Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

A creative individual is believed to possess many positive traits—such as openness to new experiences and intelligence (Jauk, Benedek, & Neubauer, 2014)—but also traits that are considered less desirable, such as the tendency to be hostile or impulsive (Burch, Hemsley, Corr, & Gwyer, 2006; Fink et al., 2013). These findings reveal a possible link between creativity and psychopathology (Simonton, 1999). A large focus in the research has been on schizotypal personality disorder (i.e., “schizotypy”) and creativity, which has led to a number of positive findings between these two variables (Fink et al., 2013; Furnham, 2015). Additionally, other studies indicate that individuals with schizotypy tend to show signs of behavioral impulsivity (Burch et al., 2006; Gooding, Kwapil, & Tallent, 1999; O’Driscoll, Lenzenweger, & Holzman, 1998; Smyrnis et al., 2003). The current study is a correlational/regression design investigating the relationship between schizotypy, impulsiveness, and creativity using a mediational model. The results indicate that, while individuals higher in schizotypal personality traits were more creative on a self-report of real-world creativity, and that individuals with schizotypal personality traits tended to be more impulsive, the results indicated that impulsivity was not strongly related to creativity and that impulsivity did not seem to mediate the relationship between schizotypy and creativity.

Year manuscript completed

2017

Year degree awarded

2017

Author's Keywords

creativity, schizotypy, impulsivity, schizotypal, behavioral inhibition

Degree Awarded

Master of Science

Department

Psychology

College/School

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

Thesis Advisor

Patrick Cushen

Committee Chair

Patrick Cushen

Committee Member

Michael Bordieri

Committee Member

Samir Patel

Committee Member

Sean Rife

Document Type

Thesis

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