This morning I decided to try out a spinning class in Ann Arbor with three of my friends. Starting off slowly, we all began to get adjusted to the pace of the class and the logistics of how the class worked. As the intensity began to rise in the room, I began to realize how much I was socially comparing myself to the other riders. Not only did I keep boosting up my resistance on the bike in order to get a bigger workout, but I also kept pushing faster and harder in order to in a sense “beat” the other riders in my speed. I began to think about what it was that was motivating me to push harder. Although my “competition” included my friends who are all female, this did not matter as I was trying to outdo them on a competitive level. Next, I noticed the class size. There were about 9-10 people and the instructor. This factor could have been a reason that I felt like I had “a chance” to beat the other riders. This was the first time I was consciously aware of the “N- Effect” taking place in a personal situation. As I socially compared myself with everyone else, I thought of the three factors that influence social- comparison-based competitive behavior: (a) importance of the performance dimension (Festinger, 1954; Tesser, 1988), (b) commensurability of the target with the actor (Goethals & Darley, 1977), and (c) the closeness of the relationship between the target and actor (Tesser, 1988). The goal was obviously to get a good workout and spin fast and hard, and I was able to measure and compare my speed with that of others as I constantly looked in the mirror in order to compare myself to the rest of the riders. Although I felt like I was competing with the entire class, my main focus was to beat my three other friends. This is an interesting thing to note, as my closeness with them in comparison to with the other riders in the class played a significant role in my motivation to succeed. Although not even considered a “game,” the spnning class definitely made me socially compare myself by creating my own mind game of winning a “race” against the rest of the class. Not only did I win this race, but I guess you could also say I burned some extra calories while doing it!
It's really interesting how the N-Effect and social-comparison based theories work in practice. Even though you weren't in an actual race, the social competition you experienced seemed to give you a lot of motivation! Were there quantitative and measurable factors that allowed you to compete with your classmates and friends, such as calories burned? Or how did you know that you won the "race"? Do you think that the smaller class size helped you stay more competitive since it seemed that you were mostly competing against your 3 friends anyway, so perhaps a larger class size wouldn't have made much of a difference as long as your friends were with you.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a really interesting idea in this post, that even though you were not in an actual competition with those around you. I agree with this when I think back to the times I run on a treadmill alone in my basement versus the times I go to the gym to work out. Alone in my basement, if I feel like I can take a break from running as many times as I need and for as long as I need because there is no one around me to potentially judge my ability. However, when I am at the gym, I know the people around me could potentially be watching me, motivating me to continue running. This effect is enhanced even more when I personally know the people around me, and it is enhanced even further when they are my friends. Sometimes my dad and I run together, and he is the person with whom I feel the most competitive. In accordance with your post, this would be because of "the closeness of our relationship". The whole time my motivation to keep running is that he I cannot let him win (in this case, run for a longer amount of time or run faster than me). Both you example, and my experiences show how powerful the N-effect is and how powerful social comparison can be. The one thing that I did experience differently from the N-effect suggests is that no matter how many people are there at the gym with me, I still feel a sense of competition. Simply knowing that there are some people there (no matter the number) who could be watching at any moment keeps me running and feeling like I can go faster and faster.
ReplyDeleteAlexa Levitz
I completely agree with you that the N-Effect has a very strong influence in small spin classes like the one you went to. I also participated in a spinning class recently and was completely surprised by how motivated I was to do better. Being in a small room with only about 9 other people really motivated me to run faster. Additionally, I felt the most competitive with my friends who I went to the class with. As a very un-athletic person, I was shocked by my ability to keep up with the rest of the class and last for the entire hour. A spinning class is a really good environment to compare oneself to others, because everyone is able to see both each other and themselves. Therefore, this environment is very representative of the N-Effect and the social comparison theory because when you judge yourself against others like you, you are more likely to feel a sense of competition and thus, be motivated to do better.
ReplyDelete- Mallory Harwood
The Magic Circle