The third dimension of the motivation
system has been named the competitive dimension. In the PIT multidimensional
scaling process it was the last dimension to be formed and the smallest in size.
It seems reasonable that it was also the latest dimension to be developed in the
phylogenic process. The competitive dimension is the home of science, music, literature,
the arts, culture, and religion. Activities related to these interests are not
observed in lower animals (well - maybe birds do sing).
PIT need attitude scores are generally positive toward the competitive dimension
which means that the competitive (top) area needs are viewed more positively
than the noncompetitive (bottom) area needs. The competitive and personal-social
area attitude scores contrast with the combative area attitude scores which
are generally negative.
Symbolic Thinking and the Competitive Dimension
The formation of the competitive dimension was probably dependent on the development
of symbolic thinking. As pointed out by Susanne
Langer in her book Philosophy In A New Key, the use of stimuli as signs
that tell us to do something is common throughout the animal world. However,
the ability to let one thing substitute for another in mental processes occurs
only in humans and possibly to a limited extent in some of the higher primates.
Some examples of symbolic thinking instrumental in human accomplishments are:
equations and other numerical descriptions in science, written scores in music,
written words in literature, representations of artists' percepts in painting
(it should be noted that artists' representations seldom "fool" animals), written
or spoken words used to pass along our cultural heritage, concepts of God or deities
and symbolic rituals in religion.
Differences Between Competition and Combativeness
As previously noted, competition and combativeness are often confused in popular
terminology. We will repeat some of the distinguishing characteristics of these
two dimensions as used with the PIT. In combative activities we seek to attain
goals and satisfy needs by using force and power. In competitive activities we
seek to attain goals and satisfy needs by using skill, knowledge, and ability.
Combat is settled by the combatants. The winners and losers in competition are
determined by scores and judges. In most combative encounters there are no time
limits whereas competitive events usually have a time framework. Combativeness
is oriented toward material goals and physical possessions such as money and land.
Competition is oriented toward symbols of achievement such as titles and medals.
Money and other material goods sought by combatants can be passed along to others
or exchanged for material things but a competitively won medal or an "A" grade
has legitimate value only for the competitor to whom it is officially awarded.
Strong conservatives are primarily oriented toward conserving their power: liberals
are more oriented toward improving general personal-social relationships: creative
people seek an equal balance between the combative, personal-social, and competitive
dimensions.
The Exhibition and Dominance Needs in the Competitive Dimension Structure
The exhibition need stands out at the top (periphery) of the the competitive
area (The Motivation System Target
Model). This indicates that the desire for recognition and attention is a
strong competitive motivator. The exhibition need is somewhat isolated in its
peripheral location in the competitive area. This means that it is not a frequently
activated need but it is quite powerful when it is active. The exhibition need
is most active at the higher levels of competition where knowledge and skills
are highly developed and place the competitor in a position of prominence. Professionals
are strong on exhibiting their abilities but novices are more modest and tend
to concentrate on the lower developmental learning levels of competitive activities.
Quite a bit further down the scale from exhibition we see a cluster of needs headed
by the dominance need. (See Need
Defintions). Dominance is one of the ego goal needs. Due to its environment
in the competitive area, competitive dominance differs from combative dominance.
In competition, dominance is based on skill and knowledge rather than combative
strength and power. Thus, in the competitive area, dominance has as its neighbors
the understanding, achievement, and order needs whereas these rational needs are
not in the combative dimension area with dominance. Successful competitors must
earn their positions of dominance through their experience, knowledge, and ability
rather than by their combative power.
The Rational Needs in the Competitive Dimension Structure
The rational needs (understanding, achievement, order) are located in the
competitive area of the competitive dimension. In the combative and personal-social
dimensions these needs are located in the bottom areas of the dimensions where
they oppose combativeness and personal/social activities. In the competitive area
of the competitive dimension the rational needs promote competitive activities.
