Can interpersonal competition be constructive within organizations?

An empirical analysis was conducted on the conditions under which competition can be constructive. The participants were 64 managers and 28 employees from organizations in mainland China. They were asked to describe specific incidents of competition between them and their fellow employees and rate on a 7-point Likert-type scale the conditions that they perceived affected the outcomes. The incidents could involve either a physical activity or an intellectual task or both. Results showed that the variables related to constructive competition included the fairness of the rules, the motivation to win, having an advantage that enhanced one's chances of winning, a strong positive relationship among competitors, and a history of confirming each other's competence. By controlling these factors, the constructiveness of competition may be enhanced.     

Hiding effort to gain a competitive advantage: Evidence from China

Previous studies with Western populations have shown that adolescents' tendency to downplay their academic effort is affected by two kinds of motives: ability‐related motives (e.g., to appear competent) and social approval motives (e.g., to be popular). In this research, we test for the presence of additional competition‐related motives in China, a culture placing strong emphasis on academic competition. Study 1 (N = 150) showed that, in response to a scenario in which a hard‐working high‐school junior hid effort from classmates, the most highly endorsed explanation was “to influence others to work less hard to maintain a competitive advantage.” Study 2 (N = 174) revealed that competition‐related explanations were endorsed relatively more often when the speaker and audience had similar academic rankings. This tendency was most evident when both speaker and audience were top performers, and when this was the case, participants' desire to demonstrate superiority over others was a positive predictor of endorsement of competition‐related motives. Study 3 (N = 137) verified that competition‐related motives were more strongly endorsed among Chinese participants than U.S. participants. These results suggest that at least in cultures that emphasize academic competition and in contexts where competition is salient, hiding effort is often about attempting to gain strategic advantage.     

Sexual jealousy in young women and men: Aggressive responsiveness to partner and rival

Two studies compared judgments about aggressive components of jealous reactions to the partner and to the rival, specifically, emotional (anger), cognitive (blame), and behavioral components. The first study randomly assigned 172 young women and men to two questionnaires on jealous reactions to mild (flirting) and serious (cheating) transgressions. One questionnaire assessed standards for appropriate behavior and perceptions of how people usually react. The second questionnaire asked people to report how they had reacted or, if not experienced with a sexual transgression, how they would react. The second study asked 113 people to imagine a situation in which they knew their partner had been sexually unfaithful. There were three major findings that were interpreted in the context of courtship, a time when attention is focused on the qualities of one's potential long-term partner. First, the jealous individual's anger and blame were focused more on the partner than the rival. Second, mean anger and blame scores given the partner were well matched. In contrast, the rival received more anger and blame than deemed appropriate and considerably more anger than blame. These data suggest that, in the context of courtship, a rival is not simply a competitor. Third, men were more inclined to think about aggressive action against the rival but women were more emotionally and behaviorally reactive to the rival. The latter result implies that, in the context of competition for an established romantic partner, a rival is more salient for women than for men. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Selective stereotype activation: The joint impact of interpersonal goals and task context

In complex social interactions, such as co‐operation or competition with another person on an ability test, people tend to activate stereotypes strategically in order to achieve their self‐enhancement goals. If multiple ways of categorizing the target person are available, the selected stereotypical traits that serve their motives might also depend on the specific task context in which the interaction is situated. We assumed that people selectively process trait information in order to increase their perceived chances to win in a currently performed task. We tested this hypothesis in a study in which participants were told to perform an analytical or emotional skills task having as a co‐operator or rival, a multiple categorizable target person (female computer science student). In the analytical task context, we found stronger inhibition of stereotypically female traits in the co‐operation than in the competition condition. In the emotional skills task context, we found stronger inhibition of computer scientist traits in the co‐operation than competition condition. The interactive nature of goals and context influences on stereotype activation is discussed and some theoretical implications about the dynamics of stereotype activation processes are drawn. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Impact of Constructive Controversy on Moral Development

We examined the effects of a constructive controversy compared with individualistic learning on 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th‐grade students' (N = 56) moral development, ethical skills, academic achievement, and attitudes toward social interdependence. The results indicated that participating in constructive controversy (compared with individualistic learning) resulted in greater moral development (i.e., moral reasoning, moral motivation, moral character), greater ethical skills (i.e., perspective taking, perception of self as a moral person, rule orientation), higher academic achievement, and more positive attitudes toward competition. These results extend constructive controversy theory, as well as Piagetian and social interdependent theories. They also provide guidance as to how discussions of moral dilemmas and conflicts among students should be structured and conducted.     

