Is it good or bad to be competitive - Márta Fülöp

Is it good or bad to be competitive?
Prof. Márta Fülöp
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
and
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
fulop.marta@ttk.mta.hu

Why competition is interesting?
 Interpersonal and intergroup phenomenon
 Already at the age of 2.5 children identifiably compete with each
other (Mostache & Bragonier, 1981; Stipek és mtsi, 1992)
 Competition is still present in old age (Fülöp, 2005; 2007)
 It is present in many areas of life

Mothers’ competition on how the child
develops
How my child develops?

Mothers’/parents’ competition
 A 2011 poll of 26 000 US mothers showed that mothers would
compete on everything from breastfeeding to discipline.
 The media is full of writings on „competitive parents”,
„competitive moms”, „ultracompetitive parents who would do
ANYTHING to make their children win”
 A 2015 survey in the UK found that 94% of parents think the
experience of winning or losing while at school prepares young
people for later life, and 85% thought that those with no
experience of competition would be in for a rude awakening once
they start work (Forbes, 2014 June 2).
 It was found that Hungarian, Finnish and Japanese mothers also
compete on their children’s development (Fülöp&Niemele, 1997;
Fülöp, 2013)

The significance of competitive
skills
 Acquiring the skills necessary to compete and to
cope with winning and losing effectively are of
considerable value in social development and
interpersonal relationships.
 To maintain psychological and somatic health while
competing effectively has paramount significance at
the societal, institutional, family and individual
level.

Is competition beneficial
or detrimental ?

The ‘beast’ and ‘beauty’
The symbiotic relationship between
competition and cooperation (Fülöp, 2008)
 Competition
 Decreases achievement
 Reduces creativity
 Information flow is blocked
 Distrust
 Dishonesty
 Enemies
 Aggression
 Cooperation
 Increases achievement
 Increases creativity
 Sharing of information
 Trust
 Honesty
 Supportive, friendly
 No aggression
A ruling paradigm for more than 40 years!
MEN WOMEN

Competition and mental and somatic health
 It has been suggested that rising rates of psychopathology in
Western societies might be linked to increases in competitive
behaviour (e.g. James, 1998).
 Research also suggests that rates of psychological ill-health are
higher in competitive societies (Arrindell et al., 2003, 2004).
 In addition to this, competition was supposed to cause distress,
anxiety, energy loss, exhaustion, loss of motivation, depression
(Gilbert et al, 2009) and cardiovascular diseases (Thornton et al,
2011).
 Competitiveness is increasing with uncertainty and insecurity, it is
the sign of insecure striving where people believe that they must
strive to compete for their social place and avoid mistakes and
inferiority (Gilbert et al, 2009).

Alfie Kohn (1986) No contest: the case
against competition
 No Contest stands as the definitive critique of competition.
Contrary to accepted wisdom, competition is not basic to
human nature; it poisons our relationships and holds us
back from doing our best. ….the race to win turns all of us
into losers.”
 „The more closely I have examined the topic, the more
firmly I have become convinced that competition is an
inherently undesirable arrangement, that the phrase
healthy competition is actually a contradiction in terms.”
(p.9.)
 “….because losing is an inherent part of competition and
losing is always detrimental therefore competition is
always damaging.” (p.109).

Shields & Bredemeier (2009)
„Competition is an incredibly positive mode of human interaction that can build positive
Relationships, foster personal growth and promote ethical behaviour” (p.21.)

Bronson & Merryman (2013)
„We need to make a distinction between
adaptive and maladaptive
competitiveness. Adaptive
competitiveness is perseverance and
determination to rise to the challenge”
(p.11.)
 „

The deconstruction of
competitiveness
All this literature was based on a unidimensional construct of competition that
did not differentiate among distinctively different patterns of competitive
processes.

The nature of competition
 Competition is a goal related behavior.
 The nature of the goal may evoke different types of
competitive processes and also different kinds of
interpersonal relationships.
 Competing for different reasons leads to different
consequences.
 Individuals, institutions, cultures might be different
in terms how they conceptualize and construct the
meaning of the goal of competition (Fülöp, 2004).

