EFFECTS OF COMPETITIVE AND INDIVIDUALISTIC SUCCESS ON PROBLEM SOLVING AND MOTIVATION (GIFTED, SEX DIFFERENCES, PIAGET)
Abstract
Negative effects of competitive goal structures on the attitudes and achievement of most students have been frequently demonstrated. These results have not been found, however, for gifted or high achieving students. This study investigated the effects of competitive versus individualistic goal structures, sex, and achievement group on problem solving performance and motivation. Achievement groups were high achievers and average achievers, based on standardized achievement test scores. Subjects were 56 students in the fifth grade of a midwestern rural intermediate school. The problem solving task was Inhelder and Piaget's "floating and sinking objects," an early formal operational thinking task. Students performed the task individually in an interview format with the experimenter. Half the students performed the task under competitive conditions, where they were instructed to try to beat other students at guessing which objects would float and sink, and were told that scores would be announced to teachers at the end of the study. The other half of the students performed the task within an individualistic goal structure, where they were instructed to concentrate on the task and to solve the problem as well as they could. All students were given success feedback and filled out a questionnaire containing motivation-related items. Results indicated few significant main effects for condition, although mean differences tended to favor the individualistic condition. Sex proved to be an important factor in both performance and motivation, with girls more negatively affected by competition than boys, and with a sex difference in performance favoring boys. In addition, high achieving girls tended to be reluctant to appear concerned with their ability. In general, some negative effects of competition were demonstrated for gifted (high achieving) students; future research should work to clarify the achievement conditions and outcomes of which competition is a positive or negative factor.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Educational psychology
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