How stressful are economic competitions in the lab? An investigation with physiological measures |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt a. M., Germany;2. Department of Economics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany;3. Department of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany;4. IDeA Center for Individual Development and Adaptive Education, Frankfurt a. M., Germany;1. Department of Economics, Wagner College, and Center for International Policy Studies, Fordham University, NY, USA;2. Department of Economics, Monash Business School, Monash University, Australia;3. Department of Economics and Center for International Policy Studies, Fordham University, NY, USA;4. Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA;5. IZA, Bonn, Germany;1. Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy;2. Institute of Private Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands;3. Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands;4. SAIS Europe, Johns Hopkins University, United States;1. Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany;2. University of Amsterdam (CREED) and Tinbergen Institute, Netherlands;1. Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany;2. Clinical Psychology, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany;3. Department of Psychology, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany;1. University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Resource Economics, 203 Stockbridge Hall, 80 Campus Center Way, Amherst, MA 01003, United States;2. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Social Science and Policy Studies (SSPS), Salisbury Laboratories 310B, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, United States;3. University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Resource Economics, 217B Stockbridge Hall, 80 Campus Center Way, Amherst, MA 01003, United States;1. German Sport University, Performance Psychology, Am Sportpart Müngersdorf 6, Cologne, Germany;2. UFR STAPS, EA 4260, University of Caen, France;3. London South Bank University, UK;4. Brunel University London, UK |
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| Abstract: | Competition is ubiquitous in economic life. Yet, negative consequences of competitive environments have been reported and everyday experience suggests that competitive situations can be very stressful. It is, however, an open question whether or not economic competitions in the laboratory indeed elicit physiological stress reactions. Our study examined subjectively perceived stress and physiological changes induced by a well-established economic laboratory competition paradigm (first used in Niederle & Vesterlund, 2007) in a mixed-gender sample of 111 healthy participants. A mental arithmetic task was performed first under a piece rate (i.e., non-competitive) payment scheme and afterwards under a tournament condition. In a third round, participants decided how to be paid (i.e., piece rate or tournament). Our results indicate that compared to a control group, which performed only the non-competitive condition, the competitive game condition elicited subjective and physiological reactions that are indicative of mild stress, i.e., an increase in heart rate and a decrease of calmness and mood. Furthermore, reactions that are thought to reflect an active coping style were related to the self-selection into competition in the third round of the game. We speculate that real-life economic competitions might be even stronger stressors and the way how people cope with this kind of stress might be related to competitiveness in real-life economic contexts. |
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| Keywords: | Competition Decision making Stress Cortisol Heart rate Testosterone 2340 2560 D03 M5 C9 |
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