Biased interpretation in perfectionistic concerns: an experimental investigation
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Perfectionism is associated with the development and maintenance of several disorders. Given the importance of perfectionism understanding the biased information processes that underpin it is critical. The present study tested the hypothesis that heightened concern over mistakes subscale scores of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale are characterized by a tendency to impose emotionally negative interpretations on perfectionism-relevant situations. METHOD AND DESIGN: Seventy-six non-clinical, general population participants' were presented with interpretations of scenarios where a protagonist was described as achieving well above what was required, but fell short of their own high standard. Using a within-subjects, quasi-experimental design, we assessed interpretations of these scenarios by examining the degree to which participants rated test sentences as being likely implications of the original scenarios. RESULTS: A generalized linear mixed model revealed higher concern over mistakes scores were associated with an increased tendency to rate negative target test sentences as being similar to the original perfectionism-relevant scenarios, and a reduced tendency to rate positive target test sentences as being similar to these original scenarios. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide support for the cognitive-behavioral model of perfectionism. These findings support the inclusion of strategies in cognitive-behavioral treatment of perfectionism to reduce interpretation bias.
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Other experimental studies using attention and interpretation bias paradigms have found support for the cognitive behavioural model of perfectionism.
“Other experimental studies using attention and interpretation bias paradigms have also found support for the cognitive behavioural model of perfectionism (Howell et al., 2016, 2019; Tonta et al., 2019).”
From Coming of age: A reflection of the first 21 years of cognitive behaviour therapy for perfectionism (2023) · cites this paper as Howell et al., 2019
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Coming of age: A reflection of the first 21 years of cognitive behaviour therapy for perfectionism
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- Authors
- Howell, J. A., McEvoy, P. M., Grafton, B., Macleod, C., Kane, R. T., Anderson, R. A., & Egan, S. J.
- Affiliations
- Curtin University (AU)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Howell, Joel A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Anxiety, Stress, & Coping
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-03-07
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 259-269
- ISSN
- 1061-5806 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-2205
- OpenAlex
- W2922452702
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 0.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Anxiety Stress & Coping (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eSpace (Curtin University) (submittedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Australian Research Council
- National Authority for Scientific Research
- CNCS
- UEFISCDI
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
- Keywords
- perfectionism, interpretation bias, concern over mistakes, Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, cognitive behavioral therapy, emotional interpretation, cognitive distortions
- MeSH terms
- Perfectionism, Achievement, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Female, Humans, Judgment, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Psychological, Observer Variation, Young Adult
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