Since 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, often we put in a great deal of work getting our dogs ready, pay entry fees and absorb 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.  While our motivations might well be different, we have embraced something about our own competitive nature that keeps us engaged in the sport. While some of us show to prove that they have developed a successful breeding program, or to showcase their ability as a handler or groomer or put titles on their dog or to have their name attached to a dog that is a top winner. Regardless of your motivation, there are underlying psychological factors that determine your “competitive style” and how you feel about winning and losing. My goal in writing this article is to give you some tools for self-analysis that will shed light on your unconscious motivation to compete, and hopefully increase your understanding who you are as a competitor. Going back to my youth there was a sports television show that aired every weekend called “The Wide World of Sports,” that 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 was accompanied by images of a racecar crashing into a wall or the horrific image of a ski jumper wiping out.  At least in the dog show game, nobody is physically injured, but the psychological aftermath can, in some cases be bad.

What is Competition

From a psychological perspective, competition is the opposite of cooperation.  That 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 defined as one who enjoys interpersonal competition and desires to be better than others.[i] However, with 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 to achieve victories.  The relevant questions that we should all ask ourselves regarding our competitive nature is how we approach competition: are we more of a dominator or a cooperator, which may also be tied to how one handles losses and feels about other competitors.  (Spence and Helmreich, 1983)

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 the silly personality “tests” are posted in social media. For the most part they are useless and developed solely for the purpose of amusement.  Tell the truth, did you take the test that asked questions and told you what dog breed was representative of your personality? OK, I did, I am glad that my personality was not defined as Pekinese, no offense David Fitzpatrick, I love your beautiful dogs, 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 what personality traits can be measured and correlate to a “Standard Curve.”  I will spare you the statistics lesson, but there are five traits that have been shown to be “psychometrically valid” and therefore testable.  These traits are measured by the “Big Five” personality test and are defined as follows:

  • openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)
  • conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless)
  • extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)
  • agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. critical/rational)
  • neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident)[2]

In discussing competition, two of these traits, agreeableness and neuroticism are the

the key factors in determining one’s competitive style. Highly agreeable people are characterized as being sympathetic, helpful, and cooperative, while low agreeable persons as antagonistic, skeptical, and competitive. (Costa and McCrae, 1995) Low agreeable individuals would be expected to adopt a conflict style in which they focus entirely on the achievement of one’s own goals or to win even at the expense of others. Conversely, high agreeableness individuals do need strive to win at all costs, since they can compromise their own outcome and appreciate the rewards that others receive. Because agreeableness tends to be an interpersonal factor that is expressed when cooperation and consideration are important, its absence would be reflected in a lack of concern for the outcomes of others.

The second of the Big 5 traits that is relevant to a person’s competitive style is neuroticism. Neuroticism is defined as emotional instability and maladjustment that is characterized by a higher level of negative emotions such as fear, anger, sadness. People with high levels of neuroticism often have a poor image of themselves and low self-esteem.  Individuals with higher levels of neuroticism are less able to control their impulses or cope with stress. A person with a high level of neuroticism will see competition as a form of conflict and perceive it as stressful when the outcomes are not what they want or expect.

It is important to keep in mind that all personality traits exist on a spectrum with more individuals falling in the middle and fewer and fewer people at the extreme low or extreme high ends, therefore most of us are in the middle. By combining these two traits we can define five different possible competitive styles.

  • High concern for self with low concern for others
  • Low concern for self and high concern for others
  • Moderate concern for self and for others
  • Low concern for self and low concern for others
  • High concern for self and high concern for others

If you look at the options with the thought that most of us fall towards the center of the personality spectrum, you will see that it is likely that most individuals have moderate concern for self and moderate concern for others. This balance enables them  to compete fairly, displaying good sportsmanship. It is important to restate that confirmation dog show judging is a highly subjective enterprise. If we acknowledge this, first and foremost, you will walk away happier and less frustrated.

The competitive style that is truly the most problematic are the people who High concern for self with low concern for others.  Unfortunately, if you spend time at dog shows, you will see plenty of these individuals behaving poorly when they do not get their way. Since every loss is a blow to their, often overblown ego, they will continue their foul behavior bad-mouthing the competition or the judge who has not done as they pleased. Being immersed in the dog show world, I have witnessed many individuals, some even at the highest level of the sport, behaving poorly: stomping out of the ring with a vulgar expression on their face, throwing a ribbon at their own people, being benched for intimidation as well as many other very “childish” behaviors. Unfortunately, psychology has shown that people whose personality type features a high level of narcissism, which corelates to low concern for others, are unlikely to read this article or see anything wrong with themselves.  This being the case, the best strategy is to avoid them, do not stoop to their level or engage them, it is not going to change them anyway.

In my study of psychology, I have learned that most individuals lack the capacity for objectivity regarding their own appraisal of self.  The best psychometric studies have repeatedly shown that only 8% of individuals have the capacity for objective self-evaluation. While this statistic is daunting and you are challenging this notion, I suggest that you take 10-15 minutes to take the Big 5 Personality test and learn more about yourself and see if there are areas where you would like to improve. Perhaps, by recognizing more about your psychological make-up, you can improve your level of happiness in life as well as become a better competitor in the ring. The test can be found, for free, at https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/IPIP-BFFM/ , you will not be asked your name or any personal information.  This repository provides academics with large population groups to ensure that their studies are statistically valid. If your curious, there are other tests that you can find on this site that you can take for free as well. I want to emphasize that if you are struggling with any psychological discomfort, seek the help of accredited psychologist.

If there is a specific question that I can answer for you, please feel free to reach out on Facebook, I promise I will answer to the best of my ability.  See you in the ring, remember to have fun and be a good sport!