Relationship between Perfectionism and Cognitive Components of Sportsmen’s Professional Skills

To achieve high results in sports, both motor and cognitive skills are important. However, the formation of cognitive components of sports activity can be influenced by personality traits, for example, such a multidimensional trait as perfectionism. The aim of the research was to determine the relationship between various parameters of perfectionism and the cognitive component of skill in sports. The study involved 311 athletes aged 14 to 32 years (M = 19.5; SD = 2.03). The following instruments were used in the study: The Sport Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale 2 and The Three-Factor Questionnaire of Perfectionism (for diagnosing perfectionism); Questionnaire of Metacognitive Involvement in Activities (for diagnosing metacognitive involvement); and The Mental Image Inventory in Sports (to determine the frequency of using mental images). It has been shown that the athletes with more pronounced perfectionism are able to better understand and evaluate their performance; they can more accurately notice mistakes and more often use mental images in the training process. Also, as a result of a series of regression analyzes, it has been found that such parameters of perfectionism as “high personal standards” and “regime organization” affect the frequency of using cognitive and motivational images, as well as metacognitive involvement in the activities of the athletes who took part in the study. Thus, perfectionism has a significant impact on various parameters of the cognitive component of skill development, which in turn can affect the performance of an athlete in training and competition.