Due Wednesday, 10/17 -- Topic Proposal

1. Perfectionism is the fear of failure, often characterized by incessant striving towards the impossible goal of "perfection." As an honors student, I have often seen perfectionism championed as a path to success. On the other hand, in my own life, and in the lives of my friends, I have seen it lead to lower self-esteem and less compassion for friends and family. My goal is to analyze several articles, conduct interviews, and distribute a survey to see if this is true across all honors students. The results can reinforce many students' current strategies, or they can show students if they need to alter their methods.

2. I've chosen to address the following questions: How does maladaptive perfectionism, or the fear of failure, impact university honors students' self-perceptions? How does maladaptive perfectionism impact university honors students' relationships with others?

3. I plan to conduct a survey among freshman honors students at the University of Iowa. I also plan to interview a few people about their views of perfectionism and how it has helped or hindered their self-perception and/or perception of others. My articles will come from J-STOR and/or Google Scholar.