Here are two older articles from Psychology Today on perfectionism - an issue many people deal with. If one sees it as a "part" that is trying to manage our behavior, and that has our best interests in mind, it becomes easier to work with, but that's another article.
What flavor of perfectionist are you? It matters!
Perfectionism comes in at least two flavors
Perfectionism comes in at least two flavours: adaptive and maladaptive. The maladaptive flavor seems to have social roots. (Take the self-test at the end of the post.)
We've been discussing personality traits and procrastination in the last couple of blog entries, but these have been considered at the highest level of the personality trait taxonomy. Today, I want to consider a lower-order trait, perfectionism. It's not formally part of the Big-Five personality traits that we've discussed.
It was originally assumed, as the diagram implies, that perfectionism undermines our action; all perfectionism was seen as maladaptive. It's not that simple. Perfectionism is multi-dimensional, or there's more than one flavor.
My focus today is on a relatively recent study reported by Jeffrey Kilbert (Oklahoma State), Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling and Motoko Saito (University of South Alabama). They report on adaptive and maladaptive aspects of self-oriented versus socially-prescribed perfectionism. In doing this, they summarize key aspects of the literature. Let me begin by defining some terms.
Paul Hewitt and Gordon Flett developed a multidimensional perfectionism scale with three subscales or types of perfectionism: self-oriented, other-oriented and socially-prescribed. Here's a brief description of each:
Self-oriented perfectionists: Adhere to strict standards while maintaining strong motivation to attain perfection and avoid failure; engage in stringent self-evaluation.
Other-oriented perfectionists: set unrealistic standards for significant others (e.g., partners, children, co-workers) coupled with a stringent evaluation of others' performances.
Socially-prescribed perfectionists: believe that others hold unrealistic expectations for their behavior (and that they can't live up to this); experience external pressure to be perfect, believe others evaluate them critically.
Of the three, my focus will be on self-oriented and socially-prescribed perfectionism as these have shown different relations with measures of procrastination in past research, and they are differentially related to what has been labeled adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism. (If you're interested in other-oriented perfectionism, I'd recommend reading "The no asshole rule" by Robert Sutton as there is quite a bit of overlap here, I think).
Conceptually, perfectionism had been considered a maladaptive trait overall. It didn't matter what form it took, perfectionism was seen to be detrimental (hence the figure I chose for this blog entry). However, another multidimensional perfectionism scale developed by Randy Frost revealed two underlying dimensions for his six subscales of perfectionism: concern over mistakes, personal standards, parental expectations, parental criticism, doubting of actions and organization. These two broad dimensions of perfectionism were labeled: positive strivings and maladaptive evaluation concerns.
In terms of Hewitt and Flett's three types, Frost found that the broad "positive strivings" dimension was related to self- and other-oriented perfectionism, as well as his own subscales of high standards and organization. Frost's research also demonstrated that positive strivings was related to increased positive emotions and it was not correlated with depression.
The second broad dimension of maladaptive concerns was related to Hewitt and Flett's socially-prescribed perfectionism, as well as Frost's own subscales of concern over mistakes, parental criticism and expectations, and doubts over actions. This dimension of maladaptive concerns was found to be related to higher levels of negative affect (emotions) and depression, and other research has shown that maladaptive concerns (socially-prescribe perfectionism) is related to procrastination, depression, suicidal ideation, lower self-esteem, anxiety, loss of self-control and shame.
