RESEARCH_FILE
Paul L. Hewitt
University of British Columbia
Known for:Co-developer of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) with Gordon Flett, introducing the socially prescribed dimension and establishing perfectionism's role in psychopathology
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“If it’s not perfect, it’s worthless”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“My standard exists before the work. A standard that rewrites itself after I finish is not a standard — it's a trap.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Open something you finished in the last week that you told yourself wasn't ready. Read it once without pausing. Note one thing that is genuinely functional or well-done about it. Do not edit. Close it.
Key findings
- 1991
With Gordon Flett, Hewitt proposed a three-dimensional model of perfectionism — self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed — demonstrating that socially prescribed perfectionism (believing others demand perfection from you) shows the strongest links to depression and anxiety. Perfectionism in the Self and Social Contexts: Conceptualization, Assessment, and Association With Psychopathology ↗
- 2002
Hewitt and Flett's edited volume synthesized two decades of perfectionism research, documenting how perfectionism functions as a transdiagnostic risk factor — amplifying distress across depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and interpersonal dysfunction. Perfectionism: Theory, Research, and Treatment ↗