The nature of the goal I. (Fülöp, 2004)
GOAL WINNING
(getting something like a position,award, scholarship,
acceptance to school etc.)
WINNING (being the best or being better)
RIVAL OPPONENT to win over
ENEMY to get rid of

The nature of the goal II. (Fülöp, 2004)
GOAL IMPROVEMENT (development, growth)
MASTERY
LEARNING ABOUT YOURSELF
RIVAL TOOL
ACTIVE PARTNER

The construction of the notion of
competition
 Japanese
 Hungarian
 Canadian
Fülöp, 2010
UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS
OPEN-ENDED
QUESTIONNAIRE

Main function of competition
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Improvement Selection Motivation Goal
Japanese
Canadian
Hungarian
(Improvement: JPN vs HUN: Chi-Square(1)=44.179, p<.001) and Canadian (JPN vs CAN: Chi-
Square(1)=22.538, p<.001). Selection: (HUN vs JPN: Chi-Square(1)=18.265, p<.001; JPN vs CAN: Chi-Square(1)=
4.864, p<.05); Goal attainment (CAN vs HUN: Chi-Square(1)=11.221, p<.001; CAN vs JPN: Chi-Square(1)=6.718, p<.01)

Focus of the competitive process
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Self Part N Ext.f.
Japanese
Hungarian
Canada

Different attitudes towards
competition
 Ryckman et al (1990,1996, 2009)
-hypercompetitiveness
-self-developmental competitiveness
-competition avoidance
Measured separately
Competition avoidance is one construct

Hypercompetitiveness
 An indiscriminate need by individuals to
compete at any field and at any situation and
within any kind of relationship
 Win at any cost as a means of maintaining or
enhancing feelings of self-worth
 Manipulation, aggressiveness, exploitation,
and denigration of others across a number of
situations. (Ryckman et al, 1990)

Self-development competition
 Attitude in which the primary focus is not on
winning or being the best
 More on self-discovery, self-improvement and
task-mastery.
 Others are not seen as obstacles standing in the
person’s way, but rather as helpers who
provide the individual with personal discovery
and learning opportunities. (Ryckman et al, 1996)

Multiple Competitive Attitudes
1. Hypercompetitive attitude
 The most important is winning, no matter what.
 I am willing to do whatever it takes to win.
 I will do anything to win, even nasty things.
2. Self-developmental attitude
 Competitive situations allow me to bring the best out of myself.
 I enjoy competition as it allows me to discover my abilities.
 I enjoy testing myself in competitive situations.
3. Fear of losing/competition avoidance
 There is no point in trying, I’m going to lose anyway.
 I’ve already lost so many times that I try to avoid competitions whenever I can.
 I don't like to compete because surely, I will be defeated.
4. Anxiety driven competition avoidance
 Even the smallest competition makes me feel anxious.
 I feel pressured in competitive situations.
 I feel distressed in a competitive environment, so I avoid them whenever I can.
5. Indifference towards competition
 I rarely feel motivated to compete with somebody
 I don't care about competitions.
 There is always something I’d rather do than taking part in a competitive
situation.
(Orosz, Fülöp et al, 2017 submitted)

COMPETITIVE ATTITUDES AND
OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL
CONSTRUCTS

PARTICIPANTS
Male (n = 223) Female (n = 337)
AGE
Mean SD Mean SD
19,35 4,17 18,97 5,39
HIGH SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IDENTIFIED BY TEACHERS AS
HIGHLY GIFTED

MENTAL TOUGHNESS Questionnaire
(Sheard, 2012)
 14 items, that measure how well the contestant handles
stress
 3 subscales:
Self-confidence: how the contestant trusts in his/her own
abilities and knowledge, positive attitude towards
himself/herself, and his abilities, how well he performs under
pressure
Consistency: how the contestant is comitted to the tasks and
duties needed to succeed. Does he/she lose his dedication
facing difficulties, and monotonity, or not
Control: How well he/she can keep the environmental factors
under control in order to maintain the ideal circumstances for
competition and good performance. How well he/she can
handle when the circumstances are not ideal

Revised Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale
(Campbell-Sills & Stein, 2007)
 How well the contestant handles failures, traumas
 How well the contestant transforms the bad
experiences to some useful lesson
 10 items on a five-level Likert-scale that measures
one dimension
 Scale reliability: 0,850

Positivity Scale
(Caprara et al., 2012)
Measures:
 Positive self-confidence
 Subjective well-being
 Optimism
 8 items on a five-level Likert-scale
 One „positivity” factor that includes the three above mentioned
concepts
 Scale’s reliability: 0,808
14th International ECHA Conference, 14-20 Sept. 2014. Ljubljana, Slovenia

Consequences of Perfectionism Scale
(Kim, 2010; Stöber, Hoyle & Last, 2013)
Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (Slaney, Rice,
Mobley, Trippi & Ashby, 2001
 How the participants
perceive the positive and
negative effects of the
perfectionism
 2 factors:
 Positive effects (reliability:
0,860)
 Negative effects (reliability:
0,861)
 High expectations towards
oneself
 Discrepancy: how well the
participant can meet these
expectations
 19 items
 2 factors:
 High expectations (rel.: 0,852)
 Discrepancy (reliability: 0,922)
Measurement of perfectionism
+ One item related to the percieved degree of own perfectionism

