There is much confusion as to whether competition or collaboration is most beneficial to creativity and innovation. Though there are negatives to collaboration and it is not easy separating the effects of time pressure and group activity, in general collaboration beats competition. This article will set out some of the arguments.

a) Competition forces some individuals to produce a greater number of ideas than they would do otherwise. But crucially, competition forces other people to shut down. Exactly who raises their game and who shuts down depends on the game, the rules, the competencies, the level of evaluation anxiety and other factors. People choose which areas they want to compete in.

b) When forced to produce, through competition, people are more likely to be non-synergistically extrinsically motivated