214 Friendship and Conflict
abbreviated life span approach and review findings regarding the role of competi-
tion during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Finally, we introduce an inte-
grative model that aims to further our understanding of the social- developmental
and cultural processes that influence the impact of competition between friends.
The Nature of Competition and Competitiveness
The study of competition and competitiveness has a rich history grounded in exper-
imental social psychology (e.g., Deutsch, 1949; Triplett, 1898). Most of this work,
however, focused on the effects of situations, which were structured to be either
competitive or cooperative with the main goal being to determine how individuals
respond in these situations (e.g., do people accomplish more or feel better about
themselves in a competitively or a cooperatively structured situation?) Thus, defini-
tions of competitiveness were framed in terms of this situational structure. In their
summary of the existing research at the time, May and Doob (1937) described
competition as situations where a goal is scarce or cannot be shared. Similarly, while
studying the effects of competition and cooperation on group processes, Deutsch
(1949) defined competitive situations as ones in which goal attainment by one
party precludes attainment by other parties. Although much useful information has
come from situational studies of competition, they do not tell us a great deal about
individual differences in competitiveness or how these differences might impact
close interpersonal relationships such as friendships. More recently, researchers
have found a multidimensional approach to competition to be useful. It has been
proposed that competitive motivations and behaviors are rooted in either (1) the
drive to outperform others or (2) the drive to improve oneself. Importantly, these
two dimensions of competitiveness seem to be associated with distinctly different
social and interpersonal outcomes.
It’s Not How You Play the Game That’s Important,
but W hether You WinSeveral theorists and researchers have described a competitive orientation that is
based on achieving superiority over others that parallels Bakan’s (1966) concept of
“unmitigated agency.” For example, the neoanalyst Karen Horney (1937) described
“hypercompetitiveness” as an indiscriminate need by individuals to compete and
win at any cost as a means of maintaining or enhancing feelings of self- worth. She
theorized that hypercompetitiveness is characterized by manipulation, aggressive-
ness, exploitation, and denigration of others across a myriad of situations, and has a
deleterious impact on an individual’s development and functioning. Ryckman and
colleagues (e.g., Ryckman, Thorton, & Butler, 1994) found support for Horney’s
contentions and characterize hypercompetitiveness as competing in situations