The Associations of Perfectionism and Excellencism with Passion and Persistence in Highly Passionate and Less Passionate Activities

AbstractTheories and clinical accounts hypothesized that perfectionism should be linked to obsessivity and inflexibility. However, a positive association between perfectionistic standards and harmonious passion has frequently been reported in research. Guided by the Model of Excellencism and Perfectionism (MEP), this five-sample study (total N = 1,459) hypothesized that perfectionistic standards and excellencism should be distinctively related to passion and persistence. The results of Study 1 partially supported our hypotheses. Excellencism was associated with flexible persistence and harmonious passion for school, whereas perfectionism was associated with rigid persistence and obsessive passion. Unexpectedly, perfectionism was also positively associated with harmonious passion. Fewer than half of the participants were truly passionate about school, and we re-envisioned our hypothesis to account for the role of context. The unexpected finding was replicated in another sample of students looking at passion for school (Study 2, group 2). However, in samples where a high proportion of participants were passionate about their activities (i.e., favorite leisure in group 1 of Study 2, physical activity in Study 3, and a passionate activity in Study 4), our results supported all our theoretically expected hypotheses. Among the participants who were sufficiently passionate (N = 1,093; Study 5), the mini meta-analysis of our five samples indicated that excellencism and perfectionistic standards were positively associated with harmonious and obsessive passion, respectively. This study highlighted the need to separate excellencism from perfectionism to better align empirical research with theoretical expectations about the obsessive and inflexible nature of those who pursue perfectionistic standards.Keywords: Perfection, Excellence, Passion, Persistence, Inflexibility, Obsessivity