International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 2, Issue 12, December-2011 1
ISSN 2229-5518
Self – esteem and Perfectionism in the Chess
Players
Dr. Mohammad Ebrahim Maddahi, Dr.Javad Khalatbari, Mona Samadzadeh, Mohammad Mojtaba Keikhayfarzaneh
Index Terms— Perfectionism, self –esteem, chess Players.
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HERE has been many research conducted in the field of self-esteem and perfectionism in recent years, while the chess sport has been less considered as one of the signifi-
cant factors in strengthening and enhancing the self-esteem and perfectionism in these studies. Self-esteem is simply the assessments and attitudes we have towards themselves ( Co- per Smith, 1997). Theorists of “ mirror shot” believe that self- esteem is originated from other’s behaviors and reactions to- ward oneself, so that paying attention to other’s reactions to- ward oneself causes one sees his/her image in those reactions as much as the image others have of people can alter the eval- uation and image one has from oneself (Benis, 1983: quoted from Biabangard). According to this theory, the encourages and blames one receives from others can be a very important role in shaping self-esteem; in particular, several studies showed that self-esteem is related to significant personality components as interest (Denisin, Zarte and Eskolz, 2007; Youlmen & Tater, 2001), adaptability (Walker and Chapman,
2003), and self-efficacy (Marsh, Donson, Petich & Walker,
2004) . In addition, self-esteem is one of the components that is so significant to be shaped in adolescence ( Marsh, etc. 2005;
Valentine , Dabois and Koper, 2004). Koper Smith (1967) showed in a research that children acquired with high self- esteem are those who can express their feelings through the sense of self-esteem and utilizing talents and creativity and are not easily influenced by environmental factors (Biabangard,
2004).
One of the areas one can shows his/her abilities and talents
in participating in various sport activities through which one
can make other’s perceptions, attitudes and reactions as part
of his inner values. On the other hand, other’s attitudes and
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Shahed University, Department of Psychology, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Psychology, Ramsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ram- sar, Iran
University of Science & Culture, Department of Family Therapy, Tehran, Iran
Department of Psychology, Zahedan Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Zahedan, Iran
reactions can increase the danger of inappropriate expecta- tions toward oneself which is called neurotic perfectionism. Hamachik makes a distinction between neurotic perfectionism (negative or passive) and normal perfectionism (positive or active). Those who have positive perfectionism have realistic expectations from themselves which involves the limitations and strengthens along with increasing the sense of satisfac- tion, while negative perfectionism involves a severe need to be avoidant from being failure, extra emphasis to individual mis- takes, being critical and being doubtful towards their activities ( Hamachik, 1978; quoted from Shakeri 2004).
For the significance of appropriate shaping of self-esteem and perfectionism in people, especially in adolescence and also the role of chess sport as an effective factor in this field, this study aims for considering the relationship between self-esteem and positive perfectionism and negative perfectionism in chess players. It is expected that a positive correlation exists be- tween self-esteem and positive perfectionism.
The chess players community who participated the competi- tions hold by chess federation 166 people (60 F and 106 M) were randomly selected as the research sample and then ans- wered the scales followed by.
Positive and Negative Perfectionism Questionnaire (Trishort
& Otrodwiui, 1995): this questionnaire includes 40 questions
which 20 articles assess positive perfectionism and 20 articles
negative perfectionism and the subjects answered to the ques- tions in Likert (1 to 5). In the Iranian form of this scale, the
Cronbach’s alpha of each positive and negative sub-scales in a
90 people samples was 90% and 87%, respectively which indi-
cates the high inner similarity of the scale. Retest validity of
the questionnaire based on correlation coefficient between two
marks on two occasions with an interval of 4 weeks ( the whole subjects: r=0.86, girls: r=0.84 and boys r=0.87), was sa-
tisfactory (Shakeri, 2004).
Self-esteem questionnaire (Noujent & Thomas, 20011) includes
40 questions designed as Likert, and its reliability and validity
was implemented twice by Khedemian (2005) and the conver-
gent reliability was calculated and evaluated for the Iranian
IJSER © 2011
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 2, Issue 12, December-2011 2
ISSN 2229-5518
sample (Karimi, 2005).
As showed in Table 1, there is a positive and significant rela- tionship between the two variables of self-esteem and positive perfectionism, while the correlation is indirect between self- esteem and negative perfectionism in chess players. That is to say, positive perfectionism is increased and negative perfec- tionism is decreased in chess players when self-esteem is in- creased.
TABLE 1
CORRELATION COEFFICIENT BETWEEN SELF-ESTEEM AND PERFEC-
TIONISM SCALES
Row | Scales | M | SD | 1 | 2 |
1 | Self-esteem | 2.2 | 3.6 | ----- | |
2 | Positive per- fectionism | 83.45 | 10.27 | 0.536 | |
3 | Negative perfectionism | 65.9 | 10.9 | - 0.293 | 0.229 |
As the results show, there is a positive relationship between self-esteem and positive perfectionism in chess players and a negative relationship with neurotic perfectionism. Similar ex- periments also indicate this point that there is a close relation- ship between self-esteem and the amount of one’s success and failures. Additionally, much research conducted in this regard has indicated the relationship between self-esteem and signifi- cant components such as interest, self-efficacy and adaptabili- ty (Valentine, Dabious & Kouper, 2004; Denisin, Zarte & Scholz, 2007; Youlman and Tatra, 2001; Marsh and colleagues,
2005).
The achievements of this research can be indicated as the more
someone increase his/ her abilities, the more increased and
strengthened the amount of self-esteem and this developed self-esteem can be a factor for later success; that is to say, suc-
cess and self-esteem can act as cause and effect and have a close relationship with each other. It is worth mentioning that participating in sport activities and getting succeed may in- crease the possibility of mentor’s inappropriate expectations and members of federation. It is worth noting this point that having inappropriate expectations that beyond chess player’s ability and talent by others not only does not promote self- esteem but it can lead to neurotic perfectionism formation by which the athlete may be deterred from participating in com- petitions because of the intense fear of failure and uncertainty about his activities or shows a function that is not his real abil- ities. Because of the fact that those acquired with positive per- fectionism have realistic and rational expectations from them- selves which involves their limitations and strengths and is associated with an increased sense of satisfaction by obtaining
a favorable outcome; therefore , some programs and measures should be taken for developing and nurturing self-esteem and consequently, positive perfectionism formation especially in childhood and adolescence in people to adolescents be able to change their potential talents to actual by participating in those programs and getting succeed as well as provide the necessary opportunity to promote significant aspects of their personality, especially their self-esteem.
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