RESEARCH_FILE
Thomas Curran
London School of Economics and Political Science
Known for:Large-scale meta-analysis documenting a generational rise in perfectionism, especially socially prescribed perfectionism, linking the trend to rising social comparison pressures
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
- 2019
With Andrew Hill, Curran synthesized 41 studies of 164 samples (41,641 American, Canadian, and British college students) and found that socially prescribed perfectionism rose ~33%, self-oriented ~10%, and other-oriented ~16% between 1989 and 2016 — with the steepest increases in the most recent decade. Perfectionism Is Increasing Over Time: A Meta-Analysis of Birth Cohort Differences From 1989 to 2016 ↗