Competition Can Enhance Motivation-But Typically Undermines It (Essay 4.4)

Competition means “beat the other.” As an environmental event, competition offers a curious mix of attractive and exciting versus pressuring and demoralizing aspects. In competition, there is something to gain, such as an optimal challenge and a goal to strive for, but also something to fear, such as evaluative pressure, poor sportspersonship, and ruptured relationships. Thus, competition is a complex social event that features numerous motivational crosscurrents. Competition can be motivationally constructive—when offered in an informational, needs-supportive, and intrinsic motivation-friendly way, but competition can also be motivationally destructive—when offered in a pressuring, needs-thwarting, ego-involving, and extrinsic motivation-promoting way.

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