Friday, March 4, 2011

Is there normal perfectionism?

The focus of my paper has changed to the negative effects of perfectionism. I always believed it to be a good quality and wanted to focus on both the negative and positive effects of perfectionism. However, I quickly learned that perfectionism is NOT a good trait to have. It leads to many physical and mental problems and can be debilitating for a person. For this post we needed to find atleast to sources who opposed our view. Let me tell you, that was challenging! It was a stretch to find two good scholarly articles. But it was done.

I found a really good article that helped put into words (better than I could have ever come up with) about the difference between 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' perfectionism. They mention a few times throughout the article the differences: striving for perfectionism and striving for excellence are two different things, 'I feel good by dedicating myself to a certain task' is much different than 'I like to please other people by being successful'. There is still much research going on but seeing as the source is highly credible I believe that there is 'good' and 'bad' perfectionism. You can decide to strive to do your best, or you can stive for the impossible.

It is shown in evidence that people who have positive perfectionist tendencies also have positive characteristics about them. Although not much research has been done whether positive perfectionism is a cause of nature or nurture, it is thought that one can learn to be a normal perfectionist. They can adapt it over a period of time. In the psychology world, the idea of both negative and postive psychology came up and was researched minimally before decideing that perfectionism was a neurotic disorder and was always negative. Now it is being researched again and there are hopes instead of destroying one's perfectionistic tendencies that they can change to develope positive perfectionistic characteristics.

http://kar.kent.ac.uk/4481/1/Stoeber_&_Otto_PositiveConceptions_2006.pdf

Flett, Gordon L., and Paul L. Hewitt. "Positive Versus Negative Perfectionism in Psychopathology." Behavior Modification 30.4 (2006): 472-495. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Mar. 2011.
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2 comments:

  1. Cosette SnarrMarch 5, 2011 at 6:44 AM

    I find it interesting that in the beginning you were going to research the positive traits of perfectionism. I like that you have been able to see how it can be a negative thing and are going for that. It seems that the sources you have found agree with you rather than disagree with your stance. I think it would be difficult to find anything that would say that striving for perfection was a positive thing. I really like your comment about the difference between striving for perfection versus striving for excellence. That is a very good point and one that needs to be made. For many people things are black and white, so they think if they don't try to be perfect there is nothing left and they can't accept that. In my opinion trying to be perfect sets us up for beating ourselves up and that is not good.

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  2. CaitMarch 5, 2011 at 7:25 AM

    I know how you feel! I found it difficult to find articles from the opposing side as well. Have you considered interviewing people that have are absolute perfectionists? Research more into WHY they do what they do and if it is in EVERY aspect of their lives. I think it is a fine line between perfectionism and "striving for excellence." Where does it start and stop? Perhaps it would be helpful to research the psychology of the mind and what psychologists have to say about where this line is drawn.

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