Investigating the Negative Link between Perfectionism and Emotional Divergent Thinking

Previous research has found that striving towards perfection was negatively associated with the generation of original ideas, as measured with Divergent Thinking (DT) tasks. In contrast, striving towards excellence has been positively associated with DT abilities. This effect has been replicated; however explanatory variables have not yet been tested. The aim of the current study was twofold. First, we investigated the mediating role of concerns over mistakes , doubts about actions , openness to experience , empathy , and emotions felt during the task . Second, we investigated an emotional DT task, consisting of two items (e.g., name things which can be frustrating). From a sample of n = 282 university students, we replicated the negative association between perfectionism and DT abilities. Perfection strivers were less original on the emotional task compared to the classic DT task. However, the effects were smaller than in the preliminary study. Mediation analyses suggested that doubts and concerns were not statistically related to DT abilities. Openness to experience and empathy were both positively and uniquely associated to DT. Lastly, positive and worrisome emotions (but not negative ) were positively related to the originality of ideas. We discuss the relationship between emotions and DT abilities.