EFFECTS OF REWARD DISTRIBUTION AND PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK ON COMPETITIVE RESPONDING

To implement competitive contingencies, one must select a distribution of unequal rewards and a schedule of feedback for competitors regardi ng one another's performance. This study investigated three bases for distributing rewards and two performance feedback conditions. Pairs of college students competed over a series of 2-min contests in which th e competitive response was a knob pull. A sum of money was divided usi ng a proportional distribution or one of two fixed reward distribution s. In the proportional distribution, a subject's proportion of the sum was his or her proportion of the total number of responses. The two f ixed distributions were divisions of 100%/0% or 67%/33%. Also, in ever y contest either subject could make a response that would end the cont est prematurely and give both subjects the same amount-a sum equal to 33% of the competitive total. In the true feedback conditions, cumulat ive responses by each subject were either shown to both subjects durin g the contest or were not shown. The proportional distribution was cle arly superior to either of the fixed distributions in number of respon ses produced across contests. The proportional distribution with feedb ack produced the largest number of competitive responses, and the 100% /0% distribution without feedback produced the smallest number. Differ ences among distributions typically emerged only during later blocks o f contests. Fixed distributions of rewards often produced decelerating rates of responding, with losing competitors ending the contests befo re they were completed. Response-rate decreases were greatest for pair s in which the 2 subjects differed most in their response rates and pr oportion of wins. The presence of feedback had a small effect, increas ing responding for some pairs in the 100%/0% distribution. Performance patterns were interpreted in terms of the consequences arranged for t he individual participants by the reward distributions and differences in performance between competitors.