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Personality Correlates of the Hypercompetitive Attitude Scale: Validity Tests of Horney's Theory of Neurosis
Abstract
This study focused on assessing the concurrent validity of Horney's ideas about the personalities of hypercompetitive individuals based on her theory of neurosis. One hundred and sixty university men and women provided data by responding to a test battery of personality inventories containing measures of hypercompetitive attitudes and several theoretically relevant constructs. The results strongly support Horney's contentions. Stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that hypercompetitive individuals were high in narcissism, Type E orientation, and several aspects of sensation seeking. The discussion centered on hypercompetitiveness as a mental health problem in American society and on the scale's utility in the diagnosis of the problem and in the assessment of therapeutic change in clients.
... Individuals with HCA exhibit lower levels of intimacy satisfaction, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of neuroticism, which means that they are more likely to have mental health problems [5]. Ryckman et al. reported that hypercompetitiveness was linked to various pathological behavior [8,9]. Researchers have found that a high level of perceived class competitiveness in college students was linked to an increased risk of anxiety and depression. ...
... Individuals with hypercompetitive attitudes have been found to have lower levels of optimal psychological health [9]. However, the associations between competitive attitudes and sleep quality have not been investigated. ...
... Our study found that a higher hypercompetitive attitude would increase college students' state anxiety, which leads to poor sleep quality. Previous studies have noted hypercompetitive individuals' intense pursuit of success would result in time and energy over-expenditure and lead to anxiety experience [9]. Moreover, individuals who wish to demonstrate their competence are afraid of failure [40] and related to high anxiety and worry [41]. ...
Previous studies have suggested that individuals with hypercompetitive attitude and interpersonal insecurity would have a high level of anxiety, and anxiety has been found to strongly impact on sleep quality. However, the associations between competitive attitudes and sleep quality have not been studied until now. The present study aimed to examine whether anxiety mediates the relationship between competitive attitudes and interpersonal relationships with sleep quality. This was a cross-sectional study with a total of 713 college students (age = 20.18 ± 2.16 years old; 78.8% female) recruited online to measure hypercompetitive attitude, personal development competitive attitude, interpersonal security, state anxiety and sleep quality. Path analysis models were conducted in this study. The path analysis models showed that both hypercompetitive attitude and interpersonal security had direct and indirect significant effects on poor sleep quality due to the mediating effect of state anxiety (β = 0.023, 95% bootstrapped CI: 0.005 to 0.047; β = −0.051, 95% bootstrapped CI: −0.099 to −0.010, respectively). However, personal development competitive attitude had only an indirect significant effect, but it had a negative role on poor sleep quality via state anxiety (β = −0.021, 95% bootstrapped CI: −0.042 to −0.008). The current study provided evidence that college students' competitive attitudes would impact sleep quality and highlighted the mediating role of state anxiety. The current findings suggested that individuals shifting their hypercompetitive thinking to concentrate on ability development would benefit their mental health.
... Personality traits that influence both cooperative and competitive behavior 38 include hypercompetitiveness (i.e., need to compete and avoid losing at all costs) 39 , dominance (e.g., pursuit of power and coercing others) 40,41 , and Machiavellianism (i.e., focus on self-interest and personal gains at any cost) 42 . These personality traits are intercorrelated 41,[43][44][45] , associated with lower cooperation in collaborative tasks 46,47 and game theory tasks (for an overview see 38 ), and linked to higher competitive and aggressive behavior in competitive contexts 48 . ...
... The www.nature.com/scientificreports/ group formed by individuals with higher scores in dominance also had higher Machiavellianism, hypercompetitiveness, and apathetic sibling relationships. The associations of dominance and Machiavellianism, hypercompetitiveness attitude, and leadership are mostly in line with previous literature 41, [43][44][45] . High dominant siblings' interactive behavior was characterized by more car crashes, and less use of one-turning condition and turn-taking strategy than the other two groups supporting that their dominant behavior led to reduced cooperation. ...
Siblings strongly influence each other in their social development and are a major source of support and conflict. Yet, studies are mostly observational, and little is known about how adult sibling relationships influence social behavior. Previous tasks exploring dynamically adjusting social interactions have limitations in the level of interactivity and naturalism of the interaction. To address these limitations, we created a cooperative tetris puzzle-solving task and an interactive version of the chicken game task. We validated these two tasks to study cooperative and competitive behavior in real-time interactions (N = 56). Based on a dominance questionnaire (DoPL), sibling pairs were clustered into pairs that were both low in dominance (n = 7), both high in dominance (n = 8), or one low and one high in dominance (n = 13). Consistent with our hypothesis, there were significantly more mutual defections, less use of turn-taking strategies, and a non-significant trend for reduced success in solving tetris puzzles together among high dominance pairs compared to both other pair types. High dominant pairs also had higher Machiavellian and hypercompetitiveness traits and more apathetic sibling relationships. Both tasks constitute powerful and reliable tools to study personality and relationship influences on real and natural social interactions by demonstrating the different cooperative and competitive dynamics between siblings.
