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