Common fears

As psychologists, we have been fascinated by the effects of perfectionism – a personality trait encompassing excessively high personal standards and harsh self-criticism. It is a common trait, and it is likely that you will know someone with it: a co-worker gripped with the fear of making mistakes, a teammate excessively self-critical following a poor performance, or a child brooding about missing a school deadline. These are all defining characteristics of a perfectionist.

We recently conducted research that found perfectionism is closely linked with burn-out. Burn-out is a syndrome associated with chronic stress, which manifests as extreme fatigue, perceived reduced accomplishment, and eventual detachment.

What was interesting in our analysis was that the self-concious thoughts and feelings central to perfectionism, those associated with a fear of imperfection and making mistakes, had a moderate to large positive effect on levels of burn-out. What was even more interesting was this relationship was particularly strong in work settings, when compared to sport and education.

Fear of making mistakes.

Our analysis did not identify why perfectionism is particularly problematic in work, but there are a number of possibilities. Work is typically performance-focused – and poor performance carries significant costs which, in the worst case, result in redundancy. When perfectionism takes place in the service of such pressure, the performance outcomes, rather than motivating, are likely to act as triggers of severe stress – exacerbating the fear of failure that is central to the link between perfectionism and burn-out.

Поиск по сайту: