Ozturk & Debelak, 2008

·       can nurture emotional and psychological growth

·       inspire outstanding achievement and productivity, and can earn the competitor desirable attributes such as resilience

Udvari, 2000

·      Gains are made in interpersonal development, leadership, group dynamics, goal setting, self-directed learning and a sense of autonomy.

•  When teams are involved, cooperative learning can be strengthened. 

·       the persons special gifts and talents requires outstanding performance at all times (Hebert)

·       side effects of extreme competitiveness include excessive anxiety and stress ( Ozturk & Debelak, 2008)

two types of competitive people

• Udvari, 2000
•  
• task-oriented competitive behavior, which is motivated by a desire to improve performance

• other-referenced competitive behavior, which is motivated primarily by a desire to outdo an opponent

1. Motivation/ Internal Locus of Control
2. Self-esteem
3. Resilence

OZTURK & DEBELAK, 2008

• depending on the nature of the competition, the duration of the preparation for the final event, and the age/maturity of the participants, academic competitions can be a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at varying rates.
• a competition that involves only one gathering of students and requires very little or no preparation will serve almost only as extrinsic motivation

Ozturk & Debelak, 2008

1. facilitate the development of intrinsic motivation because intrinsic motivation alone is not enough to push children through the drudgery and frustrations that precede success
2. Second, abundant, meaningful, positive feedback should be provided throughout the competitive process. Quality of feedback largely determines the degree to which extrinsic motivation successfully stimulates intrinsic motivation; no feedback on student work undermines interest and task commitment
3. Third, rewards in academic competitions should be directly relevant to the nature of work. This nourishes continued interest and motivation in the student. It also helps students make the connection in their minds and get motivated to pursue long-term achievement in similar activities or fields.

 Ozturk & Debelak, 2008

o   Academic competitions, with the ultimate objective of having students develop sufficient intrinsic motivation, can help children experience a smooth transition and acquire the work habits for sustained accomplishment

o   It could be said that academic competitions can help develop "internalized motivation--those originally external motives that have over time become incorporated into one's personal goal or value systems"

• Udvari, 2000
• Task-oriented children may be inclined to choose a challenging opponent or task, which requires them to put forth extensive effort to fare well.
• Losing to a strong opponent may lead to increased effort in two ways. First, one may learn about one's own weaknesses at the particular task through the process of social comparison and work toward improving them in future competitive situations. Also, losing may be a source of motivation to improve, especially if the opponent's performance is just slightly better.
•  Rimm believes that competition aimed at self-improvement, or competition with oneself, will benefit children. This is directly analogous to our concept of task-oriented competition and supports the belief that motivations are central to the achievement process.   

accomplished self-actualization

definition

·       process by which an individual becomes what her or she is capable of being

·       strong relationship between self-esteem and self-actualization with gifted children. 

·       significant correlation between measures of self-actualization and inner locus of control of gifted middle and high school students

·       gifted students who had a sense of self-actualization had a higher level of self-acceptance. 

self-esteem and competition:

the social and emotional benefits

·       Research indicates that participation in ECAs meets the need for social interaction by providing the student experiences with both interpersonal relationships and identify formation, both of which help to promote positive self-esteem (Blomfield & Barber, 2010)

·       Self-esteem is vital in helping gifted students develop their gifts and talents (Muratori, 2010).     

• Self-esteem is directly related to real-life experiences of success and failure Ozturk & Debelak, 2008
  
  

Ozturk & Debelak, 2008

·       Children need the kinds of challenges and accomplishments that expect, demand, and nurture their best effort.

• Through these experiences, they assess what they can and cannot do. A healthy and honest view of self evolves. 

 ·       When gifted learners observe the superior work of other gifted children, they tend to draw healthy perspectives toward themselves and their competitors. They learn to respect the quality of work by other children and to accurately assess their own performance in light of the performance of their intellectual peers. They achieve an accurate assessment of where their level of performance stands in the world of their intellectual capacity and, in turn, develop a more wholesome self-concept.

Resilence

Hebert 2011

·       a protective mechanism that modifies an individual’s response to risk or an adjustment despite negative life events.

·       Resilience as “the ability to achieve emotional health and social competence in spite of a history of adversity or stress. 

Resilence and competition:

how to overcome failure

Ozturk & Debelak, 2008

•      Academic competitions can teach children how to succeed and also how to fail, that is, how to face their failure, learn from their failure, and, subsequently, grow as a person and improve in performance

·       Students pour nearly 6 months of work into their research and product, and a loss at any level is devastating. After a loss, no child would wish to go through the difficulties of this contest again. Yet, without fail, the students who were just crying are the same students who are talking about what they will do better next year. It is a testament to the resilience of youth. 

Resilence and competition:

learning that the world is not fair

 Ozturk & Debelak, 2008
 

·       Students also can develop another form of resilience in the face of actual or perceived unfairness. They can learn to assess the outcome calmly, trying not to favor themselves. 

·       Occasions of perceived unfairness in judging can be good opportunities for teaching valuable lessons to students. 

• actual or perceived unfairness is a part of life
• Students can be helped to realize that subjectivity will be an inevitable part of many decisions they will have to face, and that it will not always be "on their side."