The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Competition

Stephen M. Garcia is Professor in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis. He was previously Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, where he maintains an affiliation with the Research Center for Group Dynamics. Professor Garcia is an expert on the psychology of competition and a scholar in the field of judgment and decision making. His work appears in leading journals across the behavioral sciences. Professor Garcia serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, and he is an elected fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. Avishalom Tor is Professor of Law and Director of the Notre Dame Program on Law and Market Behavior (ND LAMB) at Notre Dame Law School. His behavioral-legal research employs theoretical, empirical, and experimental methods in a broad range of studies that revolve around the three major themes of competition and cooperation among individuals and firms; behavioral policy-making ("nudging"); and the methodology of behavioral law and economics. Professor Tor's interdisciplinary work has been published in a wide range of legal, psychological, decision making, and public policy journals, as well in numerous edited volumes and collections. Andrew J. Elliot is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Rochester. He has held year-long Visiting Professor positions at University of Munich (2003-2004), University of Cambridge (2008-2009), University of Oxford (2013-2014), and Teachers College and New York University (2022-2023). He conducts research on achievement motivation and has published approximately 300 scholarly papers. He has been Associate Editor at numerous journals (e.g., Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Psychological Science), and is currently Editor of Advances in Motivation Science. Dr. Elliot has served as President of the Society for the Science of Motivation.

I. INTRODUCTION

1. What is the Psychology of Competition?
Stephen Garcia, Avishalom Tor, and Andrew Elliot

2. Competition in Psychology and Experimental Economics
Yoella Bereby-Meyer, Uriel Haran, and Roi Zultan

II. BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES

3. Examination of the potential functional role of competition-induced testosterone dynamics
Justin Carré, Brittney Robinson, and Tracy-Lynn Reside

4. Biological Sex Differences and Competition. This chapter will explore the biological bases of sex differences and their impact on competition.
Alicia Salvador, Vanesa Hidalgo, Raquel Costa, and Esperanza Gonzalez

5. Psychobiology of Competition: A Review of Men's Endogenous Testosterone Dynamics.
Brian M. Bird, Lindsay Bochon, Yin Wu, and Samuele Zilioli

6. Neuroscience and Competitive Behavior.
Michela Balconi and Laura Angioletti

7. The Evolution of Competition: A Darwinian Perspective
David Geary and Ben Winegard


III. MOTIVATION and EMOTION APPROACHES

8. Competitive Arousal: Sources, Effects, and Implications.
Gillian Ku and Marc T.P. Adam

9. Motivational dynamics underlying competition: The opposing processes model of competition and performance
Kou Murayama, Andrew Elliot, and Mickael Jury

10. Competition and Goal Pursuit: A Temporally Dynamic Model.
Szu-chi Huang and Stephanie Lin

11. Intrinsic Motivation, Psychological Needs, and Competition: A Self-determination Theory Analysis.
Richard M. Ryan and Johnmarshall Reeve

12. Envy: A Prevalent Emotion in Competitive Settings.
Ronit Montal-Rosenberg and Simone Moran

IV. COGNITIVE AND DECISION MAKING APPROACHES

13. Judgmental Biases in the Perception of Competitive Advantage: On Choosing the Right Race to Run
David Dunning

14. Social Dilemmas: From Competition to Cooperation.
Poonam Arora and Tamar Kugler


15. Self-Evaluation in Competition Pools.
Mark Alicke, Yiyue Zhang, Nicole Stephenson, and Ethan Zell

16. On Predicting and Being Predicted: Navigating Life in a Competitive Landscape Full of Mind Readers.
Oscar Ybarra, Kimberly Rios, Matthew C. Keller, Nicholas Michalak, and Todd Chan

17. Competition and Risk-taking.
Sandeep Mishra

V. SOCIAL-PERSONALITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL APPROACHES

18. Social Comparison and Competition: A Progress Report.
Stephen Garcia and Avishalom Tor

19. Psychology of Rivalry: A Social-Cognitive Approach to Competitive Relationships.
Benjamin A. Converse, David A. Reinhard, and Maura Austin

20. The Psychology of Status Competition within Organizations: Navigating Two Competing Motives.
Sarah P. Doyle and Sijun Kim

21. Social Identity and Intergroup Competition. This chapter will explore competition at the intergroup level.
Sucharita Belavadi and Michael Hogg

22. Trait Competitiveness.
Craig Parks

23. Gender Differences in the Psychology of Competition. This chapter will review and organize the growing literature on gender and competition.
Kathrin Hanek

VI. Competition in Context

24. Ready, Steady, Go! Competition in Sport.
Maria Kavussanu and Andrew Cook

25. Competition in Education.
Fabrizio Butera

26. Mindfulness, Competition, and Sports Psychology: A Phenomenological perspective.
Ram Mahalingham

27. Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile: A Review of How Collectivistic Cultures Compete More Than Individualistic Cultures.
Kaidi Wu