Competition Breeds Desire

Abstract

Desire spurs competition; here we explore whether the converse is also true. In one study, female quartets (N = 58) completed anagrams, with the winner to receive compact speakers; controls anagrammed without competition. In the other study, female quartets (N = 74) described their ideal first date to a male judge, who chose the best description; controls read to him others' date descriptions without competition. In both studies, creating competition increased desire and altered how much participants wanted, but not how much they liked, the competed-for thing. Competition may activate a general “wanting system,” producing overvaluing in settings from stock markets to partner selection.

Notes

¹In keeping with the journal's policy, we eschew null hypothesis testing, relying instead on effect size estimates to convey the importance of our findings (Trafimow, 2014). For those reassured by conventional, albeit far from perfect, null hypothesis significance testing, we can report here that all moderate and larger effects discussed are associated with a p < .05.