ASPIRATIONAL INDEX
(Martos, Szabó & Rózsa, 2006; V. Komlósi, Rózsa, Bérdi, Móricz & Horváth, 2006)
 Aspiration: it measures how important is for the
contestant to be successful, and what kinds of
success are more significant than others
 14 items on a five-level Likert-scale
 Two (+1) factors
Extrinsic goals : money, fame, awards
Intrinsic goals: social relations, self-acceptance
Fulfilment of goals +

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION SCALE
(Helmreich, 1978)
 This test measures what kinds of motivation energize the
contestants
 We used 22 items of the original 23
 3 identified types of motivation (3 correlated factor):
 Development and achievement (originally: achievement
orientation): the core of this motivation is the desire to learn, to
get new knowledge and to have better skills in order to get better
and better performance
 Competition (originally: interpersonal orientation): this urges the
contestant to win and this has no direct connection with
development
 Dealing with challenges (originally: work orientation): this
motivates the contestant to get over difficulties using his/her
creativity.

The perceived effects of participation in
contests
Three scales:
 Personal growth
 Popularity among peers
 Career choice

Positi
vity
Almost
Perfect Scale
Consequen
ces of
Perfectioni
sm
Achievement Motivation Mental Toughness
Positi
vity
Discrep
ancy
Hig
h
Exp.
Posi
tive
Neg
ative
Develop
ment
and
Ach.
Com
petiti
on
WIN
Dealin
g with
challe
nges
Self-
Conf.
Lack
of
contr
oll
Con
siste
ncy
Compe
titive
Attitud
es
Hypercomp
etitive ,016 ,068 ,200**
,136*
,131*
,038 ,421**
,103*
,185**
,049 ,014
Self-
developme
ntal
,224**
-,071 ,386**
,433**
-,164**
,296**
,475**
,358**
,431**
-,163**
,281**
Lack of
interest -,079 ,086 -,333**
-,249**
,094 -,195**
-,531**
-,251**
-,323**
,129**
-,205**
Fear of
losing -,232**
,361**
-,164**
-,256**
,328**
-,195**
-,245**
-,279**
-,455**
,400**
-,386**
Anxiety-
driven -,078 ,256**
-,173**
-,221**
,267**
-,175**
-,327**
-,226**
-,406**
,430**
-,305**
Competitive Attitudes and other
Psychological Constructs

Competitive Attitudes and other
Psychological Constructs
Aspiration Scale Effects of Contests CDRISK
Extrinsi
c goals
Intrinsic
goals
Fulfill
ment
of
goals
Personal
growth
Populari
ty
Career
choice
CDRISK
Competiti
ve
Attitudes
Hypercompetitiv
e ,274**
-,089 ,099*
,213**
,183**
,122**
,103*
Self-
developmental ,074 ,218**
,216**
,479**
,296**
,261**
,397**
Lack of interest
-,111*
-,093 -,119*
-,321**
-,236**
-,171**
-,222**
Fear of losing
-,006 -,104*
-,239**
-,289**
-,167**
-,075 -,415**
Anxiety-driven
,047 -,040 -,144**
-,232**
-,161**
-,063 -,377**

Interim summary
 Personal development competitiveness
relates to positive psychological processes:
positivity, mental toughness, resilience,
intrinsic motivation, positive perfectionism
and positive perception of contests.
 Hypercompetitiveness relates to high
expectations, the need to win, to grow and to
extrinsic motivation.

Interim summary
 Competition avoidance relates to less
beneficial constructs e.g. feelings of
discrepancy, negative consequences of
perfectionism, low level of mental toughness
and resiliency.

Interim summary
Indifference towards competition: the more
indifference…
The less high expectations
Less positivity
Less interest in winning
Less interest towards challenges
Less self-confidence in case of demanding tasks
Less perception of growing by contests

Does this have actual relationship with
performance?
 Participants:
 Matched sample:
200 successful contestants with outstanding results (nationwide
competition first prize) + 200 contestants with no outstanding
result
They are matched along age, gender, qualification and residence
 Average age:17,96 years (SD= 3,09)
 62,5% girls, 37,5% boys

Results on the Multiple Competitive
Attitude Questionnaire
 Self-developmental competition is more characteristic
among outstanding contestants (p=0,000)
 Hypercompetitiveness there was no significant difference
 Competition avoidance:
All three types of avoidance were more characteristic among
the not-outstanding (fear of losing » p=0,001 ; anxiety-
driven » p=0,000 ; indifference » p=0,000) contestants

