More than a feeling: Effects of competitive asymmetry on human emotions - PubMed

Affiliations

• PMID: 36579926
• DOI: 10.1080/00221309.2022.2160427

More than a feeling: Effects of competitive asymmetry on human emotions

J Centurion Cabral et al. J Gen Psychol. 2023 Oct-Dec.

Abstract

Competitive interactions have important effects on human emotions. Both victory and defeat can evoke a wide range of emotional reactions, including joy, pride, anger, fear, sadness and shame. However, little is known about what determines this variety of contestants' affective responses. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of competitive asymmetry, a common and ecologically relevant feature of animal conflicts, on human emotional responses to winning or losing a contest. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two experiments, the first with high school students (n = 331) and the second with young athletes (n = 73), in which we manipulated the outcomes of successive matches in a non-athletic competition. Thus, by inducing the competitors' scores, ranging from closer to more decisive outcomes, we were able to define the degree of competitive asymmetry in victory and defeat conditions. We then assessed participants' emotional responses to a set of affective stimuli. In the defeat condition, we found in both studies an increase in the occurrence of anger and fear due to more symmetric contests. There were also more frequent reports of shame following more decisive defeats (Experiment 1) and of pride following closer victories (Experiment 2), which were seen neither for sadness nor joy in any of the studies. Supporting our hypothesis, emotional reactions triggered by asymmetries among contestants were consistent with the behavioral patterns commonly seen in symmetric and asymmetric animal conflict, such as dominance/aggressive and defensive/escape behaviors.

Keywords: Asymmetric contest; competition; dominance; emotion; social status.

Similar articles

• From social status to emotions: Asymmetric contests predict emotional responses to victory and defeat.

  Cabral JCC, de Almeida RMM. Cabral JCC, et al. Emotion. 2022 Jun;22(4):769-779. doi: 10.1037/emo0000839. Epub 2020 Jul 6. Emotion. 2022. PMID: 32628033

• Once bitten, twice shy: Aggressive and defeated pigs begin agonistic encounters with more negative emotions.

  Oldham L, Arnott G, Camerlink I, Doeschl-Wilson A, Farish M, Wemelsfelder F, Turner SP. Oldham L, et al. Appl Anim Behav Sci. 2021 Nov;244:105488. doi: 10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105488. Appl Anim Behav Sci. 2021. PMID: 34819712 Free PMC article.

• Things Become Appealing When I Win: Neural Evidence of the Influence of Competition Outcomes on Brand Preference.

  Yu W, Sun Z, Xu T, Ma Q. Yu W, et al. Front Neurosci. 2018 Oct 26;12:779. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00779. eCollection 2018. Front Neurosci. 2018. PMID: 30416426 Free PMC article.

• Modulation of aggressive behaviour by fighting experience: mechanisms and contest outcomes.

  Hsu Y, Earley RL, Wolf LL. Hsu Y, et al. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2006 Feb;81(1):33-74. doi: 10.1017/S146479310500686X. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2006. PMID: 16460581 Review.

• Moving the self and others to do good: The emotional underpinnings of prosocial behavior.

  van Kleef GA, Lelieveld GJ. van Kleef GA, et al. Curr Opin Psychol. 2022 Apr;44:80-88. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.029. Epub 2021 Aug 31. Curr Opin Psychol. 2022. PMID: 34592600 Review.

LinkOut - more resources

• Full Text Sources

  • Atypon