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PSYCHOLOGY OF COMPETITION BY MICHAEL NELINSON
What Motivates Us to Compete in Dog Shows and Why Do We Behave as We Do?
S ince the dawn of mankind, people have competed in nearly every area of life. What may have begun with two men having a foot race, eventually, became the Olympics. In most sporting events, there is little to gain except the satisfaction of winning. In our world of conformation dog shows, we often put in a great deal of work getting our dogs ready, paying entry fees, and absorbing the cost of travel just for the right to walk in the ring. Statistically, since there are more losers than winners, the majority will—at best—get a thirty- five-cent ribbon or nothing at all. It can be a case of much invested with little gained. My goal in writing this article is to give you some tools for self-analy- sis that will shed light on your unconscious motivation to compete and, hopefully, increase your understanding of who you are as a competitor. OUR COMPETITIVE NATURE While our motivations might well be different for every exhibitor, we have all embraced something about our own competitive nature that keeps us engaged in the sport. Some of us show to prove that we have developed a successful breeding program, or to showcase our ability as a handler or groomer, or to put titles on our dog, or to have our name attached to a dog that is a top winner. Regardless of our motivation, there are underlying psychological factors that determine our “competi- tive style” and how we feel about winning and losing. From a psychological perspective, competitiveness is the opposite of cooperation. This would indicate that the more competitive you are the less likely you are to be a cooperator. A “cooperator” is a person who gains pleasure from helping others and does not always have the need to put their interests first. A competitive personality is defined as one who enjoys interpersonal competition and desires to be better than others. However, due to the complexity of the human mind, this is not entirely the case. Since human beings are a “social species,” we enjoy social interactions, and competitors often form competitive groups or teams to help achieve victories. The relevant question that we should all ask ourselves regarding our competitive nature should consider how we approach competition: Are we more of a dominator or a cooperator? Our answer may also be tied to how one handles losses and feels about other competitors. (Spence and Helmreich, 1983)
Going back to my youth, there was a sports tele- vision show that aired every weekend called “The Wide World of Sports,” which featured sporting events from all over the world. In their opening credits, there was a line that all of us who watched the show will remember: “The Thrill of Victory and The Agony of Defeat.” The words “agony of defeat” were accompanied by images of a racecar crashing into a wall or the horrific image of a ski jumper wip- ing out. At least in the dog show game nobody is physically injured, but the psychological aftermath can, in some cases, be bad. PERSONALITY TRAITS Since the majority of people have never tried to define their personality type, I will give you some insight as to how this is done in a scientific fashion. We have all seen some of the silly personality “tests” that are posted in social media. For the most part, they are useless and have been developed solely for the purpose of amusement. Tell the truth. Did you take the test that asked questions and told you which dog breed was representative of your personality? OK, I did. I’m just glad that I am not a Pekinese. (No offense, David Fitzpatrick, I love your beautiful dogs but I just don’t see myself that way.) However, there is a division of scientific psychology that is referred to as “psychometrics” that develops tests to determine which personality traits can be measured and correlated to a “standard curve.” I’ll spare you the statistics lesson, but there are five traits that have been shown to be “psychometrically valid” and therefore testable. These traits are found in the “Big 5” personality test. These traits are:
84 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MAY 2022
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