The present research examines the processes through which competitive contexts influence performance in an understudied domain: social perception. In two experiments (one preregistered), we test how competition (relative to control) influences performance on a measure of emotion decoding: The Reading-the-mind-in-the-Eyes (RME) task. Specifically, we examine whether performance-approach (PAP) and performance-avoidance (PAV) goals (as well as mastery-approach [MAP] and mastery-avoidance [MAV] goals) affect the competition-performance relation in this domain. The results indicate no direct effect of competition on RME performance, but that competition promotes the pursuit of both PAP and PAV goals. Moreover, we find that both PAP and PAV goals are positively related to RME performance in a competitive, but not control, context. Mediational analyses indicate that PAP goals, in particular, are the process through which competition indirectly influences RME performance. These findings integrate several different heretofore separate literatures, and lay the foundation for exciting new work in this overlooked area.

中文翻译：

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竞争和绩效目标对解码复杂情绪的影响

本研究研究了竞争环境影响被研究领域（社会知觉）中绩效的过程。在两个实验（一个预先注册的实验）中，我们测试了竞争（相对于控制）如何影响情绪解码的性能：“读心术”（RME）任务。具体来说，我们研究了绩效评估（PAP）和绩效回避（PAV）目标（以及精通评估[MAP]和精通回避[MAV]目标）是否会影响该领域的竞争绩效关系。结果表明竞争对RME性能没有直接影响，但是竞争促进了对PAP和PAV目标的追求。此外，我们发现PAP和PAV目标在竞争性而非控制性的情况下均与RME表现成正相关。中介分析表明，PAP目标尤其是竞争间接影响RME性能的过程。这些发现整合了迄今为止不同的几本文献，并为这一被忽视的领域中令人兴奋的新工作奠定了基础。