In sum, there is some clear evidence that perfectionism is not one maladaptive flavour, and that a key distinction is between what we can see as perfectionism set by self and perfectionism imposed, or prescribed, socially. Given this past research, Kilbert and his colleagues wanted to explore the extent to which self-oriented perfectionism might be related to other adaptive traits such as self-esteem, perceived self-control and achievement motivation. At the same time, they wished to further explore the potential negative associations with socially-prescribed perfectionism
Their Research
Kilbert and colleagues used a battery of measures with a sample of 475 students. As you might expect given the concepts listed above, they measured things like perfectionism, self-esteem, achievement tendency, depression, anxiety, shame, guilt and procrastination. In their analyses, they also distinguished "types" of perfectionists in an unique fashion. They created types by using scores for both self-oriented and socially-prescribed perfectionism in combination. This resulted in four possible types: Low-Low (low on both forms of perfectionism), Self-oriented perfectionism only, Socially-prescribed perfectionism only and finally high on both scales. You can see that this 4-type continuum basically goes from not perfectionistic at all to having high scores on both types of perfectionism.Their Results
Given the variety of groupings and variables, it's not surprising that their results varied. Because the blog is about procrastination, I'll simplify things by keeping my focus on this aspect of their results. As they summarize the findings, "Regarding procrastination, results indicated that SOCIALLY Prescribed ONLY participants reported a tendency to procrastinate more than SELF Oriented ONLY and Generally Perfectionistic participants. Additionallly, Non-Perfectionistic students procrastinated more than did the SELF Oriented ONLY participants" (p. 152).I find this very interesting, of course, as it clearly delineates socially-prescribed from self-oriented perfectionism in relation to procrastination. Not only do individuals who report higher socially-prescribed perfectionism procrastinate more, but individuals who are described as self-oriented perfectionists actually procrastinate less than non-perfectionists! Clearly, at least in terms of procrastination, there are adaptive and maladaptive forms of perfectionism.
And, just because it helps round out the story, I want to add that the results of this study also revealed that self-oriented perfectionism was associated with higher levels of self-control and achievement motivation, whereas socially-prescribed perfectionism was associated negatively with self-esteem, self-control and achievement motivation, and this maladaptive form of perfectionism was significantly related to higher levels of depression, suicide proneness, anxiety, shame and guilt. The distinction between these two types of perfectionism is very clear.
The implication of these findings for perfectionism and procrastination
Here is how Kilbert and colleagues make sense of the results overall.Self-oriented Perfectionists
". . . self-oriented perfectionists are those who derive a sense of pleasure from their labors and efforts, which in turn enhances their self-esteem and motivation to succeed and eventually helps them to develop a sense of control over their environment. Self-oriented perfectionists may then use their pleasure in their accomplishments as encouragement to continue and even improve their work" (p. 154).Socially-prescribed perfectionists
"In contrast, socially prescribed perfectionists may be compared to neurotic perfectionists [a term originally coined by Hamachek] in that they do not derive pleasure from their labors and efforts and tend to view their work as inadequate or inferior. Furthermore, they report experiencing external pressure and or coercion to accomplish tasks. Therefore, the maladaptive symptoms of the socially prescribed perfectionist emerge not from an internally felt desire to be their best, but more from a fear of failure and/or a desire to avoid embarrassment, shame and guilt" (p. 154).So, what kind of perfectionist are you? It seems to make a big difference!
How do you know if you're a perfectionist? Check out Psychology Today tests to learn more. This 44-item test will give you personal feedback for your overall perfectionism score. If you want specific feedback for each of the three types of perfectionism discussed in this blog entry, there is a fee (Note: This is not my test, and I am not promoting its use. I'm simply making you aware of this option if you want to know more).
Reference
Kilbert, J.J., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., & Saito, M. (2005). Adaptive and maladaptive aspects of self-oriented versus socially prescribed perfectionism. Journal of College Student Development, 46, 141-156.
Other papers
Hewitt, P.L., & Flett, G.L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60. 456-470.Frost, R.O., Heimberg, C.S., Holt, C.S., Mattia. J. I., & Neubauer, A.L. (1993). A comparison of two measures of perfectionism. Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 119-126.
Here is the 2nd article.
Pitfalls of Perfectionism
You could say that perfectionism is a crime against humanity. Adaptability is the characteristic that enables the species to survive—and if there's one thing perfectionism does, it rigidifies behavior. It constricts people just when the fast-moving world requires more flexibility and comfort with ambiguity than ever. It turns people into success slaves.
