心理病理学视野中的完美主义自我展示

Perfectionistic Self-presentation in the Perspective of Psychopathology

完美主义自我展示是完美主义者在人际过程中为向他人展示自己非现实的、固定化的完美形象而进行的印象整饰过程。在澄清完美主义自我展示概念基础上,本文重点梳理与剖析了完美主义自我展示对抑郁、焦虑、社交恐惧、饮食障碍及人格障碍等心理病理现象的影响,并分析了其影响机制,最后,就深化该领域的研究提出展望。

The concept of perfectionistic self-presentation which involved the interpersonal expression of perfection was clarified in this paper. Perfectionistic self-presentation represents improper impression management by which individuals engage in self-presentation strategies. Three facets of perfectionistic self-presentation were briefed： perfectionistic self-promotion, an acquisitive self-presentational style involving a need to promote one＇s self as perfect by actively and unrealistically presenting one＇s ＂perfection＂; non-display of imperfection—individuals extremely concerned about their behaviors of imperfections and elaborately attempting to avoid situations in which perceived flaws and shortcomings might be obvious or to hide mistakes from others; non-disclosure of imperfection—the need not to verbally communicate any imperfection, in evasion or avoidance of verbal admissions of perceived inadequacies and mistakes. Perfectionistic self-presentation was distinguished from trait perfectionism and impression management. Trait perfectionism reflects what perfectionism is and perfectionistic self-presentation represents what perfectionism does. Self-presentation was derived from the impression management theory. Moderate self-presentation is helpful to interpersonal interactions, but as an excessive need to appear unrealistic, inflexible perfect image in the eyes of others is central to perfectionistic self-presenter and cannot bring about adequate relationships. Most researchers viewed perfectionistic self-presentation as a pervasive neurotic style and all three facets were associated with various forms of pathological symptoms even with trait perfectionism and other personality traits controlled, such as depression, anxiety, social phobia, eating disorder, and personality pathology. It is suggested that the basic motivation for perfectionistic self-presentation is the lack of interpersonal connection and attempts to obtain approval, caring, respect, or a sense of belonging from others. The needs to defend against feelings of inadequacy and to guard against concerns over rejection come from decreased self-esteem, which may be the explanatory mechanism of all these pathological symptoms. Perfectionism acts as a vulnerability factor that promotes psychopathology in the presence of stressful failures, and the same trait perfectionism may develop different pathological symptoms in different circumstances. This depends on the traits that perfectionism has and the circumstances in which one stays. Previous researches on perfectionistic self-presentation have some limitations. For instantce, most researches were cross-sectional designs with self-report questionnaires, and lacked higher statistical methods. Future study should use multiple methods （e.g., experiments, surveys with self-reports and informant reports, advanced statistical techniques）. The present review only focused on un-adaptive perfectionistic self-presentational researches. More researches should involve adaptive perfectionistic self-presentation. Psychological researches not only aim to reduce negative outcomes, but also to encourage positive psychological elements.