Perfectionism in weight-concerned and -unconcerned women: an experimental approach

The primary purpose of the study was to explore, experimentally, the common clinical observation that anorexics are highly perfectionistic.

Extremely weight-concerned and control college student subjects (as defined by scores on the Eating Attitudes Test [EAT]) were assigned high or low goals or they selected their own goals in a performance situation. After a series of 10 trials on which personal performance goals were measured, subjects in the high and low goal groups received false feedback indicating success or failure, and mood was measured.

High (vs. low) EAT subjects were more likely to persist in accepting an unrealistically high imposed goal, set lower personal goals in the absence of external standards, and were more strongly affected by the feedback.

Many characteristics of anorexics (including pursuit of thinness) can be accounted for in terms of their strong need for social approval and conformity to external standards.