... The distinction between competitiveness and HC relies on Horney's (1937) conceptualization of HC as the indiscriminate need to win at all costs as a means of maintaining or enhancing feelings of self-worth, with an attendant orientation of manipulation and denigration of others across a multitude of situations. She defined it, in contrast to "normal" competitiveness, as being associated with heightened self-worth fluctuating with underlying low self-esteem, high levels of neuroticism, decreased need for others and interest in admiration and recognition from others (Ryckman et al., 1990;Ryckman et al., 1994). Further, HC individuals believe they are superior to others and deserving of unceasing adulation and attention. ...
Purpose-Competitiveness is an individual difference variable that incorporates factors generally associated with the desire to excel in comparison to others and the enjoyment of competition. There is still much debate on whether it is helpful or harmful, which may stem from the scattered ways in which it is studied. Thereby, this study aims to properly synthesize the literature concerning the prevailing correlates, underlying theory, and frequent applications of competitiveness and to set forth an outline of domains in need of further research and exploration.
Design/methodology/approach-The authors do so by using two methods of analysis on a representative sample of 546 peer-reviewed publications.
Findings-The authors find that competitiveness research has and will continue to grow expeditiously, but its complexity and cloudiness have not yet been attenuated.
Originality/value-The study uncovers opportunities for pertinent future research on competitiveness to grow more productively and collaboratively by highlighting salient works and identifying the fragmentations that have led the literature into a state of disarray.
... Competitive attitudes, as the intrinsic motivation that governs competitive behavior, exhibit dual character. On the one hand, it manifests itself as negativity, and as early as 1937, Horney introduced the concept of hyper-competitiveness, which she considered as the behavior of individuals who go to any lengths to win in order to enhance their self-worth [1], which has negative effects on individual and social development. ...
... In addition, how positive affective tone is influenced by diverse social capital factors to ultimately motivate knowledge sharing in this study complements previous research on the affective consequence through reduced antagonism and stress-related arousal of team workers (Phillips and Lount, 2007). The relationship between trust and positive affective tone as a function of hypercompetition MD Third, the interaction effects between hypercompetition and social interaction and between hypercompetition and trust provide supplementary insights into the literature based on the theory of neurosis (Ryckman et al., 1994) in which hypercompetition leads to a social tradeoff choice between the gain of dynamic efficiency (e.g. immediate improvement rivalry against trust) and the loss of static efficiency (e.g. ...
Purpose
Although the literature has somewhat discussed social capital and knowledge sharing, the mediating and moderating mechanisms that influence team workers to move from connecting with one another to building social capital and consequently engaging in knowledge sharing still remain largely understudied. For that reason, this study aims to develop a holistic research framework that links social capital to knowledge sharing with positive affective tone as a mediator and hypercompetition as a moderator.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon the social capital theory and the affective events theory (AET), this study proposes a research framework to assess how social capital factors influence knowledge sharing with the mediation of positive affective tone and the moderation of hypercompetition in high-tech teams. This study obtains survey data based on 330 questionnaires of working professionals from 66 high-tech teams in Taiwan, in which each team comprises four members and their team leader.
Findings
The empirical results of this study show that social interaction, shared vision and trust are positively related to knowledge sharing via the mediation of positive affective tone. Moreover, hypercompetition has positive moderating effects on the relationships between social interaction and positive affective tone as well as between trust and positive affective tone.
Originality/value
This study expands the previous literature to study through what mediating mechanism the effects of different social capital factors on knowledge sharing can be effectively realized and whether there exists any critical moderator that influences these effects.
This narrative review deals with the correlation between personal, professional, and institutional lack of confidence, based on the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study. This correlation is associated with hostile environments that require immediate strategies, studied in the life course theory. The main replicating agents of these effects are based on social relationships involving individuals or groups exhibiting narcissistic, Machiavellian, and psychopathic personality traits, described in numerous scientific articles as Dark Triad personality traits. Such a condition indicates the uncertainty that the laws and justice will be fulfilled equally for all if there is any attempt of deceit or non-compliance with regulations. Under these circumstances, development is compromised, opportunities become scarce, education, health, housing, security, and the entire personal and professional environment becomes unstable, insecure, and unfair. The permanent effects of a continuum of immediate responses result in the absence of punishment and lessening actions of reprimand for justice, turning this environment fertile for individuals with dishonest, selfish, manipulative, and low empathy personalities, forming a cycle of permanent cause and effect.
Business leaders share a belief that internal competition cannot coexist with collaboration within the team. This article represents a discussion on strategies some midlevel managers in Singapore apply to create high-performance organizational culture. Six midlevel managers from a multinational Fortune 500 information technology (IT) company participated in this blended case study and mini-ethnography research. This study concluded that in a high-performance team, high-level internal competition coexists with a high level of internal collaboration. Managers and leaders who aim to build high-performance culture and continue to sharpen their organization's competitive advantage might use the study findings as a supporting guide.
