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The Psychology of Competition
Hello, my name is Purped and I will be talking about different points about psychology of competition. Feel free to leave any feedback you may have.



Competitions are fun, let’s be honest. At one point or another in your life, you probably have enjoyed being part of some kind of competition. Of course, competitions tend to be more fun if you actually win. Competitions have the undesirable quality of being a “zero-sum” game (i.e., in order for you to win, someone else must lose). Nonetheless, throughout human history, people seemed to have enjoyed organizing competitions in one form or another, from the ancient Greek Olympic Games (going back as far as 776 BC) to modern soccer (I would say American Football, but soccer is actually the most popular sport in the world). In fact, when you look closely, you’ll notice that competition is everywhere in modern society. Economists tell us that competition is an essential force in maintaining productive and efficient markets (i.e., without basic competition between firms, evil monopolies will form). Competition also plays a major role in domestic politics (e.g., presidential elections), foreign relations (e.g., states compete for power and resources), most sports of course, and even the human quest for love is not free of competition. For most people, there is something inexplicably compelling about the nature of competition. Perhaps that’s because, as some scholars argue, “competitiveness” is a biological trait that co-evolved with the basic need for (human) survival.


Imagine that you are running a race against one other. The other isn't interested in running and simply walks the track. You, on the other hand, want to run, you want the other to test you, to stretch you - you want to win and to that you have to beat the other. But the other isn't running, it's so frustrating for you, the absence of competition denies you the reward of winning.

You don't actually understand anyone that doesn't respond to the competitive urge. Such a posture seems unreal, even not normal. Humans retain an innate pack instinct - the fastest, strongest, bravest rise to the top, think of Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest.

Coupled with your desire to prove yourself is that of provoking the non-runner into action. You need the other to act so that you can push yourself, our competitors are also our stimulants.

The most important competition any of us have is with ourselves. Performing today better than we did yesterday is progress, success - victory. We are best defined by that than by how well we beat others.


social comparison—the tendency to self-evaluate by comparing ourselves to others—is an important source of competitive behavior. We propose a new model that distinguishes between individual and situational factors that increase social comparison and thus lead to a range of competitive attitudes and behavior. Individual factors are those that vary from person to person: the relevance of the performance dimension, the similarity of rivals, and their relationship closeness to the individual, as well as the various individual differences variables relating to social comparison more generally. Situational factors, conversely, are those factors on the social comparison landscape that affect similarly situated individuals: proximity to a standard (i.e., near the number 1 ranking vs. far away), the number of competitors (i.e., few vs. many), social category fault lines (i.e., disputes across vs. within social categories), and more. The distinction between individual and situational factors also helps chart future directions for social comparison research and generates new vistas across psychology and related disciplines.
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real shit?
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Bobbles wrote



Yes.
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you wrote "feedvack" i think you should edit that lol
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SirDeqdly wrote

you wrote "feedvack" i think you should edit that lol


Will do, thank you.
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I am very competitive! This is a good thread!
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People that are less skilled are less toxic, why?
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Title sounds like something Hivlik would be interested about
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Ryankoo1 wrote

Title sounds like something Hivlik would be interested about
lol
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Foxize wrote

SirDeqdly wrote...



I can confirm that this statement is absolutely horseshit :)
Evidence: I play on a soup kitpvp where I'm one of the better players. And I'm a Silver in soup on Badlion. The level of toxicity is far higher from new/unskilled players than the regulars. However, there's probably a bit of truth in what you said, in that people that are unskilled aren't people who have spent hours of their lives improving on minecraft pvp and getting frustrated on losing. They just play the game for fun, not competition (or they find fun in the bit of competitiveness involved)
ok calling it horseshit wasn't necessary
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Foxize wrote

SirDeqdly wrote...


okay, bullshit then that's not so bad
is it hard to say that you disagree with me lOl
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Foxize wrote

SirDeqdly wrote...


i just know for a fact it's wrong not that i disagree with you sorry if i hurt your feelings x.x
yo can you say something without bashing me lol? what the fuck you have to bash everyone you disagree with and then act like the victim and KEEP on bashing "sorry if I hurt your feelings" change your mindset
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SirDeqdly wrote

Foxize wrote...

yo can you say something without bashing me lol? what the fuck you have to bash everyone you disagree with and then act like the victim and KEEP on bashing "sorry if I hurt your feelings" change your mindset
he just said your statement was shit, not you. why do you have to take it as an insult
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pvpdog26 wrote

SirDeqdly wrote...

he just said your statement was shit, not you. why do you have to take it as an insult
why do you try to get involved in everything this is me and him not you lol
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