Abstracts - Earli

students from different countries attribute more motivating than demotivating effects to it.Educational implications of the results will be discussed.Competitiveness, school motivation and self-concept in different settingsDarja Kobal Grum, University of Ljubljana,, SloveniaAmong the various studies on cross-national aspects of the self-concept, there is aAmong the various studies on cross-national aspects of the self-concept, there is a lack of focus onthe relation of the self-concept and competition. In our study, we reject the stereotype ofcompetition not being a desired personal characteristic. Our principal hypothesis is that, ifcompetition is investigated in a context of self-concept, positive dimensions of competition canemerge, as well as it may correlate with aspects of self-concept and furthermore that thisrelationship might differ from culture to culture. Thus there have been two particular aims of theresearch. The first one was to examine the relation between between self-concept and competitionwithin each of the studied national groups. The second aim was to point to similarities anddifferences that may be detected in self-concept and competition among participants from differentcountries. The study comprised of 128 Slovene, 99 Serbian and 140 Spanish participants. Self-Description-Questionnaire was applied to measure general self-concept and specific domains ofself-concept (SDQ III; Marsh & O’Neill, 1984). For gathering data in the field of motivation wehave applied the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM) by McInerney et al. (1997). Two measuresof competitiveness by Ryckman et al. were also used: hyper-competitiveness and personaldevelopment competitiveness (Ryckman et al., 1996). We found that individuals’ personaldevelopment competitiveness is more related to social parts of self-concept (for example: relationswith peers etc.) as well as with individual parts of self-concept (emotional stability, general selfconcept).There are significant relations also with social areas of school motivation (socialmotivation). Contrary, hyper-competitiveness is more related with individually orientedmotivation (motivation to win etc.). We also found statistically significant differences related tonationality, suggesting that Slovenes may be among the more competitive participants, but havelower self-concept in certain areas, than their peers from Serbia and from Spain.Constructive competition in preschoolSonja Sheridan, Göteborg University, SwedenPia Williams, Göteborg University, SwedenThe purpose of this paper is to draw attention to competition as a multidimensional phenomenonwith constructive dimensions. Constructive competition can upgrade people and develop theirambitions but competition can also be defined as destructive, if it makes people compete with eachother simply to gain personal privileges. Here, constructive competition is defined as aneducational phenomenon that motivates children in learning situations to stretch beyond their ownexpected abilities. The questions at issue are: how do preschool children feel, communicate and actin competitive situations and what meaning do they give to competition? This presentationdescribes how preschool children compete and how they themselves express and conceivecompetition in different situations. The theoretical framework is based on an interactionisticperspective in which individuals and the environment influence and are influenced by each otherin a continuous interaction. The study itself is an empirical study directed towards children’sindividual and collaborative learning in preschool as well as towards the conditions in this contextthat promote constructive competition. The data includes video-observations, individual and groupinterviews and children’s drawings. The results highlight that competition is already part ofchildren’s life at this age group and that constructive competition is a dimension that can motivate– 425 –