Perfectionists, experts now know, are made and not born, commonly at an early age. They also know that perfectionism is increasing. One reason: Pressure on children to achieve is rampant, because parents now seek much of their status from the performance of their kids. And, by itself, pressure to achieve is perceived by kids as criticism for mistakes; criticism turns out to be implicit in it. Perfectionism, too, is a form of parental control, and parental control of offspring is greater than ever in the new economy and global marketplace, realities that are deeply unsettling to today's adults.
"I don't understand it," one bewildered student told me, speaking for the five others seated around the table during lunch at a small residential college in the Northeast. "My parents were perfectly happy to get Bs and Cs when they were in college. But they expect me to get As." The others nodded in agreement. Today's hothouse parents are not only over-involved in their children's lives, they demand perfection from them in school.
And if ever there was a blueprint for breeding psychological distress, that's it. Perfectionism seeps into the psyche and creates a pervasive personality style. It keeps people from engaging in challenging experiences; they don't get to discover what they truly like or to create their own identities. Perfectionism reduces playfulness and the assimilation of knowledge; if you're always focused on your own performance and on defending yourself, you can't focus on learning a task. Here's the cosmic thigh-slapper: Because it lowers the ability to take risks, perfectionism reduces creativity and innovation—exactly what's not adaptive in the global marketplace.
Yet, it does more. It is a steady source of negative emotions; rather than reaching toward something positive, those in its grip are focused on the very thing they most want to avoid—negative evaluation. Perfectionism, then, is an endless report card; it keeps people completely self-absorbed, engaged in perpetual self-evaluation—reaping relentless frustration and doomed to anxiety and depression.
No one knows this better than psychologist Randy O. Frost, a professor at Smith College. His research over the past two decades has helped define the dimensions of perfectionism. This, he's found, is what perfectionism sounds like:
"If someone does a task at work or school better than me, then I feel like I failed the whole task."
"Other people seem to accept lower standards from themselves than I do."
"My parents want me to be the best at everything."
"As a child, I was punished for doing things imperfectly."
"I tend to get behind in my work because I repeat things over and over."
"Neatness is very important to me."
Each statement captures a facet of perfectionism:
Concern over mistakes: Perfectionists tend to interpret mistakes as equivalent to failure and to believe they will lose the respect of others following failure.
High personal standards: Perfectionists don't just set very high standards but place excessive importance on those standards for self-evaluation.
Parental expectations: Perfectionists tend to believe their parents set very high goals for them.
Parental criticism: Perfectionists perceive that their parents are (or were) overly critical.
Doubting actions: Perfectionists doubt their ability to accomplish tasks.
Organization: Perfectionists tend to emphasize order.
By itself, having high standards (or being orderly) does not impale a person on perfectionism; it is necessary, but not sufficient. "Most people who are successful set very high standards for themselves," observes Frost. "They tend to be happy." What turns life into the punishing pursuit of perfection is the extent to which people are worried about mistakes.
Concern with mistakes and doubts about actions are absolute prerequisites for perfectionism. Perfectionists fear that a mistake will lead others to think badly of them; the performance aspect is intrinsic to their view of themselves. They are haunted by uncertainty whenever they complete a task, which makes them reluctant to consider something finished. "People may not necessarily believe they made a mistake," explains Frost, "they're just not quite sure; they doubt the quality of their actions." Intolerance for uncertainty characterizes obsessive compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, too.
But it's only paralyzing in the presence of parental criticism and exacting expectations. It's one thing to strive for perfection, another to demand it. "Overly demanding and critical parents put a lot of pressure on kids to achieve," says Frost. "Our studies show that is associated with perfectionism." It's transmitted in subtle ways. There's a modeling effect, so that parents who are obsessively concerned with mistakes raise children who are, too. And there's an interpersonal effect, transmitted by an authority figure in a child's life who is overly critical and demanding.
Read the rest of the article.
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