Me, Myself, and Us : The Science of Personality and the Art of Well-being (9781586489687) by Little Brian R

Author:Little, Brian R. [Little, Brian R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781586489687
Publisher: Perseus Book Group
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

chapter seven

Personality and Creativity: The Myth of the Solo Hero

There is nothing more difficult to pull off, more chancy to succeed in, or more dangerous to manage, than the introduction of a new order of things.

NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, The Prince, 1532

When you make music or write or create, it’s really your job to have mind-blowing, irresponsible, condomless sex with whatever idea it is you’re writing about at the time.

LADY GAGA1

THINK OF THE MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED in your life. Some you may know only indirectly, through experiencing their creative works. You have been absorbed in their novels, addicted to their video games, danced alone to their music, or pleasantly befuddled by their performance art. Others you know more directly: your physician who devised a new regimen for your child that actually worked, your plumber who fixed a deeply neurotic sump pump when no one else could, your second spouse who helped you pick up the pieces and to see them in a revealing new light. Do such individuals share anything in common? What differentiates them from those who adopt more conventional ways of solving life’s problems and challenges? Are you creative, and will you still wish to be after you read this chapter?

You might be interested in doing a brief assessment that will be helpful in making what follows more personally relevant to you.

Check off any of the following adjectives that you believe accurately describe you:

affected

capable

cautious

clever

commonplace

confident

conservative

conventional

dissatisfied

egotistical

honest

humorous

individualistic

informal

insightful

intelligent

interests narrow

interests wide

inventive

mannerly

original

reflective

resourceful

self-confident

sexy

sincere

snobbish

submissive

suspicious

unconventional

This scale was developed by Harrison Gough of the University of California, Berkeley, and has been used extensively for research purposes as a brief, valid measure of creative personality.2 To obtain your score, add up the total number of checks you gave for the items capable, clever, confident, egotistical, humorous, individualistic, informal, insightful, intelligent, interests wide, inventive, original, reflective, resourceful, self-confident, sexy, snobbish, and unconventional. Now subtract from this total your number of checks on the items affected, cautious, conservative, conventional, dissatisfied, honest, interests narrow, mannerly, sincere, submissive, and suspicious. The theoretical range of scores is therefore from –12 to +18. Scores of 10 or more are similar to those of highly creative individuals.

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