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Behavioural expressions, imagery and perfectionism
Background: High levels of multidimensional perfectionism may be dysfunctional in their own right and can also impact on the maintenance and treatment of Axis I psychiatric disorders. Aims: This paper sought to describe the behavioural expressions and imagery associated with perfectionism in a non-clinical sample. Method: Participants (n=59) completed a newly developed questionnaire to assess behavioural expressions of perfectionism, and an adapted interview to assess perfectionism-related intrusive mental images. Results: The study found that those high in perfectionism took longer to complete tasks, experienced more checking and safety behaviour whilst carrying out tasks, and had greater trouble actually completing tasks compared to those low in perfectionism. In addition, those with higher levels of perfectionism experienced intrusive mental imagery, which was more distressing, harder to dismiss, and had more impact on behaviour than those with lower levels of perfectionism. Conclusions: This research provides an initial exploration of the specific behaviours and intrusive mental imagery associated with perfectionism. The new behavioural measure of perfectionism could prove useful clinically in the assessment of change; however, these findings are preliminary and warrant replication in a clinical sample in order to examine their treatment implications
Perfectionism and the Big Five: Conscientiousness predicts longitudinal increases in self-oriented perfectionism
Findings from cross-sectional studies on the relationship between perfectionism and the Big Five personality traits demonstrate that conscientiousness shows significant positive correlations with self-oriented perfectionism, and neuroticism with socially prescribed perfectionism. The question is whether conscientiousness and neuroticism also predict longitudinal changes in self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. A sample of 214 adolescents aged 14-19 years completed measures of the Big Five and perfectionism twice over a period of 5 to 8 months. As was expected, conscientiousness predicted longitudinal increases in self-oriented perfectionism. Neuroticism, however, did not predict any longitudinal increases in perfectionismâneither in self-oriented nor in socially prescribed perfectionism. Providing support for McCrae and Costaâs dynamic personality theory (McCrae & Costa, 1999) which holds that broad personality traits play a part in the development of lower-level personality characteristics, the findings suggest that conscientiousness is a trait that plays a role in the development of self-oriented perfectionism
Perfectionism, achievement motives, and attribution of success and failure in female soccer players
While some researchers have identified adaptive perfectionism as a key characteristic to achieving elite performance in sport, others see perfectionism as a maladaptive characteristic that undermines, rather than helps, athletic performance. Arguing that perfectionism in sport contains both adaptive and maladaptive facets, the present article presents a study of N 5 74 female soccer players investigating how two facets of perfectionismâperfectionistic strivings and negative reactions to imperfection (Stoeber, Otto, Pescheck, Becker, & Stoll, 2007)âare related to achievement motives and attributions of success and failure. Results show that striving for perfection was related to hope of success and self-serving attributions (internal attribution of success). Moreover, once overlap between the two facets of perfectionism was controlled for, striving for perfection was inversely related to fear of failure and self-depreciating attributions (internal attribution of failure). In contrast,
negative reactions to imperfection were positively related to fear of failure and self-depreciating attributions (external attribution of success) and inversely related to self-serving attributions (internal attribution of success and external attribution of failure). It is concluded that striving for perfection in sport is associated with an adaptive pattern of positive motivational orientations and self-serving attributions of success and failure, which
may help athletic performance. In contrast, negative reactions to imperfection are associated with a maladaptive
pattern of negative motivational orientations and self-depreciating attributions, which is likely to undermine athletic performance. Consequently, perfectionism in sport may be adaptive in those athletes who strive for perfection, but can control their negative reactions when performance is less than perfect
A systematic review of the relationship between rigidity/flexibility and transdiagnostic cognitive and behavioral processes that maintain psychopathology
An ever-growing number of transdiagnostic processes that maintain psychopathology across disorders
have been identified. However, such processes are not consistently associated with psychological distress
and symptoms. An understanding of what makes such processes pathological is required. One possibility
is that individual differences in rigidity in the implementation of these processes determine the degree of
psychopathology. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between rigidity/flexibility and
transdiagnostic maintenance processes. Initial searches were made for research examining relationships
between 18 transdiagnostic processes and rigidity/flexibility. Relationships between rumination,
perfectionism, impulsivity and compulsivity, and rigidity/flexibility were systemically reviewed; 50
studies met inclusion criteria. The majority of studies indicated that transdiagnostic cognitive and
behavioral maintenance processes and rigidity were correlated, co-occurring, or predictive of each
other. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that it is inflexibility in the manner in which
processes are employed that makes them pathologically problematic. However, further research is
required to test and establish this
Evidence for three factors of perfectionism: : Perfectionistic Strivings, Order, and Perfectionistic Concerns
The factor structure of perfectionism is inconsistent across models. Most models distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive aspects of perfectionism, but often do not include elements representing order. Order, however, is theoretically important and distinct from the broad adaptive perfectionism factor. Therefore, a three-factor model of perfectionism was tested in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 208) who completed the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised and the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. According to the chi-squared difference test and CFI differences, model fit improved when repre- senting Order as a separate factor. In addition, Order and Perfectionistic Strivings factors showed signif- icantly different correlations with Conscientiousness and Neuroticism, academic performance expectation, and four achievement goal orientations, providing further evidence of their distinctiveness. Therefore, including Order as a separate factor represents a better model of perfectionism
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