Multidimensional perfectionism and counterfactual thinking: Some think upward, others downward

Perfectionism is a personality disposition that can be expected to explain individual differences in counterfactual thinking. Yet, research on perfectionism and counterfactual thinking is very limited, and findings are mixed. The present study (N = 175 university students) investigated the relationships between perfectionism and counterfactual thinking after imagining a negative outcome (i.e., receiving a bad grade). Self-oriented perfectionism showed positive relationships with upward counterfactuals (imagining better outcomes) and negative relationships with downward counterfactuals (imagining worse outcomes). In contrast, socially prescribed perfectionism showed positive relationships with downward counterfactuals. The findings suggest that counterfactual thinking in self-oriented perfectionism aims at self-improvement and motivates for future better outcomes—at the cost of increased negative affect—whereas counterfactual thinking in socially prescribed perfectionism aims at mood repair

cocor: A Comprehensive Solution for the Statistical Comparison of Correlations

<div><p>A valid comparison of the magnitude of two correlations requires researchers to directly contrast the correlations using an appropriate statistical test. In many popular statistics packages, however, tests for the significance of the difference between correlations are missing. To close this gap, we introduce cocor, a free software package for the R programming language. The cocor package covers a broad range of tests including the comparisons of independent and dependent correlations with either overlapping or nonoverlapping variables. The package also includes an implementation of Zou’s confidence interval for all of these comparisons. The platform independent cocor package enhances the R statistical computing environment and is available for scripting. Two different graphical user interfaces—a plugin for RKWard and a web interface—make cocor a convenient and user-friendly tool.</p></div

Software implementing tests for comparing two correlations based on dependent groups with overlapping variables.

<p>Software implementing tests for comparing two correlations based on dependent groups with overlapping variables.</p

Screenshot of the cocor web interface on http://comparingcorrelations.org.

<p>Screenshot of the cocor web interface on <a href="http://comparingcorrelations.org" target="_blank">http://comparingcorrelations.org</a>.</p

Software implementing tests for comparing two correlations based on independent groups.

<p>Software implementing tests for comparing two correlations based on independent groups.</p

Screenshot of the cocor GUI plugin for RKWard.

<p>Screenshot of the cocor GUI plugin for RKWard.</p

A flowchart of how to use the four main functions of cocor, displaying all available tests.

<p>For each case, an example of the formula passed as an argument to the cocor() function and the required correlation coefficients for the functions cocor.indep.groups(), cocor.dep.groups.overlap(), and cocor.dep.groups.nonoverlap() are given. The test label before the colon may be passed as a function argument to calculate specific tests only.</p