Who Wants to Win? The Effects of Winning on Competitiveness

Who Wants to Win? The Effects of Winning on Competitiveness

Many studies have shown significant support indicating there is a difference in competitiveness between genders, showing that males or more competitive than females (Niederle & Vesterlund, 2005). Possible Explanations: Testosterone differences between genders (Carre, Campbell, Lozoya, Goetz, & Welker, 2013) Societal gender roles (Gill, Williams, Dowd, Beaudoin, & Martin, 1996) Motivational differences (Kivikangas, Katsyri, Jarvel, & Ravaja, 2014) Studies have shown that there are differences in emotions, performance, and continued motivation between competition winners, losers, and those who do not compete (Reeve & Deci, 1996).

It was hypothesized that there would be a main effect of winning and losing on ratings of competitiveness, such that those who won would rate themselves more competitive than those who lost or did not compete. It was also hypothesized that there would be a main effect of gender on ratings of competitiveness, such that males would be more competitive than females. Finally, it was hypothesized that there would be an interaction between competiveness and gender, such that in the losing and control group men would rate themselves as more competitive than women. However, if they won the competition, men and women would rate themselves the same in competitiveness.

A 2 (gender: male or female) x 3 (competition group: winning competition, losing competition, no competition) between groups experiment was used to assess competitiveness Students from Palomar College were recruited in classrooms There were 125 participants with an near even male to female ration Participants were split into two lines to play a game of cornhole The participants in the competition scenario were given candy if their team won and everyone got candy in the non-competition group Game was followed by a 12-item questionnaire. Measured on a 5-point Likert scale

Consistent with the hypothesis, there was a marginal main effect of gender, F(1, 114) = 3.03, p =.09, partial ƞ 2 =.03. Males were more competitive, (M = 3.64, SD =.75) than females (M = 3.43, SD = 7.24) These results were accumulative of all three groups of competition and were seen in each individual group The average competitiveness score for males was 3.64 out of 5 compared to the female 3.43 Males

There appeared to be a marginal main effect of group However, post hoc test indicated no difference between levels, F(2, 114) = 2.77, p =.07, partial ƞ 2 =.05 Making this result inconsistent with hypothesis Inconsistent with hypothesis, the was no significant interaction between gender and groups on rating of competitiveness, F(2,114) = 2.77, p =.45, partial ƞ 2 =.64

Since there was no significance found between group an additional t-test was run to see if there was a difference in competitiveness between those who did and did not make the shot Sixteen participants made the shot and 106 did not made the shot There was a significant relationship such that participants who made the shot rated themselves as more competitive (M = 3.91, SD =.52) than participants who did not make the shot (M = 3.48, SD =.75), t(120) = -2.22, p = -2.22, p =.03 Did make the shot Did not make the shot Participants

Males were more competitive than females. One explanation for this may be that men are more encouraged to be competitive. Competitiveness scores did not differ between winners, losers and the non-competitive groups Which may be due to both the winning team and losing team having individuals that made the shot an did not make the shot No matter which group they were a part of those who made the shot where more competitive than those who did not make the shot

The type of task may not have induced enough competitiveness and may have been too difficult. There should have been a wider range of ages because of how competitiveness changes with age. Participants might have wanted a stronger incentive such as money. Head-to-head competition may have been more effective in creating a competitive atmosphere.

The implications of this research may indicate that personal performance may have a bigger impact on an individuals competitiveness than being apart of a winning group If males are more competitive and certain areas of society, like jobs, are based on competition than women are at a disadvantage. There needs to be continued research on the reasons behind the decrease in female competitiveness.

Carre, J. M., Campbell, J. A., Lozoya, E., Goetz, S. M. M., & Welker, K. M. (2013). Changes in testosterone mediate the effect of winning on subsequent aggressive behavior. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38, 2034-2041. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.03.008. Gill, D. L., Dowd, D. A., Williams, L., Beaudoin, C. M., & Martin, J. J. (1996). Competitive orientations and motives of adult sport and exercise participants. Journal of Sport Behavior, 19(4), 307-318. Kivikangas, J. M., Katsyri, J., Jarvela, S., & Ravaja, N. (2014). Gender differences in emotional responses to cooperative and competitive game play. PLoS ONE, 9(7), e100318. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100318. Niederle, M., & Vesterlund, L. (2005). Do women shy away from competition? NBER Working Paper, University of Pittsburg, 11474. Reeve, J. & Deci, E. L. (1996). Elements of the competitive situation that affect intrinsic motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 326 344.