Competition Kills Creativity in Female Teams Competing Against Each Other

Many reality TV shows like to place female competitors viciously against one another, such as The Bachelor. Though there doesn't seem like much of a science to it, a recent study examines how cooperation and creativity are greatly harmed when women compete in groups against other women.

Findings published in the journal Organizational Science found that females forced to work against another similar group of women lost much of their innovative techniques. 

"Intergroup competition is a double-edged sword that ultimately provides an advantage to groups and units composed predominantly or exclusively of men, while hurting the creativity of groups composed of women," said lead study author Markus Baer, PhD, an associate professor of organizational behavior at Olin Business School, in a news release.

Though previous studies have shown that competition boosts creativity among men, these findings showed that women perform better in less competitive environments, overall. Researchers also found that women contributed less to the team's creative output when placed against other similar groups.

"If teams work side by side, women tend to perform better and even outperform men - they're more creative," Baer said. "As soon as you add the element of competition though, the picture changes. Men under those circumstances gel together. They become more interdependent and more collaborative, and women just do the opposite."