"I think it probably is a form of addiction..."

I once participated in a 'group encounter' where the leader divided us into 3 groups of about 7-8 persons. He then distributed a bunch of colored poker chips to everyone, so that no one could see how many of each color anyone else had..... then he informed us that each color had a different value, like in poker. Then we played a game of pairing off with a member of another group and trying to make trades - offering say, two whites for one red....etc. Once everyone had made a trade, everyone added up their 'scores' and figured out the group total. One group was obviously ahead, and one group far behind.
   Then he said that for round two, the 'poor' group could offer a change in the rules... but the 'rich group had veto power. You can imagine how that went! The 'rich' group had one young man in it who treated the whole thing like it was a major business deal, and he schemed with his group to maximize their already large lead...
I thought about it, and when round two started, I just gave away my chips and sat down.

Finally, the leader explained that the whole game was fixed and that the chips had not been distributed fairly... as I had figured out..... and that he NEVER said what 'winning' would do. There were no prizes and no honor and no way to win unless you were in group 1. Still, some tried to beat all the others, even with no actual money involved.

I have seen similar behavior in sports, in highway driving, in all sorts of things... and it DOES become a habit & obsession with some to 'get ahead'. I often wonder if any of it is in DNA.