This study investigated decision making in internally and externally motivated persons as they interacted in a competitive game of skill. Subjects were 36 internally and 36 externally scoring graduate and undergraduate psychology students. All possible pairings of internal and external subjects were involved in a competitive two-person game. The game of skill required participants to bid against each other to purchase tokens which were auctioned. The results indicated that internal subjects made decisions reflecting a greater expenditure of resources and time than external subjects.
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