Under The Conflict Of Social Norms And Benefits: The Competition Of College Students

Individual’s competitive performance will be affected by their competitive tendency and competitive situation factors.Based on the Opposing Processes Model and the reality that China is in a rapid-develop period,this paper,using three studies,explores the influence of competitive situation factors,as social norms and benefits,and individual’s competitive tendency on competition,and verifies the mediation of other-based achievement goals orientation between them.In study 1,the subjects were 234 college students.By using the College Students’ Competitive Tendency Scale and Other-based Achievement Goal Questionnaire and the situational recall method,we tested the differences between men and women in competition and the roles of achievement goals orientation in competition tendency and competition intention.The results show that male’s overall competitive tendency and competitive behavior tendency are significantly higher than female’s;Achievement goals orientation plays a part of mediation role between competitive tendency and competitive intention.In study 2,106 college students were divided into four groups by manipulating competition scenarios.We used the College Students’ Competition Tendency Scale,Other-based Achievement Goal Questionnaire and off-line experiments to explore the role of achievement goals orientation in competition tendency and competition intention,and the influence of social norms and benefits on competition in the situation.The results show that approach achievement goal orientation still plays a part of mediation role between competitive tendency and competitive intention,but avoidance achievement goal orientation does not have mediation role between competitive tendency and competitive intention;And the more the real interests in competitive situations,the more likely individuals are to choose approach achievement goal orientation to compete.Study 3 supplemented study 2,123 college students were divided into two groups by scenario setting,and explored the impact of social norms on competition.The results show that the stronger the social normative factors are in the competitive situation,the more likely individuals are to choose the avoidance achievement goal orientation to compete.In a word,through the study of competition,it is found that individual competition tendency can predict competition intention positively;And affected by social norms and benefits in competition situation,individual will adopt different achievement goal orientation to compete.Achievement goal orientation plays a part of mediation role between competition tendency and competition intention.