Effects of Competition as a Motivational Technique in the Classroom

The use of competition with speed-related tasks in an educational setting has repeatedly been shown to increase performance (Chapman and Feder, 1917; Clayton, 1964; Clifford, 1971; Hurlock, 1927; Maller, 1929). On the other hand, Clifford, Cleary and Walster (1971) found that a competitive treatment had no effect on the performance of Ss taking a power-oriented test (i.e., a power-test or complex problemsolving test on which a time limit is imposed). On the basis of two related experiments, Shaw (1958) likewise concluded that competition more easily affected performance on mechanical or skill-oriented tasks than on complex, problem-solving tasks. These studies imply an inverse relationship between the complexity of the task and performance-increase due to competitive motivation. Support for this inverse relationship is also provided by theorists who have examined the more general relationship between task-performance and motivation (Ahlstrom, 1957; Guilford, 1954; Lowell, 1952). At the same time, there is evidence that the relationship between motivation and performance is curvilinear (Atkinson and O'Conner, 1966; Bruner, Matter and Papanek, 1955; Yerkes and Dodson, 1908). The effect of educational competition is likely to be a function of the