Perfect Self-Control? The Role of Perfectionistic Cognitions in Daily Self-Control Episodes

Self-control is an important resource that helps us keep track of goal achievement even in the face of alternative behavioral impulses. This might be especially relevant for the pursuit of daily life goals in a personally relevant achievement context. We investigated the role of daily perfectionistic cognitions in daily self-control episodes. Leaning on the Integrative Self-Control Theory, we investigated components of daily self-control episodes, including goal setting, conflicting desires (temptations), recruitment of self-control (resistance), and self-control failure and success (temptation enactment, assessment design to follow 183 preservice teachers for 9 months, during phases in which they repeatedly prepared for personally relevant achievement situations (demonstration lessons). The results of our three-level analyses (Level 1: day; Level 2: phase; Level 3: person) were consistent with theoretical considerations and previous empirical evidence. They revealed more negative outcomes for unique daily perfectionistic concerns cognitions (PCC) and more positive outcomes for unique daily perfectionistic strivings cognitions (PSC) in associations with conflicting desires and self-control failure and success on the day level and partially on the levels of between-phase and between-person differences. Unexpectedly, both PSC and PCC were associated with more recruitment of self-control. The theoretical implications for the understanding of the role of perfectionistic cognitions in daily self-control episodes are discussed.