61. People are More Motivated to Compete When There are Fewer Competitors

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Have you taken the SAT or ACT before? How many people where there? Why does it matter how many people? Well according to Stephen Garcia and Avishalom Tor it actually matters. These two compared tests scores from large number group versus a small number group. Few people in room had a results of better scores than if there were more people in the room.

Garcia and Tor say when their are fewer competitors you feel you have a better chance of being on top. Which this is called the N effect, with N meaning the number as in formulas.

They decided to ask a group of people to take a quiz and the top 20% gets $5. Group A competed against 0 other students and Group B competed against 100 other students. Group A completed faster than group B, they had more motivation knowing they were competing against fewer people. The students were told they were competing against other students, yet there was no one in the room with them.