Perfectionism and performance in a new basketball training task: Does striving for perfection enhance or undermine performance?

Abstract

Objectives: In the psychology of sport and exercise, the question of how perfectionism affects performance is highly debated. While some researchers have identified perfectionism as a hallmark quality of elite athletes, others see perfectionism as a maladaptive characteristic that undermines, rather than helps athletic performance. Against this background, the purpose of the present study was to investigate how different aspects of perfectionism predict performance and performance increments.Method: A study was conducted with 122 undergraduate athletes to investigate how perfectionism during training affects performance and performance increments in a series of trials with a new basketball training task. Two aspects of perfectionism were examined: striving for perfection and negative reactions to imperfection. Design:The design was a correlational prospective design.Results: Results showed that striving for perfection during training predicted higher performance in the new task. In contrast, negative reactions to imperfection predicted lower performance when athletes attempted the task for the first time, once the positive influence of striving for perfection on task performance was partialled out. However, negative reactions to imperfection did not undermine performance in the consecutive trials. On the contrary, athletes with both high levels of striving for perfection and high levels of negative reactions to imperfection showed the greatest performance increments over the series of trials. Conclusion:The findings suggest that perfectionism is not necessarily a maladaptive characteristic that generally undermines sport performance. Instead, when learning a new training task, perfectionism may enhance performance and lead to performance increments over repeated trials.

Perfectionism and Performance

“…Whereas three of the four studies found perfectionistic strivings to predict higher performance (Stoeber, Uphill, & Hotham, 2009, Studies 1 and 2;Stoll, Lau, & Stoeber, 2008), one study found perfectionistic strivings to predict lower performance after failure (Anshel & Mansouri, 2005) and one study found that athletes high in perfectionistic strivings and high in perfectionistic concerns-J. Stoeber: Perfectionism and Performance 12 that is, athletes who would be considered "unhealthy" perfectionists according to the model in Figure 1-showed the largest performance increments over a series of trials .…”

“…Speculating on why this was the case, Stoll et al (2008) noted that the scale they used to measure perfectionistic concerns (the MIPS Negative Reactions to Imperfection scale) contains items that J. Stoeber: Perfectionism and Performance 14 capture anger, dissatisfaction, and frustration after mistakes and unsatisfactory performance (e.g., "I get completely furious when I make a mistake"). Thus athletes who were high in both dimensions of perfectionism-high in perfectionistic strivings and high in negative reactions to imperfection-may have wanted to show a perfect training performance, but experienced more anger, frustration, and dissatisfaction with their imperfect performance.…”

Adaptación al Español de la Versión Corta del Inventario de Perfeccionismo Multidimensional en el Deporte en Competición

“…Algunos investigadores han argumentado que el perfeccionismo en el deporte es poco adaptativo porque perjudica el rendimiento (Flett & Hewitt, 2005); mientras que otros investigadores ven el perfeccionismo como un rasgo adaptativo que ayuda a la obtención de un buen rendimiento (Gould, Dieffenbach, & Moffett, 2002), y a aprender nuevas habilidades deportivas (Stoll, Lau, & Stoeber, 2008).…”

Does Grit Influence Sport-Specific Engagement and Perceptual-Cognitive Expertise in Elite Youth Soccer?

“…Numerous researchers have explored the attributes and skills that differentiate elite and sub-elite athletes, including technical ability (Coelho e Silva et al, 2010;Figueiredo et al, 2009;le Moal et al, 2013), physical fitness (Deprez, Fransen, Boone, Lenoir, Philippaerts, & Vaeyens, 2015;le Gall, Carling, Williams & Reilly, 2010), personality characteristics (Guelmami, Hamrouni, & Agrébi, 2014;Reilly, Williams, Nevill, & Franks, 2000;Stoll, Lau, & Stoeber, 2008), and perceptualcognitive expertise (Farrow, McCrae, Gross, & Abernethy, 2010;Larkin, Berry, Dawson, & Lay, 2011;Larkin, Mesagno, Berry, & Spittle, 2014;Roca, Williams, & Ford, 2012). Moreover, researchers have investigated the practice history profiles of elite athletes to better understand what activities may contribute to the development of elite level performance (Ford, Ward, Hodges, & Williams, 2009;Ward, Hodges, Starkes, & Williams, 2007; Williams, Ward, Bell-Walker & Ford, 2012).…”