Among the pioneering researchers was Kurt Lewin, whose research in the 1930s and 40s, emphasized life space or environmental background of children and individuals as most important for learning and living. Leaders were carefully trained for each leadership style using identical activities. In short, he found that cooperative groups displayed more coordinated efforts, more division of labor, more acceptance of others ideas, and fewer communication difficulties than competitive groups. He explained that interdependence exists in both competitive and cooperative environments. Since Triplett and Dewey s study, more than 550 studies have been conducted comparing cooperative, competitive, and individualistic environments with people of all ages.
Young children have a difficult time cognitively understanding winning and losing.
Competition is almost always connected to external awards and approval. Children in competitive settings, whether they win or lose, begin to define themselves extrinsically a weak foundation for their developing self-concepts. Even with this plethora of research, many misconceptions still exist about competition and cooperation. Often competition seems to be everywhere because the impact of winning or losing, in particular, sticks with individuals longer. Negative events evoke greater emotion from and exert greater influence on how children define who they are and how they feel about themselves than positive events.