Our cognitive abilities and decision-making skills can be dramatically hindered in social settings where we feel that we are being ranked or assigned a status level, such as classrooms and work environments, according to new findings from a team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and four other institutions.
Knowing where your rank is can push you to do better. A lot of people are naturally competitive, this can push a person to climb to the top. It can also cause someone to feel bad about themselves and cause them to fall down the rank.