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The psychology of perfectionism: Critical issues, open questions, and future directions

Stoeber, Joachim (2018) The psychology of perfectionism: Critical issues, open questions, and future directions. In: Stoeber, Joachim, ed. The psychology of perfectionism: Theory, research, applications. Routledge, London, pp. 333-352. (KAR id:59812)

Abstract

In this concluding chapter, I follow the approach of the introductory chapter in taking a personal perspective to discuss what I see are critical issues, open questions, and future directions in perfectionism research. Because all chapters of this book address open questions and future directions, I only discuss topics that the chapters did not cover or that I would like to emphasize again. These include the definition and measurement of perfectionism, the question of whether perfectionism is a trait or a disposition, the need for more longitudinal studies, and the search for mediators and moderators. Further, I make a call for more research on perfectionism going beyond self-reports and point to three areas that I believe are “under-researched”: perfectionism at work; ethnic, cultural, and national differences in perfectionism; and perfectionism across the lifespan. Moreover, I address three critical issues that I find problematic because they may present obstacles to further progress in our understanding of perfectionism: focusing on perfectionistic concerns (and ignoring perfectionistic strivings), employing cluster analyses to investigate differences in multidimensional perfectionism, and assessing perfectionism with measures that do not measure perfectionism.

Item Type: Book section
Uncontrolled keywords: perfectionism; personality; individual differences
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Joachim Stoeber
Date Deposited: 10 Jan 2017 09:04 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:41 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/59812 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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