Results on Mental Toughness
 Outstanding contestants are more confident than the
not outstanding ones(p=0,023)
 Outstanding contestants are higher in consistency
(p=0,035)
 No significant difference in control

Positivity Scale
(Caprara et al., 2012)
Results: Outstanding contestants are significantly higher in
positivity than the not-outstanding ones (p=0,026)

Results on the different perfectionism-
scales
 Outstanding contestants emphasize less the
negative (p=0,010), and more the positive effects
(p=0,021) of perfectionism
 Outstanding contestants see themselves more
prefectionist (p=0,000), and their expectations
of their achievements are higher (p=0,000)
 No difference in the discrepancy between
successful and unsuccessful contestants

Results of the Aspirational Index
 Intrinsic goals are more important for the
outstanding contestants than for the not
outstanding ones (p=0,004)
 Extrinsic goals are more important for the not
outstanding contestants than for the outstanding
ones (p=0,041)

Results on the Achievement Motivation
Scale
 Development and achievement is higher
among outstanding contestants (p=0,002)
 Competition is marginally higher among
outstanding contestants (p=0,051)
 Dealing with challenges is higher among
outstanding contestants (0,005)

Interim summary
 Outstanding contest results are in positive
relationship with self-developmental
competitiveness
 Outstanding contest results are in negative
relationship with competition avoidance due
to fear of losing, anxiety or indifference.

DECONSTRUCTING WINNING AND
LOSING

The representation of the winner and
the loser in children’s drawings
Fülöp & Sándor (2008); Sebestyén, Sándor, Fülöp (2013)

The Joy of WINNING
8-9 years old boys

The Sadness of LOSING
Fülöp & Sándor (2008);
Sebestyén, Sándor, Fülöp (2013)

Signalling the winner’s success and the
loser’s failure
Winning
Self-enhancement
Pride
Losing
Self-devaluation
Shame

DOES EVERYBODY LIKE WINNING
AND
IS EVERYBODY DEVASTATED BY
LOSING?

Method
Closed ended questionnaire (based on extended previous
qualitative studies, Fülöp, 2002, 2003)
Level of competitiveness (5-point scale)
Instruction:
In a competition people sometimes win, sometimes lose. Try
to remember some situations when you won (lost) at
something. What did you feel? What did winning (losing)
mean to you? Please use the 5-point scale to indicate how
characteristic the following feelings and thoughts and
reactions are to you.

N Female% Male% Age (SD)
High School 351 56 44 17,24 (1,23)
University 289 62 38 22,51 (2,27)
Total 640 58 42 19,60 (3,16)
SAMPLE

THREE PATTERNS OF COPING
 Balanced coping with winning and losing
 Narcissistic/agressive coping with
winning and losing
 Avoidant coping with winning and losing

CHINESE - HUNGARIAN COMPARISON
Fülöp & Nagy, 2012, Fülöp, 2013
Special thanks to Xuejun Bai and Shi Fengyan, Tianjin Normal University

Participants
Country High
School
University
Average age:
HS: 16.21
U: 20.5
Female 137 189
Male 172 320
ALL (818) 309 509
Average age:
HS:17.2
U: 22.51
Female 169 178
Male 155 111
ALL (640) 351 289
Fülöp, Nagy, Berkics, Bai, 2011

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Self-conscious emotions and
behavioral reactions

HIGH
SCHOOL
Hungarian Chinese
F pMean SD Mean SD
Pride 4,16 ,98 3,80 1,09 14,87
0
<,001
Shame 1,32 ,61 1,86 ,96 57,43
8
<,001
Guilt 1,46 ,86 1,84 ,86 23,58
3
<,001
Self-conscious emotions:
High School
WINNING

Behavioural Reactions to
WINNING
High School
HIGH SCHOOL
Hungarian Chinese
F pMean SD Mean SD
I relax after winning. I
work less hard.
2,61 1,03 2,23 1,01 17,299 <,001
I try to continue
improving myself
3,85 1,11 4,08 ,79 6,630 <,010

High School
LOSING
HIGH SCHOOL
Hungarian Chinese
F PMean SD Mean SD
Envy 2.31 1,17 1.87 1.01 18.759 <,001
Embarrasment 2,08 1,17 2,49 1.20 14.715 <,001
Shame 2,33 1,10 3.09 1,17 55.571 <,001
Guilt 1.82 1,09 2.67 1,32 62.776 <,001

