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Date of Award

4-29-2022

Document Type

Restricted Thesis: Campus only access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Cindy Bukach

Abstract

Perfectionism has many facets. Clinical perfectionism (CP) is a relatively new construct of clinically relevant perfectionism assessed using the Clinical Perfectionism Questionnaire (CPQ). This construct plays a role in the development and maintenance of many psychological disorders, and sparked discourse amongst perfectionism researchers regarding its dimensionality. Error monitoring, a key component of perfectionistic tendencies, can be measured through neural activity using electroencephalography (EEG). The error-related negativity (ERN) is an ERP component associated with unconscious error processing mechanisms in the brain. The primary goal of this study was to assess how two dimensions of perfectionism that have been proposed to map onto the CPQ, personal standards (PS) and evaluative concerns (EC) perfectionism, were associated with variation in ERN activity, specifically amplitude. Data from 81 participants was collected and analyzed to determine this relationship. The results demonstrated a significant positive relationship between overall CPQ scores and ERN amplitudes. PS perfectionism was shown to significantly predict variation in ERN amplitudes. This was also a positive relationship. EC perfectionism did not demonstrate a significant relationship. This research demonstrates a need for further analysis of the nature of the construct being assessed by the CPQ, and the associated processes that may have clinical implications.

Additional Files
2022-McLam-Form.pdf (120 kB)
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