Cooperation and competition have same benefits but different costs

Cooperation and competition shape everyday human interactions and impact individuals' chances of success in different domains. Using a virtual Stroop test, classically employed to assess general cognitive interference, we examined the impact of social context (cooperation and competition) and other's ability (higher and lower performers) on performance, perceived stress, and autonomic activity. In Experiment 1, we found that both cooperation with a lower performer and competition with a higher performer led to similar enhancement in performance. However, only competition with a more skilled opponent induced an increase in perceived stress and physiological activity. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that these effects persisted even with prolonged exposure to these contexts. In summary, cooperation can be just as effective as competition in improving individuals' performance. However, cooperation does not carry the same level of stress and physiological burden as the competitive context, representing a healthier and more optimal way to boost individual performance.