Feeling Controlled and Drinking Motives Among College Students: Contingent Self-Esteem as a Mediator

This article presents an examination of college student drinking motives from a self-determination perspective. We predicted positive associations between controlled orientation (a chronic orientation toward pressures and experiencing a lack of choice in one's behaviors), and drinking as a means of regulating affect (enhancement and coping motives) and social approval (social rewards and conformity motives). Contingent self-esteem involves deriving self-worth from meeting expectations and was expected to mediate the relation between controlled orientation and drinking motives, which were in turn expected to predict alcohol consumption and related consequences. College students' (N?=?204) controlled orientation, contingent self-esteem, motives for drinking, and patterns of alcohol use were assessed. Mediation analyses provided support for our theoretical framework. Results suggest that “controlled” individuals drink to regulate affect and social approval in part because they have a greater tendency to base self-worth on contingencies.     

What motivates lay third parties to take sides in a conflict? Examining the relationships between the Big Five personality traits and side‐taking motives

Taking sides is one of the reactions available to third parties in handling a dispute. From the perspective of individual differences, this study was aimed at identifying lay third parties' motives for side taking and exploring their relations with the Big Five personality traits. We tested our assumptions using three samples: A Dutch student sample (n = 111), a Dutch employee sample (n = 101) and a Chinese student sample (n = 124). The findings revealed four types of side‐taking motives: Moral, relational, reward‐approaching and sanction‐avoiding motives. The results also showed that individuals' personality traits were relevant to the four types of side‐taking motives: Agreeableness was associated with the relational motive for side taking, and intellectual autonomy was associated with the reward‐approaching motive, the sanction‐avoiding motive and the relational motive for side taking. Implications and explanations of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Concurrent and predictive validity of self-reported aggressiveness

The subjects (60 boys) were drawn from the sample of a longitudinal study of social development and represented extremely aggressive, anxious, constructive, and submissive behaviour at the age of 8. They were presented with three question series concerning (1) their responses to aggressive attacks; (2) reactions in frustration situations presented in short stories; and (3) their aggressive initiatives. In each series the type of aggressive behaviour, attacker, victim, and other situational factors were systematically varied. In series 2 the type of response, open-ended or forced-choice, was also varied. The results showed that the most valid way of studying boys' self-observations on their aggressive behaviour was to ask if they attack somebody without a specific reason (series 3). This correlated with contemporaneous overt aggression at the age of 8 and predicted aggressiveness and various characteristics of antisocial aggressive development at the ages of 14 and 19. Self-observations on one's physical aggression were more valid for ratings of overt aggressiveness than on verbal aggression. The open-ended or forced-choice type of response did not affect the validity of aggressive responses. Of the categories of nonaggression, ‘conciliatory responses’ had the highest concurrent and predictive validity for constructiveness and other indicators of strong self-control.     

When Me versus You Becomes Us versus Them: How Intergroup Competition Shapes Ingroup Psychology

Throughout evolutionary history, intergroup competition has been an influential part of social life. Although the topic has received substantial empirical attention among social psychologists, the majority of that work has focused on how ingroup and outgroup members regard one another. Only recently have researchers begun examining how intergroup rivalry changes that way that ingroup members perceive and relate to one another. New findings suggest that a variety of within‐group processes are influenced by the presence of a rival outgroup. In general, altruistic cooperation and prosocial motives increase among ingroup members when their group competes against another. The relationship between leaders and followers also shifts in response to intergroup rivalry: rather than wielding their power for selfish purposes, leaders prioritize the needs of their group. On the flip side, followers’ choice of leader changes, preferring males during times of intergroup competition but females in the absence of competition. Given the substantial impact of intergroup competition on ingroup processes, future research should continue to deepen the field’s knowledge of this topic. Additionally, the scope of research should be broadened to capture the effect of intergroup competition on ingroup dynamics, such as performance and group outcomes.     

