Isabella Tomlinson
Pronouns: She/Her
Research Mentor(s): Zachary Reese
Co-Presenter: Shammami, Christian
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Social Psychology / LSA
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 6 – 4:40pm – 5:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Christian Shammami, Isabella Tomlinson, Zachary Reese
Presenter: 97
Abstract
In our project, we examine whether perceptions of an opponent’s skills affect the competition of participants in a study using an effort-based task. Our study uses participants from the SONA Intro to Psychology Subject Pool, which consists of undergraduate students at the University of. Michigan. We are looking to see if a participant perceives the opponent as having a higher level of skills than them in the given task, then they exert more effort to win and become more competitive. On the other hand, we want to see if this possibly deters competition; i.e., if the participant perceives the opponent as better than them, then they give up. There will also be a condition that the participant will perceive their opponent as less skilled than them in the given task, and will be examining how the participant does after the competitive task is completed. This research is significant because there are many situations where competition and perceived skill level are discussed and considered in the real world, and we wish to investigate if people are more competitive once they learn that their opponent is better than they are. This could be applied in many situations, especially in academics and sports.
Interdisciplinary, Social Sciences
