The difficulties in measuring perfectionism Esmie Smith PhD Student

What is perfectionism?

Defining perfectionism Burns (1980) definition: “people who strain compulsively and unremittingly towards impossible goals and who measure their own worth entirely in terms of productivity and accomplishment.” Frosts et al. (1990) definition: “setting of excessively high standards for performance accompanied by overly critical self-evaluations.”

Defining perfectionism Shafran et al. (2002) definition: “the overdependence of self-evaluation on the determined pursuit of personally demanding self-imposed standards in at least one highly salient domain, despite adverse consequences.” Hall (2013) definition: “encompasses a specific constellation of achievement related cognition and behaviour associated with the compulsive pursuit of flawlessness in contexts that hold personal relevance for the individual.”

Measuring perfectionism Almost Perfect Scale (APS: 1992) Burns Perfectionism Scale (1980) Almost Perfect Scale Revised (APS-R: 1996, 2001) Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS: 1990) Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale (PANPS: 1995) Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HMPS: 1991) The Perfectionism Scale (PI: 2004)

Can perfectionism be healthy? “My bias is that perfectionism is not only an undesirable goal but a debilitating one as well. In my judgement, perfection per se does not exist in reality, but it is the striving for that non-existent perfection that keeps people in turmoil.” (Pacht, 1984, p. 386) Hewitt and Flett (1991,2006) - Perfectionism is problematic and debilitating. Greenspon (2000)- Perfectionism is illusionary and irrational.

Can perfectionism be healthy? Hamachek (1978)- ‘Normal’ and ‘Neurotic’ perfectionism. Slade and Owens (1998)- dual process model of perfectionism (positive and negative). “Almost 30 years after Hamachek published his seminal article, a large body of evidence has accumulated confirming that two basic forms of perfectionism can be distinguished.” (Stoeber, 2006, p. 295)

Unidimensional Burns (1980) created one of the first scales for measuring Perfectionism, however it only considers the dysfunctional attitudes. More recently, Shafran et al. (2002) supported the unidimensional approach and dismissed the multidimensional approach as it wasn’t relevant to “clinical perfectionism”.

Multidimensional Frost et al. (1990) Hewitt and Flett (1991) Organisation Perfectionism Perfectionism Doubts about actions Parental criticisms Other orientated Self orientated Personal standards Socially prescribed Concerns over mistakes Parental expectations

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