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Speaking of Psychology · June 15, 2024 · 35m
The Psychology of Competition with Stephen Garcia
Social psychologist Stephen Garcia discusses how competition shapes behavior in work, relationships, and everyday life. Why fewer competitors make you try harder, and when competition helps versus harms performance.
This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.
Highlights
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The N-effect: people compete harder when there are fewer competitors — adding more competitors reduces individual effort
Garcia presents his research on the N-effect: as the number of competitors increases, individual motivation decreases. A student in a class of 10 tries harder than a student in a class of 500, even when the reward is identical.•
Social comparison is automatic and unavoidable — but you can choose which direction you compare
Garcia discusses upward comparison (comparing to people better than you, which can motivate or demoralize) versus downward comparison (comparing to people worse off, which can comfort or induce complacency). The direction of comparison shapes outcomes.Was this useful?