Emotional Reactions to LOSING
High School
 Inferiority Scale: inferior, depressed, bad person,
stupid, guilty, looked upon down, fear of not being
loved, embarrassed, shame, helpless, crying,
defeated, losing self-confidence, weak, failure,
unhappy, powerless, desperate, angry at herself
HIGH SCHOOL
Hungarian Chinese
F p
Mean SD Mean SD
Inferiority
(Cronbach alpha 0.93)
2,23 ,79 2,42 ,78 7,360
,007

Behavioural reactions to LOSING
High School
HIGH SCHOOL
Hungarian Chinese
F pMean SD Mean SD
I tend to give up early in competitive
situations.
2,13 1,09 1,79 ,92 13,388 <,001
Losing energizes me, next time I put more
effort in and work harder.
2,99 1,24 3,87 ,98 73,320 <,001
I face it and try to learn from losing. 3,57 1,03 3,89 ,95 12,336 <,001
I maintain my confidence and composure. 3,19 1,15 3,80 ,97 40,126 <,001
I lose my confidence and composure.
2,50 1,21 1,89 1,01 36,528 <,001
I am determined to win next time. 3,58 1,23 4,02 ,89 20,213 <,001
I try to improve myself.
3,89 1,07 4,09 ,90 4,999 ,026

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Self-conscious emotions and
behavioral reactions

Behavioural Reactions to
WINNING
UNIVERSITY
Chinese Hungarian
F p
Mean SD Mean SD
Winning gives more energy for the future. I
start to work even harder.
4,13 ,831 3,74 1,106 23,372 ,000
I relax after winning. I work less hard. 2,31 ,936 2,75 ,958 35,247 ,000
I try to win next time too. 4,07 ,752 3,79 1,032 13,992 ,000
I set up new goals, face new challenges.
4,03 ,772 3,66 1,143 20,703 ,000
I try to continue improving myself. 4,09 ,761 3,92 ,866 5,616 ,018

Behavioral Reactions to WINNING
University
New Challenges Scale
SCALE Number
of
items
Cronbach ά Mean SD
New Challenges 4 ,783 3,96 0,75
Chinese Hungarian
F pMean SD Mean SD
New
Challenges
4,08 0,63 3,71 0,91 33,589 ,000

University
LOSING
UNIVERSITY
Hungarian Chinese
F PMean SD Mean SD
Envy 2.42 1,108 1.97 1.028 28,063 <,000
Embarrasment 2,54 1,147 3.41 0.989 102,333 <,000
Shame 2,74 1,10 3.17 1,12 25,417 <,000
Guilt 2.32 1,222 2.86 1,253 31.996 <,000

Behavioural reactions to LOSING
University
SCALE
(UNIVERSITY)
Number of
Items
Cronbach ά Mean SD
Standing
up/improvement
4 ,799 3,84 ,71
Losing self-confidence 2 ,818 2,34 ,96
UNIVERSITY
Chinese Hungarian
F pMean SD Mean SD
Standing
up/improvement
4,02 0,60 3,45 0,77 109,229 ,000
Losing self-confidence 2,10 ,80 2,85 1,06 99,004 ,000

Chinese one-child policy
Girls have to fulfill parents’
expectations as boys do

Behavioural reactions to WINNING
(compared to boys)
 Chinese girls:
MORE New Challenges („I will try to
win next time as well”, „I set up new goals”)
 Hungarian girls– no gender difference
Fülöp, Nagy, Büki, Kossakowska, 2013

Behavioral reactions to LOSING
(compared to boys)
 Chinese girls:
LESS giving up than
boys
Hungarian girls:
more giving up!

Interim summary
 Winning and losing can both contribute to
positive self-development
AND
 Winning and losing can be both devastating
for those who do not have adaptive emotional
and behavioural patterns to deal with them

CONCLUSION: the significance of
competitive skills
 Acquiring the skills necessary to compete and
to cope with winning and losing effectively
are of considerable value in social
development and interpersonal relationships.
 To maintain psychological and somatic health
while competing effectively has paramount
significance at the societal, institutional,
family and individual level.

Was Kohn right?
 Competition is present in basically every arena of our life.
 It is unavoidable and should not be avoided.
 Self-developmental competitiveness has the most constructive
benefits and relationship with psychological health and performance
 Hypercompetitiveness is in between less beneficial than self-
developmental competitiveness but still less relationship with
difficulties with psychological coping than competition avoidance
 Being indifferent towards competition and avoiding competition has
links with less adaptive psychological coping

CONCLUSION
Being able to compete in a self-developmental
way is GOOD!
Being too much motivated by competition can
have BOTH beneficial and also detrimental
effects depending on the context.
Not being motivated by competition relates to a
general low motivation with all its potential
consequences
Active avoidance of competition is BAD!

Is it good or bad to be competitive - Márta Fülöp

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