The DOI matches its Crossref record; 17 of the 17 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Perils of Perfectionism in Sports and Exercise
Abstract
Perfectionism is a multidimensional personality construct that has been linked with various forms of maladjustment. In this article, we discuss the role of perfectionism as a maladaptive factor in sports and exercise, and we describe a phenomenon we identify as the perfectionism paradox. We note that even though certain sports require athletes to achieve perfect performance outcomes, the tendency to be characterized by perfectionistic personality traits and to be cognitively preoccupied with the attainment of perfection often undermines performance and fosters a sense of dissatisfaction with performance. We review existing findings in the literature on sports and exercise and demonstrate that the extreme orientation that accompanies perfectionism is antithetical to attaining positive outcomes. Finally, future research directions are outlined.
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Citations
Cites
The dimensions of perfectionism
Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/bf01172967 · Cited by 4,279
Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (1991) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.60.3.456 · Cited by 3,378 · cited 6×
“Our Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS; Hewitt & Flett, 1991 ) assesses three dimensions of the construct—self-oriented perfectionism (i.e., excessive striving and demanding absolute perfection from the self), other-oriented perfectionism (i.e., demanding perfection from other people), and socially prescribed p…”
MethodInfluentialSelf-citationPerfectionism: Theory, research, and treatment.
(2002) · doi:10.1037/10458-000 · Cited by 791
Hewitt, P. L., Flett, G. L., Sherry, S. B., Habke, M., Parkin, M., Lam, R. W., McMurtry, B., Ediger, E., Fairlie, P., & Stein, M. B. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1303 · Cited by 504
Self-citationPerfectionism and stress processes in psychopathology.
Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (2002) · Perfectionism: Theory, research, and treatment. · doi:10.1037/10458-011 · Cited by 260
Self-citationPerfectionism and Reactions to Athletic Competition
Frost, R. O., & Henderson, K. J. (1991) · Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1123/jsep.13.4.323 · Cited by 237
Self-esteem and perfectionism in elite athletes: effects on competitive anxiety and self-confidence
Koivula, N., Hassmén, P., & Fallby, J. (2002) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/s0191-8869(01)00092-7 · Cited by 218
Precompetitive Anxiety in Sport: The Contribution of Achievement Goals and Perfectionism
Hall, H. K., Kerr, A. W., & Matthews, J. (1998) · Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1123/jsep.20.2.194 · Cited by 217
A programmatic approach to measuring perfectionism: The Almost Perfect Scales.
Slaney, R. B., Rice, K. G., & Ashby, J. S. (2002) · Perfectionism: Theory, research, and treatment. · doi:10.1037/10458-003 · Cited by 216
Perfectionism, Cognition, and Affect in Response to Performance Failure vs. Success
Besser, A., Flett, G. L., & Hewitt, P. L. (2004) · Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1023/b:jore.0000047313.35872.5c · Cited by 184
Self-citation
Cited by
Positive Conceptions of Perfectionism: Approaches, Evidence, Challenges
Stoeber, J., & Otto, K. (2006) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr1004_2 · Cited by 1,779
Compulsive exercise and eating disorders
Meyer, C., Taranis, L., Goodwin, H., & Haycraft, E. (2011) · European Eating Disorders Review · doi:10.1002/erv.1122 · Cited by 433
Kaufman, K. A., Glass, C. R., & Arnkoff, D. B. (2009) · Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology · doi:10.1123/jcsp.3.4.334 · Cited by 329
Sagar, S. S., & Stoeber, J. (2009) · Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1123/jsep.31.5.602 · Cited by 249
Turner, M. J. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01423 · Cited by 214
Metadata
- Authors
- Flett, G. L., & Hewitt, P. L.
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-02
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 14-18
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- OpenAlex
- W2157978285
- Cited by
- 331
- References
- 17
- FWCI
- 9.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
