SOCIOL 41 Lecture Notes - Lecture 64: Arthur Schuster
Document Summary
Attainment of a personal goal without having to defeat another person. Excessive emphasis on defeating others to achieve one"s goals. Poses the greatest challenge to establishing a positive group climate of trust, openness, directness, supportiveness, and accomplishment. When competition produces a positive, enjoyable experience and generates increased efforts to achieve without jeopardizing. Winning is relatively unimportant (focus on having fun, building skills) Opponents are equally matched, allowing all participants a reasonable chance to win. There are clear, specific rules, enforced without bias, that ensure fairness. Intergroup competition usually requires a great deal of intragroup cooperation. Reasons cooperation promotes but competition dampens achievement and performance for groups and individuals: Attempting to achieve excellence and trying to beat others are different goals. Resources are used more efficiently in a cooperative climate. Intergroup interactions are far more competitive than interactions between individuals. Groups members pursue maximum group outcomes even if hypercompetition not desired by members.
