L15 - How Does Competition Impact Intrinsic Motivation? Flashcards
What is organized vs. informal sport involvement?
Organized basketball involves structured leagues, teams, and competitions with formal rules and coaching, fostering intrinsic motivation through skill development, teamwork, and competitive success
Informal basketball, such as pickup games or recreational play, lacks formal structure but provides intrinsic motivation through enjoyment, socialization, and spontaneous play
Both offer unique avenues for fostering intrinsic motivation in basketball.
What is Scanlon’s (1992) Model of Sports Commitment?
Commitment = desire and resolve to continue sports participation
function of five factors
- 1. sports enjoyment
- 2. Involvement opportunities
- 3. personal investments
- 4. involvement alternatives
- 5. social constraints
Describe Deci’s study on the block-puzzle (1981 - it’s in his book).
“try to beat the other person” vs. “do you best”
always allowed to beat the other person
Ps in the latter group were more intrinsically motivated, they’d try solving the puzzle even after the experiment was done vs. the former group who’d read magazines or do other things when time was up
people in the latter group also performed better and beat the other person without prioritizing winning
What are Csikzentmihalyi’s reasons for enjoyin g basketball?
(1975)
- Competitions/measuring self vs. others
- Development of personal skills
- Friendships
- Activity itself
- Enjoyment of experience/use of skills
- Measuresing self against own ideals
- Prestige/glamour/rewards
- Emotional release
Describe Reeve and Deci’s study on “a resolution” (1996)
Examined whether competition can sometimes decrease and sometimes enhance intrinsic motivation
competition/lose
competition/controlling
competition/informational
Manipulation
- non-controlling competition: “Try to outperform the other person by solving the puzzles faster”
- controlling competition: “It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you solve each puzzle, or whether you figure out how the puzzle works, the only thing that matters is that you win the competition. So focus all of your attention on being the winner”
- reminded prior to each trial either to:
– “solve your puzzles faster”
– “focus all your attention on being the winner”
Results
- Free Choice
– Controlling lose: 37
– Controlling win: 144
– Non-controlling win: 39
- Competence
– controlling lose: 4.1
– controlling win: 5.5
– non-controlling win: 5.6
- Controlled
– controlling lose: 4.0
– controlling win: 3.7
– non-controlling win: 5.0
What did Chalip say about informal sport settings?
(1985)
“Informal sport settings appeared to provide better balance between challenges and abilities, and therefore increased enjoyment”
What Reeve and Deci’s conclusion?
“The results suggest that winning a competition may not undermine intrinsic motivation if there is not undue pressure to win. Unfortunately, it seem that the unyielding focus on winning in our society - whether in sports or school - may be creating a pressuring context that can have quite negative effects on individuals’ experience & motivation”
Chipmunk story
Describe Vallerand and Losier’s study on competition and sportsmanship (1994).
Description of two speed skaters who vary in their emphasis on competition:
- “Although she enjoys the game, she plays mostly for the trophies, medal and recognition she gets from winning. Because her main goal is to win, she uses all the tricks in the book to find an edge and beat her opponent. It does not really matter is she has to cut orr or trip her opponents. As long as she wins, that is all that matters”
- vs.
- “Plays mostly because of the fun and pleasure she derives from participation and personal excellence. Trophies and medals are fine but do not represent the main reason for her involvement in speed skating. Because her primary goal is to outdo herself, lack of respect for the rules, the game or other skaters would not help in getting closer to this objective”
Describe the design and measures of the study on QC midget elite AAA hockey players.
(competition and sportsmanship)
QC midget elite AAA hockey players completed survey at beginning and end of hockey season
sportsmanship
- “I respect the official, even if he isn’t so good”
- “When my opponent injures himself, I don’t take advantage of the situation”
Results
- Competitive motivation Time 1 significantly predicts reduced sportsmanshio at Time 2, r = -0.33
Describe the latest review of competition and intrinsic motivation
the dark side of competition
- competitive ethics and poort sportspersonship
- acceptance of cheating
- doping
- post-competition aggression
Is it critical to teach competitive skills?
(ballet director example)
Consider recent research on skills needed for 21st century jobs
Consider competition in context of other important roles:
- friend
- romantic partner
- parent
What did David Deming say, in 2015, about whether it’s important to prepare children for competition so that they are ready to thrive in “real world” settings?
Preschool classrooms look a lot like the modern work world. Children move from art project to science experiments to the playground in small groups, and their most important skills are sharing and negotiating with others. But that soon ends, replaced by lecture-style teaching of hard skills, with less peer interaction
Jobs that require both socializing and thinking, especially mathematically, have fared best in employment and pay. Tey include those held by doctors and engineers. The jobs that require social skills but not math skills have also grown; lawyers and child-care workers are an example. The jobs that have been rapidly disappearing are those that require neither social nor math skills, like manual labour
Another way to teach these skills is through group activities like sports, band or drama,. Students learn important workplace skills: trusting one another, bringing out one another’s strengths and being coachable
