Personality Theory and Research

Gordon L. Flett is a Professor of Psychology at York University in Toronto. He received his B.Sc., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, and he began his appointment at York University in 1987. Dr. Flett has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in York's Department of Psychology, and he received the Outstanding Teaching Award from the Faculty of Arts at York University in 1993 and again in 1997. Dr. Flett has taught courses on personality psychology, personality theory, and behavioural disorders at the undergraduate level, as well as courses in personality theory and research and in the self-concept at the graduate level. In 2004, Dr. Flett was awarded a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Personality and Health. In 1999, he received the Dean's Award for Outstanding Research from the Faculty of Arts at York University. In 1996, Dr. Flett was recognized by the American Psychological Society as one of the top 25 scholars in psychology, based on the number of publications over a five-year period. Dr. Flett's research interests include the role of personality factors in depression and the interpersonal aspects of anxiety. Dr. Flett is most recognized for his seminal contributions to research and theory on the role of perfectionism in psychopathology. His collaborative work with Dr. Paul Hewitt of the University of British Columbia on perfectionism has received widespread national and international attention and has been the subject of numerous media stories, including coverage on CTV, CNN, and the BBC. This work has been supported by major research grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Dr. Flett has written more than 130 journal articles and book chapters. He co-edited (along with Paul Hewitt) the first academic book on perfectionism, entitled Perfectionism: Theory, Research, and Treatment, published in 2002, which received widespread praise from reviewers. More recently, in 2004, Dr. Flett and Dr. Hewitt also edited the first of three special issues on perfectionism for the Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy. Dr. Flett has also teamed with Dr. Hewitt to create the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, which was published in 2004 by Multi-Health Systems Inc. They have also collaborated on the development of several other measures, including the Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, and the Perfectionistic Self-Presentation Scale. Dr. Flett is also the co-creator of the newly developed Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales (EMAS) - Social Anxiety Scales.