Creativity,Mood Disorders,and Emotional Intelligence

The study addressed two findings in the creativity literature that show, on the one hand, that bipolar disorder and other clinical dysfunctions are overrepresented among eminently creative people, and that positive affect is positively associated with creativity. The central hypothesis of the study was that emotional intelligence could be an intervening variable between clinical conditions and creative production. A sample of 412 undergraduates completed a wide range of divergent thinking and creative production measures, and the Emotional Intelligence Scale; 11 percent of the sample reported that they had completed treatment for mood disorder and 5 percent report that they were currently in treatment. A combination of regression and ANOVA analyses revealed: The link between mood disorders and creative production persisted after emotional intelligence was statistically removed; the same was true for ideational fluency and flexibility of cognitive style. The link between emotional intelligence and creative production persisted after the effect of clinical disorders was removed. Ideational fluency and emotional intelligence were higher among people who completed treatment compared to people in treatment. The tentative interpretation is that emotional intelligence serves as a counterweight against mood disorders in enhancing creative production.     

Functions of Christian Prayer in the Coping Process

This research project sought to examine the multiple functions that prayer serves in the coping process for members of Christian groups. We used concept mapping to describe and organize a small group of participants' perceptions concerning the functions of prayer when coping with personal difficulties, as well as examined the frequency and perceived effectiveness of these prayer functions. The number and variety of items generated by participants indicates that prayer can be used in multiple ways to deal with personal problems. Inspection of these items and the resulting concept map yielded three bipolar dimensions that describe a variety of prayer functions: approach/avoidance; internal focus/external focus; and deferring/self-directing. The arrangement of items also corresponded roughly to a three-factor structure found in several existing coping measures. Participants reported that the most effective prayer functions involve seeking guidance and expressing gratitude .     

VIEWERS' PERCEPTIONS OF VELOCITY AND DISTANCE IN TELEVISED EVENTS

Subjects from third-grade, seventh-grade, and college-age levels who differed with respect to photographic skills and knowledge were asked to judge the comparative velocity and distance traveled by two trains on videotape. In each of four comparisons, the velocity and distance traveled by both trains were equal, but photographing the trains with lenses of different focal lengths produced apparent differences between the velocity and distance traveled by the trains. Both children and adults frequently interpreted the effect of lens focal length as actual differences between the two trains in velocity and distance traveled. Hands-on experience with the tools of visual media only slightly mitigated against this tendency. The implications of this study are that many viewers do not understand how television production techniques manipulate perceptual information, and may thus be misled by their use.