Relationship of Perfectionism to Affect, Expectations, Attributions and Performance in the Classroom

Perfectionism has been defined as a dispositional tendency to set excessively high performance standards and to then evaluate one's performance in an overly critical manner (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990). Using the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale developed by these authors, the current investigation examined the relationship of two dimensions of perfectionism, high personal standards (PS) and maladaptive concern over mistakes (CM), to patterns of behavior, cognition, and affect in an ecologically valid evaluative context—a semester-long college course. For the 90 women attending this psychology course, PS was associated with more frequent study behavior, evaluation of the course as more important, higher standards and expectations for academic performance, and better grades across the semester. Like PS, CM was associated with more frequent study behavior, but it was also related to perceptions of greater course difficulty, higher anxiety, and more negative mood prior to examinations. CM was not associated with better grades. The discrepancy between standards for performance on the midterm exam and actual midterm exam grades and attributions about these grades were also predictive of academic behaviors later in the semester and performance on the final examination. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future investigations are discussed.