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Keywords:

Social Sciences, Psychology, Clinical, Psychology, Social, Psychology, IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST, INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES, SELF-CONCEPT, EXPLICIT, MODEL, 1701 Psychology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, Social Psychology, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, 5203 Clinical and health psychology, 5205 Social and personality psychology

Abstract:

Recent studies have revealed that the prediction of behavior requires the assessment of both explicit and implicit evaluations, which can be measured using direct and indirect measurement procedures respectively. Against this background, two studies were conducted to construct and implement an indirect measure of perfectionism. A Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) was created to assess the extent to which participants automatically evaluated themselves as achievement striving, in comparison to others. In both studies, the achievement striving and evaluative concerns dimensions of perfectionism were measured using two multidimensional perfectionism questionnaires. Across the two samples, we observed that evaluating one's self-worth on the basis of reaching high standards on an explicit level (as measured by the questionnaires) is significantly associated with evaluating oneself as less achievement striving than others on an automatic level (SC-IAT). Examining the predictive influence of the Aiming at Perfection SC-IAT on academic performance, the predictive validity of our indirect measure could be demonstrated. We conclude that the Aiming at Perfection SC-IAT is an indirect measure of an aspect of perfectionism that is linked to the known evaluative concerns dimension of perfectionism, with a good predictive validity with regard to academic achievement. © 2013 Guilford Publications, Inc.