“This is ridiculous!” Tim exclaimed, looking at his bright computer screen, “my professor won’t change my 93.99% grade to a 94%.” Having a 4.0 all throughout his years at PSU, Tim, my sister’s boyfriend, was furious when he discovered that his A- in his physics course was going to lessen his chance of getting into the graduate school he was aiming for. To him, an A- equals failure, despite his countless other accomplishments. A perfectionist to the core, even 100% wasn’t good enough, seeing that the highest grade he had ever gotten on a test was 114%. This kind of thinking may help him get into the college that he was striving for, but his fear of failure and lack of contentment with his hard work is detrimental to his wellbeing. Perfectionism
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Adaptive (healthy) perfectionists set high standards for themselves but allow themselves flexibility when it comes to mistakes or a change in course, and in turn, are satisfied with their work. Maladaptive (unhealthy) perfectionists, however, set high standards for themselves but when they make a mistake, they become disappointed in themselves, lowering their self-esteem. Setting unrealistic goals for themselves, maladaptive perfectionists judge themselves profusely when they fail to meet these goals. Not only this, but they believe their self-worth is determined by their ability to meet their own standards (Rice and Preusser). A recent study uncovered a new measure of perfectionism called “The Big Three Perfectionism Scale” and presents three different factors for perfectionism. This included rigid perfectionism, which is the belief that one’s work or performance should be flawless and without any errors. The second factor is self-critical perfectionism, which is exactly what it sounds like. People with high scores in this area are very self-critical of their efforts, doubt themselves often, and have harshly negative reactions to failure. Narcissistic perfectionism is quite the opposite of self-critical perfectionism. This factor constitutes entitlement and superiority over others, and criticism of others for their mistakes …show more content…
They are also often frustrated with the feeling of inadequacy and not living up to their impossible standards, which can also cause anxiety and depression (Smith et al.). In a study performed by Jeffrey Klibert et al., a link is found between the lack of resilience, which is the ability to bounce back from failure, and the presence of depression/anxiety as well as perfectionism in its maladaptive form. This means that people who fit into this category are much less likely to seek social support, which is crucial for many students’ success in college (Klibert et al.). Resilience is also extremely important in almost all aspects of life. Without it, it is very difficult achieve career and academic success. It is not shown that there is a correlation between lack of resilience and adaptive perfectionism (Kilbert et al.). With this understanding of how maladaptive perfectionism and lack of resilience can impact success in college, it is clear that college students should seek help if they are
Adaptive (healthy) perfectionists set high standards for themselves but allow themselves flexibility when it comes to mistakes or a change in course, and in turn, are satisfied with their work. Maladaptive (unhealthy) perfectionists, however, set high standards for themselves but when they make a mistake, they become disappointed in themselves, lowering their self-esteem. Setting unrealistic goals for themselves, maladaptive perfectionists judge themselves profusely when they fail to meet these goals. Not only this, but they believe their self-worth is determined by their ability to meet their own standards (Rice and Preusser). A recent study uncovered a new measure of perfectionism called “The Big Three Perfectionism Scale” and presents three different factors for perfectionism. This included rigid perfectionism, which is the belief that one’s work or performance should be flawless and without any errors. The second factor is self-critical perfectionism, which is exactly what it sounds like. People with high scores in this area are very self-critical of their efforts, doubt themselves often, and have harshly negative reactions to failure. Narcissistic perfectionism is quite the opposite of self-critical perfectionism. This factor constitutes entitlement and superiority over others, and criticism of others for their mistakes …show more content…
They are also often frustrated with the feeling of inadequacy and not living up to their impossible standards, which can also cause anxiety and depression (Smith et al.). In a study performed by Jeffrey Klibert et al., a link is found between the lack of resilience, which is the ability to bounce back from failure, and the presence of depression/anxiety as well as perfectionism in its maladaptive form. This means that people who fit into this category are much less likely to seek social support, which is crucial for many students’ success in college (Klibert et al.). Resilience is also extremely important in almost all aspects of life. Without it, it is very difficult achieve career and academic success. It is not shown that there is a correlation between lack of resilience and adaptive perfectionism (Kilbert et al.). With this understanding of how maladaptive perfectionism and lack of resilience can impact success in college, it is clear that college students should seek help if they are