Purpose
This study investigates the relationship between management's psychological characteristics (managers' narcissism, overconfidence and managers' myopia) and earnings management in the pre-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and post-ISIS eras.
Design/methodology/approach
A multivariate regression model was used to test the hypotheses. The research hypotheses were tested using a sample of all companies listed on the Iraqi Stock Exchange from 2014 to 2020.
Findings
Findings indicate a positive and significant relationship between managers' narcissism, overconfidence and myopia with accrual and real earnings management. According to the results, the ISIS weakens the relationship between managers' narcissism, managers' overconfidence and managers' myopia with accrual and real earnings management.
Originality/value
Because no study has addressed this issue in Iraq so far, the results of this research can provide helpful information for its users and improve the knowledge and science in this area.
This article explores the multifaceted nature of the individual motivations behind engaging in competition. In doing so, we investigate the theoretical and empirical links between general trait competitiveness and the three competitive attitudes: personal development, hypercompetition, and competition avoidant, as moderated by core self-evaluation. Findings indicate that it is not merely the level of general trait competitiveness that influences an individuals attitude towards competing, but heightened levels of core self-evaluation decrease the neurotic and unhealthy competitive attitudes of hypercompetitive and competition avoidant individuals. We discuss the implications for these relationships.
Impostor syndrome refers to the state that affects high achievers who are unable to internalize and accept their achievements. Hypercompetitive attitude can be defined as an indiscriminate need to compete and win at all costs which is characterized by unhealthy and aggressive behavior. The present study aims to analyse the significant difference in Impostor Phenomenon and Hypercompetitive Attitude among emerging adults in rural and urban areas. The sample consisted of 80 emerging adults of which 40 were from urban areas and the other 40 from rural areas. Sample was collected using convenient sampling. Assessment tools used in the study were Impostor Phenomenon Scale and Hypercompetitive Attitude Scale. The collected data were analysed using SPSS and was used to examine the difference between two groups. The findings showed that there exists a significant difference in Impostor Phenomenon and Hypercompetitive Attitude among individuals in urban and rural areas. Impostor Phenomenon was found to be higher among emerging adults in rural area and Hypercompetitive attitude was found to be higher among emerging adults in urban areas
Research on classroom cooperative learning techniques, in which students work in small groups and receive rewards or recognition based on their group performance, has been increasing in the past few years. This review summarizes the results of 28 primary field projects lasting at least 2 weeks, in which cooperative learning methods were used in elementary or secondary classrooms. The pattern of research findings supports the utility of cooperative learning methods in general for increasing student achievement, positive race relations in desegregated schools, mutual concern among students, student self-esteem, and other positive outcomes. The various cooperative learning methods are contrasted in terms of characteristics and outcomes, and the next steps for research in this area are outlined.
Attitude scales were constructed to measure 2 aspects of the appreciation and use of mathematics--an 11-item E Scale designed to assess the degree of enjoyment of mathematics and a 10-item V Scale to measure recognition of the importance and relevance of mathematics. These scales, together with 17 other biodata items, were administered to 200 college freshmen and the results were item-analyzed. The reliabilities of the scales were .95 for E and .85 for V. Scores on the E Scale were more highly related to specific interest and ability in mathematics, and scores on the V Scale to general scholastic ability.
The effects of positive goal interdependence and positive goal and positive reward interdependence on achievement were investigated. The control group (n = 26) consisted of American students in a 10th-grade social studies class, and the experimental group (n = 28) consisted of American students in a 10th-grade social studies class that included four academically disabled and isolated 10th-grade students (3 male and 1 female). The results indicated that cooperation promotes higher achievement than competition does, and that both positive goal and reward interdependence are needed to maximize student achievement.
Theory testing in the area of hypercompetitiveness has been impeded by the lack of an adequate psychometric instrument. Four studies were conducted as part of an initial research program designed to remedy this deficiency by constructing an individual difference measure of general hypercompetitive attitude with satisfactory psychometric properties. In Studies 1 and 2, a 26-item scale was derived primarily through item-total correlational analysis; it demonstrated adequate internal and test-retest reliabilities. The remaining two studies were concerned with determining the construct validity of the scale. In line with theoretical expectations based on Horney's theory of neurosis, subjects who perceived themselves as hypercompetitive were less psychologically healthy. The potential usefulness of the scale in therapeutic, athletic, school, and business settings is discussed.
The desegregated classroom has not produced many of the positive results initially expected by social scientists some 25 years ago. It is argued that one of the major reasons for this failure is the over-emphasis on competitiveness at the expense of interdependence in the classroom. In short, students in most classrooms very rarely cooperate with each other in pursuit of common goals. In this article, we describe a program of research in wihich elementary school students are "forced" to spend part of their classroom time mastering material in an interdependent structure. The results indicate that such structured interdependence increases the self-esteem, the morale, the interpersonal attraction, and the empathy of students across ethnic and racial divisions, and also improves the academic performance of minority students without hampering the performance of the ethnic majority.