Reactions to mistakes as a function of perfectionism and situation criticality in curling

Michael R. Lizmore, John G.h. Dunn and Janice Causgrove Dunn

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Citation

R. Lizmore, M., G.h. Dunn, J., Causgrove Dunn, J. (2016). Reactions to mistakes as a function of perfectionism and situation criticality in curling. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 47(1), 81-101. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2016.47.081

Abstract

This study assessed the degree to which healthy and unhealthy perfectionists responded with different levels of anger, dejection, self-confidence, and optimism following mistakes in low- and high-criticality situations in competitive curling. A total of 343 athletes (M age = 30.78 years) completed measures of perfectionism, anger, dejection, self-confidence, and optimism in sport. Cluster analyses conducted on perfectionism responses produced three clusters – labelled healthy perfectionists, unhealthy perfectionists, and non-perfectionists – that mirrored a tripartite conceptualization of perfectionism (Stoeber & Otto, 2006). Regardless of situation criticality, healthy perfectionists reported lower anger/dejection and higher confidence/ optimism following mistakes than unhealthy perfectionists (ps < .005). Regardless of perfectionism, athletes reported lower anger/dejection and higher confidence/optimism following mistakes in low- as opposed to high-criticality situations (ps < .001). It is recommended that future research should involve the examination of both personality and situational factors when assessing athletes’ emotional and cognitive reactions to mistakes in competition.

Keywords: Anger, Confidence, Critical situations, Curling, Dejection, Healthy perfectionism, Optimism, Unhealthy perfectionism