Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

Living Edition
| Editors: Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Todd K. Shackelford

Competitiveness

Living reference work entry
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1056-1
How to cite

Definition

Competitiveness can be defined as the tendency to compete between oneself (either individually or as part of a team) and one or more others, against an object (e.g., rock climbing), an abstraction such as time (e.g., a time in a record book or a personal best time), or as a contest with ourselves.

Introduction

Historical Background

Competitiveness as a construct is easily recognizable and understood by most people yet difficult to operationalize. Research on competitiveness dates back to Triplett (1897) whose initial studies explored “concepts such as competitive instincts, mental attitude during performance, and an intense desire to win” (p. 285, see Houston et al. 2002 review). In what was considered by many to be one of the first experiments, historically, in social psychology, participants who were paired against an opponent were observed to crank fishing reels at a faster pace compared to when they worked alone (Triplett 1897). For several decades, competitiveness was...

Keywords

Eating Disorder Competitive Situation Individual Difference Variable Interactionist Perspective Relationship Style 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Bing, M. N. (1999). Hypercompetitiveness in academia: Achieving criterion-related validity from item context specificity. Journal of Personality Assessment, 73, 80–99. doi:10.1207/S15327752JPA730106.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Brewer, G. (1994). Mind Reading. Sales and Marketing Management, 146, 82–88.Google Scholar
  3. Dweck, C. S. (1986). Motivational processes affecting learning. American Psychologist, 41, 1040–1048. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.41.10.1040.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Fletcher, T. D., Major, D. A., & Davis, D. D. (2008). The interactive relationship of competitive climate and trait competitiveness with workplace attitudes, stress, and performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 922, 899–922. doi:10.1002/job.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Fletcher, T. D., & Nusbaum, D. N. (2008). Trait competitiveness as a composite variable: Linkages with facets of the big five. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 312–317. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2008.04.020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Gill, D. L., & Deeter, T. E. (1988). Development of the sport orientation questionnaire. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 59, 192–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Graziano, W. G., Hair, E. C., & Finch, J. F. (1997). Competitiveness mediates the link between personality and group performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1394–1408.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  8. Helmreich, R. L., & Spence, J. T. (1978). Work and family orientation questionnaire: An objective instrument to assess components of achievement motivation and attitudes toward family and career. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 8, 35.Google Scholar
  9. Horney, K. (1937). The neurotic personality of our time. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
  10. Houston, J. M., McIntire, S. A., Kinnie, J., & Terry, C. (2002). A factorial analysis of scales measuring competitiveness. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 62, 284–298. doi:10.1177/0013164402062002006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Houston, J. M., Queen, J. S., Cruz, N., Vlahov, R., & Gosnell, M. (2015). Personality traits and winning: Competitiveness, hypercompetitiveness, and Machiavellianism. North American Journal of Psychology, 17, 105–112.Google Scholar
  12. Kohn, A. (1992). No contest: The case against competition. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.Google Scholar
  13. Lepper, M., & Henderlong, J. (2000). Turning “play” into “work” and “work” into “play”: 25 years of research on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. In C. Sansone & J. Harackiewicz (Eds.), Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
  14. Martin, H. J., & Larsen, K. S. (1976). Measurement of competitive-cooperative attitudes. Psychological Reports, 39, 303–306. doi:10.2466/pr0.1976.39.1.303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. McClelland, D. C., Atkinson, J. W., Clark, R. A., & Lowell, E. L. (1953). The achievement motive. East Norwalk: Appleton-Century-Crofts.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Mudrack, P. E., Bloodgood, J., & Turnley, W. (2012). Some ethical implications of individual competitiveness. Journal of Business Ethics, 108, 347–359. doi:10.1007/s10551-011-1094-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Musson, D. M., Sandal, G. M., & Helmreich, R. L. (2004). Personality characteristics and trait clusters in final stage astronaut selection. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 75, 342–349. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15086124
  18. Newby, J. L., & Klein, R. G. (2014). Competitiveness reconceptualized: Psychometric development of the competitiveness orientation measure as a unified measure of trait competitiveness. The Psychological Record, 64, 879–895. doi:10.1007/s40732-014-0083-2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Ross, S. R., Rausch, K. M., & Canada, K. E. (2003). Competition and cooperation in the five-factor model: Individual differences in achievement orientation. The Journal of Psychology, 137, 323–337. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.lakeheadu.ca/login?url=http:// search.proquest.com/docview/213832732?accountid=11956
  20. Ryckman, R. M., Hammer, M., Kaczor, L. M., & Gold, J. A. (1990). Construction of a hypercompetitive attitude scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 630–639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Ryckman, R. M., Thornton, B., & Butler, C. J. (1994). Personality correlates of the hypercompetitive attitude scale: Validity test of Horney’s theory of neurosis. Journal of Personality Assessment, 62(1), 84–94.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  22. Ryckman, R. M., Libby, C. R., Van den Borne, B., Gold, J. A., & Linder, M. A. (1997). Values of hypercompetitive and personal development competitive individuals. Journal of Personality Assessment,69, 271–283. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6902_2.doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa5503&4_19 CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  23. Salvador, A., & Costa, R. (2009). Coping with competition: Neuroendocrine responses and cognitive variables. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33, 160–170. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.09.005.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  24. Smither, R., & Houston, J. (1992). The nature of competitiveness: The development and validation of the competitiveness index. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 52, 407–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Tjosvold, D., Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Sun, H. (2006). Competitive motives and strategies: Understanding constructive competition. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 10, 87–99. doi:10.1037/1089-2699.10.2.87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Triplett, N. (1897). The dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition. American Journal of Psychology, 9, 507–533. doi:10.2307/1412188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of PsychologyLakehead UniversityThunder BayCanada