To develop competence we need to analyze and understand the activities we wish
to master. The achievement need motivates us to work to acquire the knowledge
and skills we seek. The order need helps us organize our efforts so we can more
efficiently attain competence. The counteraction need may be appropriately
appended to the rational needs in the competitive area. Not only do we need to
work to gain competence, we also need to correct faults that limit our competence.
The Personal-Social Needs in the Competitive Dimension Structure
Also located in the competitive area of the competitive dimension are some of
the personal-social needs. The affiliation, play, sentience, and nurturance
needs are more centrally located than the exhibition and dominance needs in the
competitive area. They are therefore more frequently activated but may not have
the strength and intensity of the more peripheral exhibition and dominance The
personal needs are quite positively regarded and are most necessary and helpful
in competitive activities that require collaboration and cooperation. Personal
regard for others is necessary and important when working and playing with others
in learning situations and team sports. The sentience need is especially important
when seeking competence in art, music, and literature. Even when art is dissonant
or jarring to our sensibilities, it aims to help us find meaningful perceptual
relationships in what we may initially perceive as chaotic and offensive stimuli.
The Ego Needs in the Competitive Dimension Structure
All three of the ego goal needs (dominance, autonomy, and sex) are
located in the competitive area of the competitive dimension. Only one of the
ego implementing needs (defendance) is located in the competitive area
while the other two ego implementing needs, aggression and rejection,
are located in the noncompetitive area. The defendance need thus parts company
with its close friends, aggression and rejection, in the competitive dimension.
The message we get from this is that we can defend ourselves competitively but
we should not be aggressive about it. Competitors are expected to defend their
title, their position in a debate or discussion, their goal line, etc.,
but we do not expect competitors to attack and destroy opponents. Despite the
fact that a lot of aggression has slipped into some contact sports (ice hockey,
for example), aggression is not a part of the competitive area.
The ego goal need autonomy is located in the competitive area (autonomy,
sex, and play are all located positively in all three dimensions). The need to
be independent and self directed is obviously important for competitive striving.
Competitors can shift from the competitive to the noncompetitive area to seek
help and direction from others but such a change is usually a "time out" before
returning to independent competitive action. When on the playing field or in a
discussion or debate, people must be able to direct their own actions.
The ego goal need sex is located in the competitive area although it is
fairly close to the center of the dimension. This means that it is frequently
active in competitive situations but it is usually not a dominant motivator. Competitive
success of any sort tends to enhance sex appeal. The sex need obviously plays
an important role in competition in the entertainment business.
Noncompetitive Inhibitors of Competitive Striving
The locations of the blame avoidance and harm avoidance needs grab
one's attention when looking at the noncompetitive area of the competitive dimension.
(The Motivation System Target Model).
These inhibiting needs have the most peripheral need locations in any of the three
dimensions. Their locations indicate that they may not be active on a frequent
basis but when they are active they very strongly inhibit competitive striving.
Some of our strongest conflicts are caused by desires to accept a competitive
challenge and our fears of punishment and/or harm that could result from accepting
the challenge. Cliff climbing, passing a fast moving car on a narrow winding road,
operating heavy and powerful equipment are a few examples of challenges that can
give us an adrenaline rush due to a conflict between a competitive challenge and
fear of harm or blame. The extreme peripheral location of blame and harm avoidance
in the noncompetitive area also indicates that when we are actively engaged in
competitive striving, fears of blame and harm should be far from our mind so that
they do not disrupt or inhibit our performance. Although such synchronic separation
is desirable, it is sometimes extremely difficult to choose between accepting
or avoiding dangerous competitive challenges.
Moving up the scale in the noncompetitive area we find cluster of needs that includes
the abasement, deference, inferiority avoidance, and succorance
needs. You are right to recognize that these needs are not conducive to competitive
confidence and enthusiasm. When actively engaged in a competitive contest, we
do not want to be preoccupied with our faults and shortcomings (abasement), nor
do we want to be looking around for help and direction (succorance and deference),
nor anxious about the possibility of failure and inadequacy (inferiority avoidance).
