Cooperation, Competition, and Self-Esteem: Aspects of Winning and Losing

Abstract

Two studies used questionnaires to assess how subjects thought they would feel about themselves in a variety of competitive and noncompetitive situations. Self-evaluations were on semantic differential items, which revealed two dimensions, "instrumental" and "expressive. " In Study 1, losing affected self-evaluations negatively on both dimensions, and winning negatively on the expressive dimension compared to some noncompetitive settings. In Study 2, the factors of success/failure and group/individual were separated from the competitive or cooperative nature of the task; gender and general self-evaluation were also controlled. Differences between winning and losing were similar to differences between succeeding and failing in noncompetitive settings, although competition had a positive effect on instrumental self-esteem. A group setting affected both dimensions positively. A few gender differences appeared.