Facets of self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism and feelings of pride, shame, and guilt following success and failure

According to traditional views of perfectionism, perfectionists are prone to experience shame and guilt and unable to experience pride. However, these views ignore that perfectionism is multidimensional and multifaceted. Consequently, the present study adopted a multidimensional approach and investigated in a sample of N = 67 university students how four facets of perfectionism - perfectionistic striving, importance of being perfect, others' high standards, conditional acceptance - were related to pride, shame, and guilt following experimental manipulation of success and failure. Results showed that perfectionistic striving was associated with more pride following success, whereas all facets were associated with more shame and guilt following failure, particularly conditional acceptance. Furthermore, conditional acceptance was associated with less pride regardless of success or failure. Supporting views of perfectionism that differentiate between adaptive and maladaptive aspects, the findings show that individuals who strive for perfection experience more pride after success. Whereas all facets of perfectionism were related to more shame and guilt after failure, only individuals who think that others' approval is conditional upon being perfect seem to be unable to experience pride. The findings demonstrate that perfectionistic striving per se is not maladaptive, but conditional acceptance may be an important factor in maladaptive and clinical perfectionism.