Studies in psychology have reported cases in which competitive incentives resulted in lower task effort, and their focus was on the psychological underpinnings of the reduction in motivation. For example, competition presents an inevitable conflict between the motivation to achieve one’s personal goal and the ① desire to maintain good relationships with others. When the maintenance of interpersonal relationships is important, with their counterparts in particular or with others generally, competitors experience an ② internal conflict that can harm their desire to achieve their goal and taint the good feeling brought about by winning. Exline and Lobel found that the perception of oneself as a target for upward social comparison often makes people ③ uncomfortable When they believe that others are making envious comparisons with them, people feel uneasiness, distress, or sorrow. Feelings of guilt, an emotion generally associated with high motivation for goal-achievement, lead to ④ stronger motivation and performance in the pursuit of competitive goals. Consequences of this emotional state include lower task motivation in a competition and preferences for more cooperative and altruistic outcomes, such as ⑤ diminishing the significance of the outcome or sharing the winner’s reward.

* taint: 더럽히다 ** altruistic: 이타주의의