Perfectionism has long been recognized as an important personality trait that has a significant
impact on emotional and social well-being. More recently, it has been recognized that there is a
stylistic aspect to perfectionism that focuses on a desire to appear perfect. This perfectionistic
self-presentation, and in particular, the desire for concealment of imperfections, has been related
to psychopathology in past research. However, it is proposed that perfectionistic self-presentation
presents a particular concern from a clinical perspective because of it's indirect
effects on pathology; a desire to conceal imperfections is especially problematic to the extent that
it impacts the experience of therapy and the therapy relationship. The current study examined the
cognitive, affective/physiological, and behavioral manifestations of perfectionistic self-presentation
in a clinical sample. Ninety clinical subjects completed self-report measures of
perfectionistic self-presentation, trait perfectionism, impression management, mood, appraisals,
and self-handicapping. A brief structured assessment interview that included a discussion of past
mistakes, was conducted by trained clinical interviewers. Physiological monitors recorded heart
rate and skin conductance level throughout the interview, and the interview was videotaped.
Post-interview measures of mood, appraisals, and self-handicapping, were also completed.
Results at the bivariate level showed that the self-protective dimensions of perfectionistic self-presentation
were associated with more distress both prior to and following the interview, higher
heart rate and greater change in heart rate when discussing mistakes (and greater skin
conductance for men), greater claims of disability from self-handicaps, and appraisals of the
interviewer as both threatening (wanting more than the participant could provide) and
disappointed following the interview. Regression analyses showed that the desire to avoid
disclosing imperfections was a unique predictor of appraisals of threat over and above
demographics, trait perfectionism, and other measures of distress (interaction anxiety and
depression) and impression management, and of appraisals of the interviewer as disappointed
following the interview, over and above demographics and trait perfectionism. The block change
score for perfectionistic self-presentation predicting interviewer satisfaction was marginally
significant over and above emotional distress and impression managment. The desire to avoid
displaying imperfections was a unique predictor of lower threat appraisals. Perfectionistic self-presentation
also predicted higher heart rate when discussing errors, over and above
demographics and other measures of distress and impression management, and greater change in
heart rate from relaxation; this relation held when controlling for demographics, trait
perfectionism, and emotional distress and impression management. Perfectionistic self-presentation
did not predict defensive behaviors and was not a unique predictor of self-reported
negative affect. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for therapy and the
therapeutic alliance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6693 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Habke, Amy Marie |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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