COMPETITION BASICS

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COMPETITION BASICS

• Damon Burton Bernie Holliday
• Vandal Sport Psychology Services
• University of Idaho

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COMPOSE QUICK ANSWERS TO THESE 2 QUESTIONS

• What is your personal definition of competition?
  
• What does COMPETITION mean to you?

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WHAT IS COMPETITION?

• Rewards are often a central component of many
  personal definitions of competition.
• Most of us assume that sport creates winners and
  losers and winners get more perks or rewards than
  do losers.

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REWARD-BASED DEFINITIONS

• Competition A situation in which rewards are
  distributed unequally on the basis of performance
  by the performers
• Cooperation A social process through which
  performance is evaluated and rewarded in terms of
  the collective achievements of a group of people
  working together to reach a particular goal

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REWARD-DEFINITION COMPETITION QUIZ

• DIRECTIONS Which of these situations is
  competition according to the Reward Definition?
  
• Participating in a PSYCH 100 experiment and told
  to perform their best.
• Same experiment but you get 10 if you perform to
  some level.
• Playing football in the park on Sunday afternoon
  with friends.
• Football game ends in a tie.
• Youre alone in your living room trying to make 7
  out of 10 putts from 10 feet .
• During your daily 5 mile run on your regular
  course with 3 friends, nobody says anything, but
  each picks up the pace the last 200 meters trying
  to finish first.

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PROBLEMS WITH THEREWARD DEFINITION

• Competition A situation in which rewards are
  distributed unequally on the basis of performance
  by the participants
• For every winner, there has to be one or more
  losers!
• Does not account for differences in individual
  reactions to competition
• Assumes the reward to be the same for every
  competitor
• intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards

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MORE PROBLEMS WITH THE REWARD DEFINITION

• differences between competition and cooperation
  are emphasized rather than their similarities
• You have to cooperate in order to compete

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COMPETITION AS A PROCESS

• Martens Process Model
• four-stages to the competitive process
• explains why people respond differently to
  competition
• social comparison process

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STAGE 1 OBJECTIVE COMPETITIVE SITUATION

• Four objective criteria that must be present in
  order to conclude that competition is occurring
• A standard of comparison is identified for the
  team or individual
• Another person is present
• This person knows the standard
• This person evaluates whether the standard has
  been obtained
• What are the advantages/disadvantages of the OCS?

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STAGE 2 SUBJECTIVE COMPETITIVE SITUATION

• How an athlete perceives, accepts, and appraises
  the O.C.S.
• S.C.S. is affected by personality traits,
  perceived importance of competition, perception
  of the comparison standard, and perceived
  response capabilities
• As a result, athletes seek out competition, enter
  it reluctantly, or attempt to avoid it

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STAGE 3 RESPONSE

• After the appraisal of the O.C.S., athletes
  experience positive and negative adaptations,
  preparing them for competition
• physiologically
• psychologically
• behaviorally

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STAGE 4 CONSEQUENCES

• Athletes perception of consequence (e.g.,
  success or failure) is more important than the
  actual outcome
• Athletes perceive positive or negative
  consequences as a result of participating
• These consequences impact
• short- and long-term emotions
• perceptions of competence
• future decisions to compete

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PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH COMPETITION

• win-at-all-costs mentality
• promotes youth sport drop-out
• reduces motivation for those that remain involved
• reduces enjoyment for unsuccessful competitors
• facilitates a short-term focus only

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COMPETITION VERSUS COOPERATION WHAT THE
RESEARCH TELLS US

• Cooperative activities produce more open
  communication, sharing, trust, friendship, and
  enhanced performance compared with competitive
  activities

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COMPETITION VERSUS COOPERATION WHAT THE
RESEARCH TELLS US

• Johnson Johnsons (1985) review of 122 studies
  . . .
• Cooperation improved performance more than
  competition in 65 studiesonly 8 showed opposite
  effects
• Cooperation improved performance more than
  individual efforts in 108 studies only 6 showed
  opposite effects
• Questionable tasks and contests however

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IS COMPETITION A POWERFUL MOTIVATOR?

• TYPICALLY Yes, competition enhances motivation.
  
• WHEN MOST POWERFUL Competition provides the
  greatest motivation when the level of challenge
  is moderately difficult and matches the current
  capabilities of the athlete

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MOTIVATION- COMPETITIONRELATIONSHIP
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IS COMPETITION A GOOD QUALITY CONTROL DEVICE?

• TYPICALLY Competition is an effective strategy
  to improve skill.
• WHEN BAD Competition can prompt athletes to
  sacrifice long-term improvement in order to
  achieve short-term success.
• Learning curves are seldom linear, and athletes
  seldom are willing to accept the decline in
  performance learning new skills if competition is
  emphasized.

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IDEAL VERSUS ACTUAL LEARNING CURVE
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DOES COMPETITION ENHANCE CHARACTER?

• TYPICALLY Competition develops positive
  character traits
• TRUTH Winning can be a double-edge sword for
  teaching character development

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COMPETITION IMPACTS CHARACTER MULTIPLE WAYS

• If athletes wants to win too much, they may lie,
  cheat, or develop bad character traits.
• Athletes who resist temptation, develop positive
  character traits that last a lifetime.

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DOES COMPETITION HELP ATHLETES COOPERATE?

• TYPICALLY We live in a highly interdependent
  and cooperative society.
• We have to cooperate much more often each day
  than compete.
• Competition helps athletes develop important
  cooperative skills.

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• What ways do athletes have to cooperate in order
  to compete?

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COOPERATION NECESSARY TO COMPETE

• Teamwork is an important type of within-team
  cooperation.
• Between-team cooperation includes . . .
• scheduling
• rules, and
• mutual commitment to give their best effort.

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ASSOCIATION MODEL OF COMPETITION

• Cooperative
• Noncompetitive
  Competitive
• Noncooperative

cooperative games frisbee assembly lines sport
hermit war without rules
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IS COMPETITION GOOD OR BAD?

• Competition is neither good nor bad. It is
  simply a neutral process .
• How competition is experienced depends on how it
  is organized and conducted.
• Coaches, administrators and parents determine how
  competition is experienced.