These needs all synchronically conflict with competitive efforts and therefore
motivate us to withdraw from competition.
Changing Location Focus in the Motivation System Structure
It would be a mistake to assume that once we have moved our motivational focus
to a particular area, we are stuck in that area. The well functioning person can
make rapid shifts in motivational location within a dimension and even between
dimensions. A basketball game can illustrate this capability. A player may be
functioning in the competitive periphery motivated by the exhibition and dominance
needs when she has the ball and an opportunity to shoot a basket. If she misses
and the other team takes possession, she shifts her motivation location to the
defendance need to prevent the other team from scoring. The coach may call a time
out to point out some changes that need to be made in the team strategy. In this
situation the player needs to shift to the deference and succorance area in the
noncompetitive area or to the understanding, achievement, order area in the learning
part of the competitive area. If the player falls and sprains an ankle, she may
need to shift clear to the harm avoidance need at the base of the noncompetitive
area and ask to be removed from competition to prevent further harm and injury.
If she reaches her limit for personal fouls her blame avoidance need may be activated
to help her avoid further penalties and this may inhibit her from being as bold
and daring as she usually is. Players may show personal caring and friendly support
(nurturance and affiliation) when a teammate has a free throw that could be critical
for winning the game. After the game is over she may shift to the personal-social
dimension and celebrate the occasion.
The above sports examples illustrate the range and rapidity of synchronic motivational
changes necessary to meet changing situations and circumstances.
A Displaced Exhibition Need in the Competitive Dimension
The exhibition need does not have to be displaced from its peripheral position
in the competitive area to the opposite noncompetitive area to create problems.
If the exhibition need is displaced only to the lower part of the competitive
area (near the dimension midline), it can create basic learning and collaborative
competition problems. In this location the exhibition need motivates the person
to inappropriately seek recognition and attention in learning and collaborative
situations. When we are learning or collaborating with others we should not be
seeking personal attention. Performing for audience attention should be reserved
for occasions when we are called on to be an expert performer (e.g., delivering
a speech). A centralized location of the exhibition need may also contribute to
performance anxiety (stage fright) because it brings the exhibition need too close
to the inhibiting needs (such as inferiority avoidance) in the noncompetitive
area.
A Displaced Inferiority Avoidance Need in the Competitive Dimension
One of the more common need displacements in the competitive dimension is the
removal of the inferiority avoidance need from the noncompetitive area to the
competitive area. In this location the inferiority avoidance need becomes synchronically
activated with the competitive area needs and this can create intense conflict
and anxiety. Performance anxiety is particularly intense when a person is called
on for a solo performance and their exhibition and inferiority avoidance needs
are synchronically activated. It is interesting and perhaps surprising to learn
that many professional performers report intense stage fright before a performance.
Performance anxiety produces a lot of adrenaline and internal conflict. However,
these professional performers also report that as soon as they start their performance
they become totally involved in their presentation and "lose" their fear of failure.
Their pre-performance anxiety helps them get "charged up" for their act and they
are able to use their energy to effectively exhibit and control the attention
of their audience when they are actually performing.
A Displaced Aggression Need in the Competitive Dimension
Another competitive dimension problem occurs when the aggression need is
shifted from the noncompetitive area to the competitive area. As with most need
mislocation problems, there may be more than one bad consequence for this dislocation.
The aggression need may mal adaptively fuse with the understanding need to produce
a tendency to critically analyze all competitive activities. One man couldn't
understand why others (including women he was interested in) seemed to avoid his
company. He came to realize that he was using his aggression (combined with his
play and understanding needs) to make witty hostile observations of the actions
of others. Instead of creating the admiration he expected for his wit, his competitive
aggression tended to make people uneasy for fear that they would be the next target
of his barbs.
When mislocated in the competitive area, the aggression need can change ordinary
competitive situations into combative situations so that force is substituted
for skill and rationally organized work. A common (usually transient) example
of this may occur after a series of unsuccessful work efforts ends in frustration
and aggressive attacks on the problem are substituted for going back to the drawing
board.
