Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T08:48:28.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 4 - Perfectionism

from Part I - Human Perfection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2024

Robin Gill
Affiliation:
University of Kent, Canterbury
Get access

Summary

Chapter 4 looks at the more recent (and largely negative) concept of ‘perfectionism’ and, specifically (and with some reservations), at the distinction between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism within socio-psychology. This chapter looks critically at a recent ethical discussion by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics of cosmetic procedures designed to give people a ‘perfect body,’ but also notes that some form of obsessive perfectionism seems to be a feature of artistic, sporting and even moral genius. It offers human examples of adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism, including Steve Jobs, Ludwig Wittgenstein and the theatre producer Peter Brook, and concludes that perfectionism can be both dysfunctional and functional.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Ashby, Jeff, Noble, Christina, and Gnilka, Philip, 2012. ‘Multidimensional Perfection, Depression, and Satisfaction with Life: Differences among Perfectionists and Tests of a Stress-Mediation Model’. Journal of College Counselling. 15, 130–43.Google Scholar
Brook, Peter. 1999. Threads of Time: A Memoir. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Cavell, Stanley. 2005. Cities of Words: Pedagogical Letters on a Register of the Moral Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, Clare. 2022. Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Curran, Thomas and Hill, Andrew P. 2018. ‘Perfectionism is Increasing and That’s Not Good News’. Harvard Business Review. 26 January.Google Scholar
Curran, Thomas. 2023. The Perfection Trap: The Power of Good Enough in a World That Always Wants More. London: Cornerstone.Google Scholar
Duckett, Stephen. 2023. Healthcare Economics and Christian Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gnilka, Philip B., Ashby, Jeff and Noble, Christina. 2012. ‘Multidimensional Perfectionism and Anxiety: Differences among Individuals with Perfectionism and Tests of a Coping-Mediation Model’. Journal of Counseling and Development. 90, 427–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamacheck, Don. 1978. ‘Psychodynamics of Normal and Neurotic Perfection’. Psychology. 15, 2733.Google Scholar
Hewitt, Paul L., Mikail, Samuel, Flett, Gordon L, and Ge, Sabrina. 2022. ‘Group Dynamic-Relational Therapy for Perfectionism’. www.researchinpsychotherapy.org/index.php/rpsy/article/view/635.Google Scholar
Hill, Margaret S. 2017. ‘Impact of Perfectionism on Students: The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent’. Academic Advising Today. 40.2. Also available at https://nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/Impact-of-Perfectionism-on-Students-The-Good-the-Bad-and-the-Indifferent.aspx.Google Scholar
Hollenbach, David. 2002. The Common Good and Christian Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaacson, Walter, 2011. Steve Jobs. New York and London: Simon & Schuster and Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Monk, Ray. 1990. Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Norman, Ralph. 2023. ‘An Anglican Common Good?Theology. 126.2, 92102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Northcott, Michael. 1996. The Environment and Christian Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nuffield Council on Bioethics. 2007. Public Health: Ethical Issues. www.nuffieldbioethics.org/assets/pdfs/Public-health-ethical-issues.pdf.Google Scholar
Nuffield Council on Bioethics. 2015. Children and Clinical Research: Ethical Issues. www.nuffieldbioethics.org/wp-content/uploads/Children-and-clinical-research-full-report.pdf.Google Scholar
Nuffield Council on Bioethics. 2017. Cosmetic Procedures: Ethical Issues. www.nuffieldbioethics.org/publications/cosmetic-procedures.Google Scholar
Parfit, Derek. 2011. On What Matters. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, Kenneth, Ashby, Jeff and Slaney, Robert. 2007. ‘Perfectionism and the Five-Factor Model of Personality’. Assessment. 14, 385–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rice, Kenneth and Van Arsdale, Amy. 2010. ‘Perfectionism, Perceived Stress, Drinking to Cope and Alcohol Related Problems among College Students’. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 57, 230–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sagovsky, Nicholas and McGrail, Peter. 2015. Together for the Common Good: Towards a National Conversation. London: SCM Press.Google Scholar
Scanlon, Thomas M. 1996. The Status of Well-Being: The Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Scanlon, Thomas M., 1998. What We Owe to Each Other. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Slote, Michael. 2011. The Impossibility of Perfection: Aristotle, Feminism, and the Complexities of Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stoeber, Joachim and Otto, Kathleen. 2006. ‘Positive Conceptions of Perfectionism: Approaches, Evidence, Challenges’. Personality and Social Psychology Review. 10, 295319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swinton, John. 2022. Deliver Us From Evil: A Call for Christians to Take Evil Seriously. Eugene, OR: Cascade.Google Scholar
Turner, Janice. 2022. ‘The Love-Island Look Is All About Self-Disgust’. The Times. 11 June.Google Scholar
Wall, Steven. 2017. ‘Perfectionism in Moral and Political Philosophy’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/perfectionism-moral/.Google Scholar
Wang, Kenneth, Slaney, Robert. and Rice, Kenneth. 2007. ‘Perfection in Chinese University Students from Taiwan: A Study of Psychological Wellbeing and Achievement Motivation’. Personality and Individual Difference. 42, 1279–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Perfectionism
  • Robin Gill, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: Human Perfection, Transfiguration and Christian Ethics
  • Online publication: 09 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009476775.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Perfectionism
  • Robin Gill, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: Human Perfection, Transfiguration and Christian Ethics
  • Online publication: 09 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009476775.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Perfectionism
  • Robin Gill, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: Human Perfection, Transfiguration and Christian Ethics
  • Online publication: 09 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009476775.006
Available formats
×