RIGHT ACT, VIRTUOUS MOTIVE

Abstract: The concepts of virtue and right action are closely connected, in that we expect people with virtuous motives to at least often act rightly. Two well-known views explain this connection by defining one of the concepts in terms of the other. Instrumentalists about virtue identify virtuous motives as those that lead to right acts; virtue-ethicists identify right acts as those that are or would be done from virtuous motives. This essay outlines a rival explanation, based on the "higher-level" account of virtue defended in the author's Virtue, Vice, and Value . On this account rightness and virtue go together because each is defined by a (different) relation to some other, more basic moral concept. Their frequent coincidence is therefore like a correlation between A and B based not on either's causing the other but on their being joint effects of a single common cause.     

Help-seeking and helping behavior in children as a function of psychosocial competence

Research on prosocial behavior has supported the belief that psychosocial competence characteristics enhance helping behavior. Tyler and others have hypothesized that helpseeking is also a constructive competence-related behavior. The present investigation was designed to assess whether the correlates of psychosocial competence differences found in more effective psychosocial functioning among primary school children in the U.S. would characterize children in India and be reflected in their help-seeking and helping behaviors. Twenty-eight pairs of 8 to 10-year-old children participated in this 3 × 2 factorial design study. High and low competence subjects were selected using scores on the Psychosocial Competence Incomplete Stories Test (PCIST) adapted for Indian children. Results show that constructiveness of helpseeking and helping were a function of psychosocial competence. This was also a three-way interaction effect of sex and psychosocial competence level of the helpseeker and of the helper on the level of constructiveness of help-seeking behavior. Tyler and colleagues had previously demonstrated that children from the U.S. who are more psychosocially competent (more self-efficacious, interpersonally trusting, and actively planful) function more effectively in their lives. The current results extend those findings by demonstrating that help-seeking and helping behavior are also a function of these psychosocial competence characteristics. They also indicate sex differences in the relationship of psychosocial competence to interpersonal interactions among these children in India. Psychosocial competence and developmental and cultural implications are noted.     

Judging interevent relations: From cause to effect and from effect to cause

Stimulus competition was studied in college students' correlational judgments in a medical decision-making setting. In accord with prior findings, subjects making cause-to-effect (predictive) judgments discounted a stimulus event that was moderately correlated with a target event when rival stimuli were more highly correlated with the effect. However, subjects making effect-to-cause (diagnostic) judgments were not at all disposed to discount a stimulus event which was moderately correlated with a target event when rival stimuli were more highly correlated with the cause. The theoretical implications of these results are considered in connection with associative and mentalistic models of causal attribution.     

Perspective taking in children's narratives about jealousy

This study explored relationships between perspective‐taking, emotion understanding, and children's narrative abilities. Younger (23 5‐/6‐year‐olds) and older (24 7‐/8‐year‐olds) children generated fictional narratives, using a wordless picture book, about a frog experiencing jealousy. Children's emotion understanding was assessed through a standardized test of emotion comprehension and their ability to convey the jealousy theme of the story. Perspective‐taking ability was assessed with respect to children's use of narrative evaluation (i.e., narrative coherence, mental state language, supplementary evaluative speech, use of subjective language, and placement of emotion expression). Older children scored higher than younger children on emotion comprehension and on understanding the story's complex emotional theme, including the ability to identify a rival. They were more advanced in perspective‐taking abilities, and selectively used emotion expressions to highlight story episodes. Subjective perspective taking and narrative coherence were predictive of children's elaboration of the jealousy theme. Use of supplementary evaluative speech, in turn, was predictive of both subjective perspective taking and narrative coherence.     

Ecclesiology and Missiology: Reflections on Two Recent Documents from the World Council of Churches

In 2013 the World Council of Churches published two important documents, one on the church and one on mission. Beginning with the conviction that ecclesiology has to be missiological and missiology ecclesiological, this article reads each document from the basic perspective of the other. This reading is followed by a constructive critique from the author's perspective as a Roman Catholic missionary ecclesiologist.     

Leisure time physical activity motives and smoking in adolescence

ObjectivesThe study aimed to gain a better understanding of the relationship between leisure time physical activity and smoking in adolescence by investigating adolescents' motives for participation in leisure time physical activity.MethodsThe study involved cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a postal survey involving 16–22-year old Danes. The hypothesized associations were examined using hierarchical logistic regression analyses.ResultsAn inverse association between participating in leisure time physical activity and smoking was found. Participation in leisure time physical activity for friendship or competition reasons were conditions that strengthened the inverse association between physical activity and smoking in males. In contrast, participation for the reason of losing weight or gaining self-esteem appeared to weaken the inverse association among females. In addition, the motives enjoyment, health and, in females, friendships and stress relief were associated with less smoking irrespective of participation level, while the motives self-esteem, losing weight and, in males, friendships were unrelated or even positively related to smoking.ConclusionsThe association between adolescents' leisure time physical activity and smoking behavior differs with the underlying motivation for the activity.     

