Collaborative group testing increases intrinsic motivation but does not impact competition in medical students

Abstract

It is increasingly recognized that the practice of medicine is a “team sport” with different medical professionals working together toward the common goal of providing health care. Collaborative group testing, where students work together to answer test questions models this team environment. The act of collaborating to achieve a challenging task may be intrinsically rewarding because one feels like they contributed to the “greater good”, which for the same reason may reduce competition. Therefore, we hypothesized that prolonged participation in collaborative group testing in first and second year medical students would increase intrinsic motivation and decrease competition. We assessed intrinsic motivation and competition via administration of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory and the Competitive Attitude Scale, respectively. Students completed the surveys at baseline and after participating in thirteen collaborative group tests in a medical physiology course over a time‐period of 10 months. We found that all measures of intrinsic motivation were significantly increased after participation in collaborative group testing, while levels of competition were not changed. We conclude that medical student participation in collaborative group testing provides the opportunity to address the core psychological needs required to increase intrinsic motivation. Further studies are needed to understand why there was no effect on competition.