"Every natural gift must develop itself by contests." - Friedrich Nietzsche "Competitions are for horses, not artists." - Bela Bartok "The problem is that different people have very different attitudes toward competition. In 1938, Harvard psychologist Henry A. Murray proposed that human beings could be separated into two distinct competitive personalities: HAMs ("high in achievement motivation") and LAMs ("low in achievement motivation"). HAMs enjoy and perform better under directly competitive conditions than they do under noncompetitive conditions. LAMs dislike competition, do not seek it out, and are less happy and productive when pushed into it. They do better when pursuing so-called mastery goals - improvement of a skill in comparison to oneself rather than to others... The trick, then, is to sculpt a culture that encourages healthy achievement and that can accommodate different personality types and levels of motivation. How can we best create classrooms, offices, and communities where competitive instincts are rewarded but where less competitive individuals also feel energized rather than suffocated?" - David Shenk, author of The Genius in All of Us
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 10:04:55 +0000