Ro. Frost et al., REACTIONS TO MISTAKES AMONG SUBJECTS HIGH AND LOW IN PERFECTIONISTIC CONCERN OVER MISTAKES, Cognitive therapy and research, 19(2), 1995, pp. 195-205
Perfectionistic concern over mistakes refers to the tendency to react
negatively to mistakes, to interpret mistakes as equivalent to failure
, and to believe that one will lose the respect of others following fa
ilure (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990). In this experiment,
the reactions of subjects high and low in perfectionistic concern ove
r mistakes to a task with a high frequency of mistakes and a task with
a low frequency of mistakes were examined. People high in perfectioni
stic concern over mistakes reacted with more negative mood, lowered co
nfidence, and a greater sense that they ''should have done better'' co
mpared to subjects low in perfectionistic concern over mistakes. Furth
ermore, high-perfectionistic-concern-over-mistake subjects believed ot
hers seeing their performance would perceive them as less intelligent,
and they were also less willing to share their performance results. T
hese difference between subjects high and low in perfectionistic conce
rn over mistakes were almost exclusive to the high-mistake-frequency c
ondition. There were few differences in the low-mistake-frequency task
.