Use of trait information in the attribution of intentions by popular,average and rejected children

This study aimed to examine the extent to which children's sociometric status is related to the use of trait information. Therefore, 99 children (aged 4–6) were asked to make inferences about protagonists' future actions when positive or negative trait information was given. Results showed that rejected children were less affected by the protagonist's trait information than their more popular peers (average and popular) in both conditions. As well as their frequently reported hostile bias, rejected children also showed a positive bias. This suggests a general delay in social reasoning among rejected children, but can also be explained by a difference in their development of social cognition based on their atypical daily interactions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individual differences in vigor and deliberation: development of two new measures from an evolutionary psychology theory of human motivation

Three studies (total N=403 participants; M age = 31.1 yr.; SD = 13.8) are reported on the development, psychometric properties, and convergent and discriminant validities of two individual differences dimensions of Vigor (constructive arousal and energy that drives the general intensity of behavior) and Deliberation (prudence in the delay of immediate action and consideration of competing motives, emotions, and consequences of action that promote convergence of behavior toward socially desirable outcomes). These dimensions are part of Bernard, Mills, Swenson, and Walsh's evolutionary psychology theory of human motivation. Analysis suggests Vigor and Deliberation scales have reasonably good psychometric properties and may aid research on motivation from an evolutionary perspective.     

Feelings and motives underlying Machiavellian behavioural strategies; narrative reports in a social dilemma situation

This study explored the reasons and motives underlying the decisions of individuals with strong Machiavellian attitudes (High Machs). One hundred and fifty undergraduate students completed the Mach‐IV test, and their contributions to, financial success in and narrative reports of a public goods game were analysed. High Machs contributed less to the public good and gained more benefit than Low Machs. Analysis of the narrative reports showed that High Machs used significantly fewer verbs referring to emotional involvement and first person plural verb forms, than did Low Machs. This study confirmed previous findings that High Machs have a cool and rational character and a proself orientation and showed that their lack of group orientation may account for their low cooperation in social dilemmas. The results of narrative content analysis provide a new perspective on the motives and values behind High Machs' decisions and success in different fields of social life.     

How does green suit me? Consumers mentally match perceived product attributes with their domain‐specific motives when making green purchase decisions

Nowadays, environment‐friendly products are widely accepted by society. However, market share of sustainable technologies demanding higher investments or behavioral changes is rather small, indicating that consumers seem to generally approve of sustainable products, but rarely perceive them as being compatible with their needs. The present research introduces a model emphasizing the importance of consumers perceiving the product as being suitable to match their motives relevant to the product domain. In investigating a sample of 531 car drivers, the hypothesized model was tested in the realm of a highly relevant sustainable product: electric vehicles (EVs). Findings based on structural equation modeling showed that participants' perceived matching with EV attributes was related to their domain‐specific motives (hedonic, freedom, ecological, and financial motives) and a global preference towards the product. Specific to sustainable products, ecological motives strongly influenced participants' matching processes by positively affecting perceived matching with all product attributes. Participants' purchase intentions, in turn, were strongly affected by their perceived matching of the product with their motives. The added value of the model with respect to self‐image theories and implications for sustainable product marketing are examined through discussion. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kierkegaard,Repetition and Ethical Constancy

How can a person forge a stable ethical identity over time? On one view, ethical constancy means reapplying the same moral rules. On a rival view, it means continually adapting to one's ethical context in a way that allows one to be recognized as the same practical agent. Focusing on his thinking about repetition, I show how Kierkegaard offers a critical perspective on both these views. From this perspective, neither view can do justice to our vulnerability to certain kinds of crisis, in which our ethical self‐understanding is radically undermined. I further examine his alternative account of ethical constancy, by clarifying Kierkegaard's idea of a ‘second ethics’, as addressed to those who feel ethically powerless and as requiring an ongoing process of self‐transformation.