The present study explored perfectionists' task-strategy and its inefficiency in the information-seeking task from the misregulation perspective. Participants were divided into two groups on the basis of Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (PCI). Twenty-eight students, 15 high- and 13 low-perfectionism participants, were asked to prepare for the test by gathering information, which was designated as either important or unimportant. The amount of unimportant information was regarded as a tangential strategy, such that too much effort or excessive persistence would impair the efficiency in the task. The hypothesis tested was that high perfectionists' inefficient strategy would lead to a drop of their test score. The results suggested that high-perfectionists collect unimportant information more than low-perfectionists, and resulting in them attaining a lower test score. Our findings indicated that perfectionists' high motivation and adherence to problem solving, coupled with their use of careful strategy, could backfire.
