Aggression and competition
A cooperative school social Situation is one in which the goal will be possible of attainment by individual pupils only if all individuals can also attain the goal. Conversely, a competitive school situation exists when the goal is reached by an individual or a limited number of individuals and the rest of the pupils will be unable to attain it.
Uniquely, sports and games involve both competition and cooperation based on a system of values or rules of conduct which guide the behaviour of players.
Stendler and his associates studied cooperation and competition of second graders through the painting of a mural. In cooperation, every child was to get a prize if the mural was done well. Under competition, they were told that only the best painter would receive a prize.
Painting sessions and subsequent play session were observed. Results showed that positive interactions were below negative interactions under individual reward conditions. Subsequent play of the children did not appear to be affected by the experimental conditions.
Johnson and Hutton tested eight college wrestlers with a personality test under three conditions. The first was before a wrestling season, the second four to five hours before the first intercollegiate match of the season, and the third the morning after the competition.
Several group tendencies revealed were decrement of functioning intelligence, increased aggressive feelings, and increased neurotic signs in the before-match condition.
