The Academic Mindset: Fixation on Perfection

A somewhat nebulous concept, perfectionism is colloquially defined as a need for one’s self or one’s production to be perfect. In the 1980s, it was defined as the “tendency to have high standards and goals for oneself”. However, in recent years perfectionism has been reconsidered in the psychological literature, as well as popular culture, to include more insidious negative aspects, and has been closely tied to self-criticism and feelings of shame. Dr. Brenee Brown, a researcher on shame and author of many popular books on the subject, defines perfectionism thusly: “a self-destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of blame, judgement, and shame."

What does this have to do with academia? While I am unaware of any systematic studies of perfectionism in academics, I think we can all agree that, anecdotally at least, perfectionism is rampant among academics. Using the looser earlier definition from, academia does self-select for those with high goals and standards for themselves. But the more recent studies on the negative attributes of perfectionism deserves closer attention among academics.

While there are few studies about the impact of perfectionism within the ivory tower itself, there are a number of study about the impact of perfectionism on academic achievement and learning over a broad age span, including children, adolescents, and adults.

In order to understand these studies, we must first understand that perfectionism is not a monolith. There are facets to perfectionism which have been known to psychologists for many years. These facets can be defined as self-oriented, socially prescribed, and other-oriented. Self-oriented is the most intuitive, in that it involves expecting perfection of oneself. Socially prescribed perfectionism entails believing that one must be perfect in order to gain approval from one’s social circle – a subtle but important distinction. And other-oriented perfectionism involves expecting perfection from those around you. Individuals may carry each of these facets of perfectionism to varying degrees.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, socially prescribed perfectionism has been found to be negatively correlated with academic achievement. In contrast, self-oriented perfectionism has been positively correlated with academic achievement, while data on other-oriented perfectionism is limited.

Delving further into self-oriented perfectionism, we see that it is composed of perfectionistic striving and perfectionistic concerns. Perfectionistic striving can be defined as having high personal standards, and the activity that comes from having those standards. In other words, it is the effort that accompanies self-oriented perfectionism. Perfectionistic strivings are also referred to as adaptive perfectionism, or good perfectionism. Perfectionistic concerns, on the other hand, represent the negative aspects of perfectionism: concern over not meeting expectations, feelings of worthlessness if expectations are not met, and general negative reactions to perfectionism. This is also referred to as maladaptive perfectionism, or bad perfectionism.

Both good and bad perfectionistic traits are present in the same individual, but to varying degrees. When good perfectionism is present to a greater degree, it is associated with academic success. When bad perfectionism is present to a greater degree, it is associated with poor academic performance.

However, the presence of good or bad perfectionism is not the whole story. Let’s introduce the concept of mindset. Initially introduced by Dr. Carol Dweck in the 1980s, mindset is a term that encompasses the way one thinks about learning, and whether one values effort or output. Growth mindset is characterized by embracing mistakes, valuing effort over output, and seeking challenges. It’s counterpart, fixed mindset, is characterized by the opposite: rejecting mistakes, valuing output over effort, and avoiding challenges. Growth mindset has also been found to be more strongly associated with resilience, skill development, and both academic and personal success than fixed mindset. And as you might have intuitively guessed, growth mindset is more highly associated with adaptive or good perfectionism, while fixed mindset is more highly associated with maladaptive or bad perfectionism.

While there isn’t a lot of information about changing maladaptive perfectionism into adaptive perfectionism, there is a deep body of work on changing fixed mindset into growth mindset, and that gives a starting point for intervention. Studies have found that simply introducing the concept of mindset, along with the concept of neuroplasticity – which means the cells in your brain can change and adapt to learn new information – can be enough to trigger the change from fixed to growth mindset. Having sessions with mentors who model growth mindset by sharing challenges, mistakes, and learning can enhance growth mindset, as well as sharing reminders about growth mindset throughout the curriculum. Of course, training faculty on adapting and implementing growth mindset is essential, as well as changing feedback processes to emphasize effort over output.

In summary, perfectionism is a complex trait, that can be oriented towards the self, one’s social circle, or others. It can be both adaptive or maladaptive, either good or bad, and the maladaptive aspects of perfectionism can cause immense feelings of shame and worthlessness, and interfere with academic, as well as personal, success. However, there is an intervention for maladaptive perfectionism in the form of growth mindset, which emphasizes effort instead of output and embraces mistakes as part of the learning process. Implementing and enhancing growth mindset has been well-studied and can be incorporated into any curriculum with just a few simple tools. In doing so, we can enhance the success of students and faculty alike, both in academia and at home.

References:

 Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L., & Dyck, D. G. (1989). Self-oriented perfectionism, neuroticism and anxiety. Personality and Individual Differences, 10(7), 731–735. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(89)90119-0

https://www.lewisu.edu/experts/wordpress/index.php/the-problem-with-perfectionism

Verner-Filion, J., & Gaudreau, P. (2010). From perfectionism to academic adjustment: The mediating role of achievement goals. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(3), 181-186.

Madigan, D. J. (2019). A meta-analysis of perfectionism and academic achievement. Educational Psychology Review, 31, 967-989.

https://sites.dartmouth.edu/learning/2017/05/18/understanding-the-growth-mindset/

Klein, J., Delany, C., Fischer, M. D., Smallwood, D., & Trumble, S. (2017). A growth mindset approach to preparing trainees for medical error. BMJ Quality & Safety, 26(9), 771-774.

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random house.

Cooley, J. H., & Larson, S. (2018). Promoting a growth mindset in pharmacy educators and students. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 10(6), 675-679.

Mofield, E. L., & Parker Peters, M. (2018). Mindset misconception? Comparing mindsets, perfectionism, and attitudes of achievement in gifted, advanced, and typical students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 62(4), 327-349.

Mofield, E., & Parker Peters, M. (2019). Understanding underachievement: Mindset, perfectionism, and achievement attitudes among gifted students. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 42(2), 107-134.

Forsythe, A., & Johnson, S. (2017). Thanks, but no-thanks for the feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(6), 850-859.

Cutler, S., Xia, Y., & Beddoes, K. (2022, January). A Growth Mindset for Peer Review: Guidelines for writing constructive peer reviews. In Conference proceedings Hawaii International Conference on Education.