Over the past few decades, American society has become increasingly fixated on performance outcomes, and winning or being declared the best has become of paramount importance (e.g., Crain, 2004; Kohn, 1986). Winning is often viewed as an all or nothing virtue, whereby greatness is a descriptive term reserved only for those whose names appear at the top of the list. The message conveyed is that only one's final results matter, regardless of the intensity of his/her effort. Toward this end, Nicholls (1976) wrote that "the largest rewards are generally associated with outstanding performance, not outstanding effort" (p. 313). For many individuals the ideas of achievement, excellence, and self-worth have become highly dependent upon the perceived outcomes of the competitions or events in which they engage. That is, outperforming one's competitors serves as the defining characteristic of success or excellence which, in turn, appear to serve as a key determinant in the individual's self-assessment of life satisfaction (Harackiewicz, Barron, & Elliot, 1998). The premise that success is defined in terms of competitive results or peer-referenced standards seems especially applicable within our education system. Previous authors (e.g., Covington & Berry, 1976; Harackiewicz et al., 1998; Shim & Ryan, 2005) have hypothesized that today's students who are seeking academic advancement have begun to place too much of their focus on the comparative markers that are perceived to be indicative of success (e.g., grades, admissions tests scores), instead of viewing education as a way of enhancing their knowledge base or level of competency (i.e., learning). Thus, students' emphasis on performance-related outcomes coincides with a sacrificing of more intrinsically-motivated achievements, such as advancing their personal growth or enhancing the quality of their scholarship (Ames, 1992; Harackiewicz et al., 1998).
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