奇速英语

习惯咬手指的人可能是完美主义者

People who suffer from repetitive behaviors are more likely to bite their nails or pull their hair when frustrated—which is a sign of perfectionism(完美主义).

Biting your nails or pulling your hair has long been thought to be a sign of nervousness and anxiety. But new research has found that the unpleasant habit could in fact be a sign of perfectionism.

Experts also found that the behavior was not a sign of anxiety. In tests, participants were more likely to start nibbling when frustrated and bored—both feelings commonly associated with perfectionists.

The so-called body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRB) included nail-biting, hair-pulling and skin-picking. “We believe that individuals with these repetitive behaviors maybe perfectionistic, meaning that they are unable to relax and to perform tasks at a ‘normal’ pace,” said author Professor Kieron O’Connor from the University of Montreal. “They are therefore easy to have frustration, impatience, and dissatisfaction when they do not reach their goals. They also experience greater levels of boredom.” He said that although these behaviors can lead to serious distress, they also seem to satisfy an urge and deliver some form of reward.

Professor O’Connor and his colleagues studied 48 participants—half suffered from repetitive behaviors and the other half didn’t, and acted as a control group. Each participant took part in four sessions designed to cause either feelings of stress, relaxation, frustration, or boredom.

The stress session involved watching a video of a plane crash, while the video in the relaxation section showed waves on a beach. “These results partially support our hypothesis that participants were more likely to engage in repetitive behaviors when they felt bored, frustrated, and dissatisfied than when they felt relaxed,” said study author Sarah Robert. “Moreover, they do engage in these behaviors when they are under stress. This means that condition is not simply due to ‘nervous’ habits. The findings suggest that individuals suffering from these behaviors could benefit from treatments designed to reduce frustration and boredom and to modify perfectionist beliefs.”