Intrinsic Motivation, Psychological Needs, and Competition

Competition is an apt place to experience intrinsic motivation, as competitive settings are often rich with optimal challenges and immediate, effectance-relevant feedback. Yet competition can also undermine intrinsic motivation and sustained engagement by introducing controlling pressures and negative feedback. To explain the contrasting effects of competitive settings on intrinsic motivation, this chapter presents a self-determination theory analysis. According to the theory, when elements of competitive settings are experienced as controlling or pressuring, they undermine competitors’ autonomy, decreasing intrinsic motivation. However, when these elements are perceived as both non-controlling and competence-informing, they can satisfy both autonomy and competence needs, enhancing intrinsic motivation. Unpacking these motivational crosscurrents, the authors identify the motivational implications of different elements of competition, including competitive set, pressure to win, feedback and competitive outcomes, challenge, leaders’ motivating styles, team interpersonal climate, and intrapersonal events such as ego-involvement. The authors also examine both positive and negative effects of competition on the need for relatedness. The chapter concludes by discussing how conditions that foster the need-satisfying aspects of competition not only enhance intrinsic motivation but also help prevent the emergence of competition’s darker sides, such as cheating, doping, objectifying opponents, aggression, and poor sportspersonship.