food, water, mates, and living space. Among humans, competitions can be found in sports, in financial markets, in the educational system, in the workplace, between politicians or lobbyists, between companies attempting to secure a contract or a patent, between rivals vying for a mate, and so on (see, e.g., Vaughn & Diserens, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investing Even in Uneven Contests: Effects of Asymmetry on Investment in Contests

Hart

Avrahami

Kareev

et al. 2015

Behavioral Decision Making

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Many competitions, such as political campaigns, innovative endeavors, sports, or courting rituals, require investment of nonrefundable resources: One contestant wins the prize for the invested amount, whereas all others lose their investments without receiving compensation. Frequently, contests are asymmetric, because of differing resources or prize valuations. Does asymmetry discourage the weaker contestants from investing? Do stronger contestants take this into account and also invest less? Or does the desire to win abolish these differences? Two experiments explored the effects of asymmetry between the contestants-arising from their resources or prizes-on nonrefundable investments. Subjects repeatedly competed in both symmetric and asymmetric contests, enabling within-subject comparisons. We observed an effect of asymmetry only when it concerned resources: Subjects overall invested less when their resources were unequal, whereas inequality in the prizes did not influence investments. This pattern suggests that winning itself is motivating. The changes between consecutive investments can be explained by reactions to the previous outcome (win or loss): Across all contests, investment decreased following a win and increased following a loss.

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“…Indeed, people commonly seek to achieve a superior position vis-à-vis others in a variety of contexts, from daily social situations to organizational settings and market transactions (De Botton, 2004;Festinger, 1954;Frank, 1985;Podolny, 2005;Porter, 1979). Although past psychological research valued the study of competition (Deutsch, 1949;Gardner, 1939;Hastorf & Cantril, 1954;Triplett, 1898;Vaughn & Diserens, 1938;Whittemore, 1924Whittemore, , 1925, social comparison scholarship has paid relatively little attention to this important social dynamic in recent decades. Instead, much of the study of competition has been relinquished to other disciplines-most notably economics and business but also sociology, political science, and more (e.g., Axelrod, 1984Axelrod, , 1997Carlton & Perloff, 2005;Podolny, 2005;Porter, 1979;Spence, 1973).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Psychology of Competition

Garcia

Tor

Schiff

2013

Perspect Psychol Sci

364

127

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Social comparison-the tendency to self-evaluate by comparing ourselves to others-is an important source of competitive behavior. We propose a new model that distinguishes between individual and situational factors that increase social comparison and thus lead to a range of competitive attitudes and behavior. Individual factors are those that vary from person to person: the relevance of the performance dimension, the similarity of rivals, and their relationship closeness to the individual, as well as the various individual differences variables relating to social comparison more generally. Situational factors, conversely, are those factors on the social comparison landscape that affect similarly situated individuals: proximity to a standard (i.e., near the number 1 ranking vs. far away), the number of competitors (i.e., few vs. many), social category fault lines (i.e., disputes across vs. within social categories), and more. The distinction between individual and situational factors also helps chart future directions for social comparison research and generates new vistas across psychology and related disciplines.

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The Experimental Psychology of Competition

Cited by 13 publications

References 44 publications

Competition's Role in Developing Psychological Strength and Outstanding Performance

Competition's Role in Developing Psychological Strength and Outstanding Performance

Investing Even in Uneven Contests: Effects of Asymmetry on Investment in Contests

The Psychology of Competition

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