Creativity and personality in professional dancers

In this study three different groups of professional dancers (ballet, modern/contemporary and jazz/musical), which considerably vary with respect to the creativity-related demands involved in the respective dancing style, are compared with respect to psychometrically determined creativity, general mental ability and different facets of personality. Results indicate that modern/contemporary dancers, who are often required to freely improvise on stage, exhibited relatively high levels of verbal and figural creativity (as it was measured by means of psychometric creativity tests), followed by jazz/musical and finally by ballet dancers. With respect to personality, modern/contemporary dancers can be characterized as being less conscientious, higher on psychoticism and more open to experiences than the remaining experimental groups. In line with relevant research in this field, this study reveals some central personality characteristics of highly creative individuals which may be considered as important ingredients in the acquisition or actualization of exceptional creative potential.     

HiTOP thought disorder,DSM-5 psychoticism,and five factor model openness

HiTOP internalizing, detachment, antagonistic externalizing, and disinhibited externalizing align comfortably with respective domains of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of general personality. The alignment of HiTOP thought disorder and DSM-5 Section III psychoticism with FFM openness though has been disputed, with the existing research obtaining weak and/or inconsistent results. The purpose of the current paper is to discuss possible reasons for this problematic alignment. The strength of the relationship is hindered in part because it is an alignment of a largely adaptive domain of personality with an entirely maladaptive domain (whereas this is not the case for the other four HiTOP-FFM alignments). The strength of the relationship is also affected by how both openness and psychoticism have been conceptualized and/or assessed.     

Musical preference, deviance, and attitudes towards music celebrities

Two studies investigated the relationship among British students between liking for ‘problem’ music, indices of deviance, and scores on a slightly modified version of the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS). Study 1 indicated a positive relationship between liking for ‘problem’ music styles and psychoticism scores. Study 2 indicated that fans of ‘problem’ music scored higher than non-fans on measures of psychoticism, reactive rebelliousness, and two specific problem behaviours; that liking for ‘problem’ music was related only to psychoticism when all the indices of deviance were considered together in a multiple regression; and that fans of ‘problem’ music did not score higher on CAS measures of identification with the participants’ favourite musicians. The present data indicate a relationship outside North America between ‘problem’ music and deviance, that this might be attributable primarily to elevated psychoticism scores among listeners to this music, but that liking for ‘problem’ music was not associated with a greater tendency for participants to identify closely with licentious behaviours carried out by pop musicians.     

Spanish adaptation of Dickman's impulsivity inventory: its relationship to Eysenck's personality questionnaire

We used exploratory factor analysis to determine the factorial structure of the Spanish adaptation of Dickman's impulsivity inventory in a sample of 355 university students. Our results showed the two impulsivity factors, functional and dysfunctional, described by Dickman (1990). We applied consensus direct oblimin rotation to the Spanish, American and Dutch versions of the inventory and obtained a high congruence between the three factorial solutions which seems to suggest that they are quite stable across languages and populations. Both kinds of impulsivity showed relationships to the extraversion and psychoticism dimensions of the EPQ-R although extraversion was more related to functional impulsivity and psychoticism was more related to dysfunctional impulsivity.     

The Eysenck psychoticism dimension and delinquent behaviours among non-criminals: changes across the lifespan?

This study assessed relationships between scores on Eysenck's psychoticism (P) scale and delinquent behaviours among high school and university students. Respondents were 347 high school students (M AGE=15.34 years) and 220 first-year university students (M AGE=19.11 years). There were notable differences across the two groups. Whereas most delinquency items correlated significantly with P among the school students, this was not the case among the university students. It is concluded that, while the P scale predicts most delinquent behaviours among younger respondents, it best predicts more serious delinquent behaviours among non-criminal adults. The results are discussed in the context of previous research using the P scale.     

Personality and reciprocal inhibition theory: The link between aggression and sexual reactivity

The study tries to relate two approaches often discussed in the context of aggression and violence in combination with sexual arousal, the reciprocal inhibition theory (Wolpe, 1958) and an approach from personality psychology which emphasizes the psychoticism dimension (P) according to Eysenck and Eysenck (1975) as a mediator of violent sexual offence. The effects of preexposure to a violent vs. neutral movie on sexual reactivity to violent and non-violent sexual stimuli (audioplays and pictures) was studied in a male student population (N=64). Sexual reactivity was measured by self-ratings, inspection time and electrodermal activity. Results could not confirm reciprocal inhibition theory but revealed that sexual reactivity for subjects scoring high vs. low on the psychoticism/aggressiveness dimension were differently affected by preexposure to violence.     

The impact of social desirability bias on the EPQ-R item scores: An item response theory analysis

This study assessed the potential influence of social desirability (SD) response bias on the E, N, and P EPQ-R scores at the level of individual items. The study was based on a bidimensional IRT model which was fitted in a large sample. This allowed a detailed analysis of both the internal validities of the items and the content of the items which were most affected by SD. The E items were least affected by SD, but the direction of the impact depended on the type of item. As expected, in the N and P cases the relations obtained were consistently negative, but the strength of the SD impact also depended considerably on the type of item. The P scale was the most problematic in terms of convergent and discriminant validity.     

Individual differences in cognitive-flexibility: the influence of spontaneous eyeblink rate, trait psychoticism and working memory on attentional set-shifting

Individual differences in psychophysiological function have been shown to influence the balance between flexibility and distractibility during attentional set-shifting [e.g., Dreisbach et al. (2005). Dopamine and cognitive control: The influence of spontaneous eyeblink rate and dopamine gene polymorphisms on perseveration and distractibility. Behavioral Neuroscience, 119(2), 483-490]. Here we replicate both the facilitatory and detrimental influence of spontaneous eyeblink rate upon switch costs across the two distinct conditions of a set-shifting task. We extend this by presenting additional, putatively dopamine related, individual differences that also influence attentional control. Whereas trait psychoticism showed a pattern of effects opposite to that of eyeblink rate, greater working memory served to decrease switch costs across both conditions. These results highlight the need for further exploration of the role of dopaminergic neurotransmission and component processes involved in such attentional paradigms, and illustrates the importance of considering individual differences in cognitive control.     

Fluid insight moderates the relationship between psychoticism and crystallized intelligence

To elucidate potential relationships between personality and intelligence it is necessary to move beyond the ad hoc reporting of correlation coefficients and focus instead on testing deductions from well-established theories. To this end the present paper references Eysenck’s (1995) theoretical work linking the dimension of psychoticism to both psychosis and creative genius. Drawing on this theory it was argued that the relationship between psychoticism and crystallized ability will be conditional on the level of fluid intelligence. Participants (N = 100) completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT). Moderated multiple regression revealed a significant interaction effect. Crystallized ability (K-BIT vocabulary) was negatively related to psychoticism at low levels of fluid ability (K-BIT matrices) and positively related to psychoticism at high levels of fluid ability. These findings highlight the potential importance of psychoticism within GfGc investment theory.