A Narrowly Focussed Competence
Occasionally, in counseling, one may find a client who is very successful in their
occupation even though their competitive dimension needs are badly out of order.
Fortunately, these seemingly invalid results did not lead to the abandonment of
the PIT. Further analysis has shown that some highly successful people with mixed
up PIT competitive dimension results often function quite differently in their
occupations than in their other competitive endeavors.
An example of narrowly focussed competence is provided by a highly successful
physicist who approached his research in a way that was a model of competitive
competence. This was inconsistent with his disordered PIT competitive dimension
results. His verbal account of his professional activities and the observations
of his peers all indicated a person who fit right in with the target model ideal
in his work as a scientist. However, his competence seemed to end when he stepped
out of his laboratory. His wife reported that he hardly knew how to tie his
shoes and that she had to look after him about the same way she did with their
young children (with whom he seemed unable to interact). He was unable to do
most of the relatively simple competitive things needed in life such as shopping
for groceries and keeping track of his finances. Of course, with his scientific
ability and reputation and very supportive wife he was professionally quite
successful but he was constantly anxious and this seemed related to his general
inability to take care of himself and deal with competitive challenges outside
his professional role. The therapist's task was to get him to approach all competitive
challenges in the same way he dealt with his professional research activities.
His intelligence and motivation enabled him to make most of these transfers
and generalizations and his "general" anxiety lessened considerably.
Misplacement of the Abasement Need in the Competitive Dimension
Once there was a college student whose PIT results showed the abasement
need displaced from the noncompetitive area to an elevated location in the competitive
area. Having learned early on that people are too complex to permit us to make
"look up tables" for all need deviations we followed our usual collaborative approach
to pursue the significance and meaning of this particular finding. Our client
had all the information about his experiences relating to the displaced abasement
need and we could help him evaluate his memories and associations and focus on
ones that seemed most relevant and significant. To make a long story short (you
really wouldn't want to hear a verbatim account of our sessions) we discovered
that he had trouble "winning" in competitive situations. In games or class room
discussions he felt that he should be humble and self demeaning and this made
it difficult for him to compete in a confident and decisive way. The idea of seeking
to excel and be superior synchronically conflicted with his need to be humble
and abasive. He came to realize that it was OK to win and to display his abilities
in openly competitive situations. It was also comforting for him to realize that
he could be humble and abasive at times when he really was inadequate and not
expected to be competitive.
The
Picture Identification Test (PIT) is a psychological
instrument based on the Murray need system. The PIT uses multidimensional scaling
to provide an analysis of needs (motives). It indicates needs that are being
met or expressed ineffectively. The PIT can be administered to subjects ages
twelve and older.
Motivation Analysis
- Theory developed from Picture Identification Test research and from the
general systems point of view.
Essays - Observations and thoughts about motivation, beliefs,
values, purpose and meaning.
Needs (Motives) - Discussion of 22 Murray based needs as
they relate to three major motivation dimensions.
For further information about
the Picture Identification Test contact
Jay L. Chambers, PhD: ibis@kalexres.kendal.org
160 Kendal Drive Apartment #205
Lexington, Virginia 24450
Phone: 540.462.3874
The Motivation Analysis web site has
three sections:
Hosted by Overbooked (Book Links)
on Central Virginia's Community Online.
Overbooked is a volunteer project undertaken by Ann Chambers Theis,
Collection Management Administrator, Chesterfield County (VA) Public Library
P.O. Box 297, Chesterfield, VA, 23832. Phone: 804.748.1760.
The Competitive Dimension
New - an
essay discussing basic problems of world cultures: "The
Combative Dominance Syndrome"
The
Picture Identification Test (PIT) is a psychological
instrument based on the Murray need system. The PIT uses multidimensional scaling
to provide an analysis of needs (motives). It indicates needs that are being
met or expressed ineffectively. The PIT can be administered to subjects ages
twelve and older. 
