Addiction to competitive victory can override monetary and moral motivation

Evidence

What drove Rajaratnam, an eminent financier known for his pride, to self-destruction and the ruin of so many other business executives? Several years earlier, in an interview for the book The New Investment Superstars, Rajaratnam described himself as a relentless competitor (Peltz, 2009). In commenting on his financial success, he explained that he tied his sense of pride to unmatched victories, especially in risky undertakings. “It is pride and I want to win. After a while, money is not the motivation. I want to win every time. Taking calculated risks gets my adrenaline pumping” (Peltz, 2009). However, winning illegally got him an 11-year prison term. This is another case in which morality apparently yielded to overbearing competitive ambition. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1470 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

If individuals solve the dilemma based on their moral sense of transparency, rather than on a cost–benefit analysis, then their strategy should be fixed and independent of local incentives to hide or to disclose benefits. In other words, a given individual would be no more inclined to disclose, if she had to pay for secrecy, and no more inclined to hide, if she had to pay for disclosure. One would then expect that the proportions of individuals opting for secrecy and disclosure would remain stable, whatever the incentives offered to sway people in one direction or the other. The authors of the present commentary are currently testing this prediction. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 303 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: False-need satisfaction reinforces the rat race and profitable domination. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 841; Competitive victory seeking can supersede money and morality as a motive — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1470; Loss aversion makes displeasure from losing exceed pleasure from winning equally — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2445 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Competitive victory seeking can supersede money and morality as a motive #corroborates (1.00) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1470
• Genuine moral commitments resist monetary incentives to switch #complicates (0.78) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 303