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COMPETITION BASICS

COMPETITION BASICS. Damon Burton & Bernie Holliday Vandal Sport Psychology Services University of Idaho. COMPOSE QUICK ANSWERS TO THESE 2 QUESTIONS. What is your personal definition of competition? What does COMPETITION mean to you?.

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COMPETITION BASICS

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  1. COMPETITION BASICS Damon Burton & Bernie Holliday Vandal Sport Psychology Services University of Idaho

  2. COMPOSE QUICK ANSWERS TO THESE 2 QUESTIONS • What is your personal definition of competition? • What does COMPETITION mean to you?

  3. 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. WHAT IS COMPETITION?

  4. 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

  5. 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. • You’re 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.

  6. PROBLEMS WITH THE‘REWARD 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

  7. 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…

  8. COMPETITION AS A PROCESS… • Martens’ Process Model • four-stages to the competitive process • explains why people respond differently to competition • social comparison process

  9. 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?

  10. 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

  11. STAGE #3: RESPONSE • After the appraisal of the O.C.S., athletes experience positive and negative adaptations, preparing them for competition… • physiologically • psychologically • behaviorally

  12. 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

  13. 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

  14. COMPETITION VERSUS COOPERATION: WHAT THE RESEARCH TELLS US • Cooperative activities produce more open communication, sharing, trust, friendship, and enhanced performance compared with competitive activities

  15. COMPETITION VERSUS COOPERATION: WHAT THE RESEARCH TELLS US • Johnson & Johnson’s (1985) review of 122 studies . . . • Cooperation improved performance more than competition in 65 studies…only 8 showed opposite effects • Cooperation improved performance more than individual efforts in 108 studies… only 6 showed opposite effects • Questionable tasks and contests however

  16. 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

  17. MOTIVATION- COMPETITIONRELATIONSHIP

  18. 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.

  19. IDEAL VERSUS ACTUAL LEARNING CURVE

  20. DOES COMPETITION ENHANCE CHARACTER? • TYPICALLY:Competition develops positive character traits • TRUTH:Winning can be a double-edge sword for teaching character development

  21. 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.

  22. 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.

  23. What ways do athletes have to cooperate in order to compete?

  24. 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.

  25. ASSOCIATION MODEL OF COMPETITION Cooperative Noncompetitive Competitive Noncooperative

  26. 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.

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