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Welcome to LSE's award-winning podcast, LSE IQ, where we ask leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer an intelligent question about economics, politics or society.

Jess Winterstein speaks to Dr Thomas Curran about the potential pitfalls of wanting to be perfect. Our society values perfection, but is the concept of perfect really that good for us? The latest episode of LSE IQ explores perfectionism. 

In this bitesized episode of the LSE IQ podcast, Jess Winterstein speaks to Dr Thomas Curran, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE. While aspiring to perfection may still be viewed positively by many, Dr Curran’s research reveals that the drive to be the best can potentially do more harm than good. Are the potential downsides worth it when balanced against the possible achievements that can come from being a perfectionist? In a discussion which explores the realities of being a perfectionist, we ask, is perfection really worth it?   


Contributors   

Dr Thomas Curran https://www.lse.ac.uk/PBS/People/Dr-Tom-Curran   

Research  

A test of social learning and parent socialization perspectives on the development of perfectionism by Thomas Curran, Daniel J Madigan, Andrew P Hill and Annett Victoria Stornæs 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339433945_A_test_of_social_learning_and_parent_socialization_perspectives_on_the_development_of_perfectionism  

Perfectionism Is Increasing Over Time: A Meta-Analysis of Birth Cohort Differences From 1989 to 2016 by Thomas Curran and Andrew P. Hill http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/101352/1/Curran_Hill2018.pdf

LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.

LSE IQ podcast

Is perfect the enemy of the possible?

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

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Is perfect the enemy of the possible?

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