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Creativity and Resilience: Creativity From, or Through Adversity?
Creativity Research Journal
... Thus on one hand, creatives may be overly susceptible to anxiety and psycho-pathology while on the other, they may also exhibit notable levels of self-confidence, independence of judgement and commitment (Feist, 1998(Feist, , 2010(Feist, , 2019. These early emotional markers, argue Priilaid and Callaghan (2023), serve as the primal drivers of key creative behaviors including perseverance (see also Forgeard, 2024), practice, the development of fluency and insight, and possibly flow. ...
Within the psychology literature there is a dearth in understanding how and why instances of heightened creativity, or ‘Big-C’, may manifest randomly, often at an early age with minimal practice and experience. In contrast to ordinary “little-c” creativity, depictions of profound creative moments and the means by which they can be attained therefore remain as enigmatic as acts of mystical prayer. Pursuing this metaphor: with little-p equating to ordinary prayer and Big-P equating to mystical prayer, from the work of St. John Cassian and Thomas Merton, we contrast the developmental path of prayer with subjective accounts of little-c and Big-C moments of creativity in the lives of famous 20th century Anglophone artist-musicians. Here, we identify a symmetry between the aetiology of prayer and creativity. As with little-p, the development of little-c creativity is sequential, tracing a path from authenticity to task motivation, to practice and then experience. By contrast, akin to Big-P, Big-C creativity may be obtained moving from authenticity to task motivation, but thereafter circumventing the requirements of elevated practice and experience. Moreover, in moments of extreme creativity, artists manifest a profound surrender of agency as Big-C emerges spontaneously with minimal deliberate thought and an absence of ownership. Thus, drawing on the insights of Cassian-Merton, we present a historically grounded perspective on the spontaneous and enigmatic emergence of Big-C creativity.
... Similarily, at the individual level, research has demonstrated that capabilities such as creativity, flexibility, improvisation skills, and the ability to think outside the box can enhance resilience. However, the relationships between the concepts are complex and ambiguous (Forgeard, 2024;Frykmer et al., 2018;Galatzer-Levy et al., 2012;Gentili et al., 2019;Metzl & Morrell, 2008;Roux-Dufort & Vidaillet, 2003;G. Webb, 2004;G. ...
The concept of resilience intrinsically links with both complexity and adaptive capacity. Scholars from different fields agree on this. Still, the detailed relations between resilience, complexity, and adaptive capacity need a more thorough theoretical analysis. This article analyses resilience with the help of assumptions from complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to answer two questions in more detail: What is the relation between resilience and complexity? How can adaptive capacity contribute to resilience? By applying basic ideas from CAS theory to the resilience discourse, the article deduces that complexity of a system is a necessary condition for resilience because complex systems consist of agents that possess adaptive capacity, whereas simple systems consist of mere elements that cannot adapt to unexpected disruptions. The relation between complexity and resilience is multidimensional. Growing complexity leads to a growing need for resilience because the chances for severe, unexpected disruptions increase. The analysis of adaptive capacities revealed that systems and the agents they consist of can possess of specialized and general adaptive capacity. General adaptive capacity is the core feature of resilience because it enables systems to cope with unexpected disruptions. System design principles such as diversity within functional groups and redundancy help to increase general adaptive capacity. The same is true on the community level for social capital and on the individual level for disaster preparedness measures because they increase coping capacities independent of specific hazards.
... Research on childhood adversity and creativity is needed (Forgeard, 2024 ...
This study investigated the relationship between childhood experiences (positive or negative) and creativity and examined if adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are moderated or mediated by resilience. Two creativity measures, The Inventory of Creative Activities and Achievements (ICAA) and two verbal Alternate Uses Test (AUT) items, were used. Hypotheses were tested by hierarchical multiple regression analysis, where the dependent variable was creativity, and the predictor variables were ACE, BCE, and resilience (Step 2), which were added into the regression model after the demographic variables of age and gender (Step 1). ACE X resilience interaction effect was tested in the next step to test the moderation effect (Step 3). A separate path model tested the mediating effect of resilience between ACE and creativity. Overall, the results showed that the model in Step 2 was significant, and both ACE and resilience were significantly and positively associated with creativity as measured by ICAA whereas none predicted AUT performance. While ACE was negatively correlated with resilience, BCE was positively correlated with resilience and did not predict creativity. There was no support for mediating or moderating effect of resilience. Findings are discussed in terms of theories of creativity and human development.
... Sıkıntılı zamanların insanları yaratıcılığa zorladığı belirtilmiştir. Zor yaşam olaylarının yeni fikirler üretmemizi ve yenilikçi eylemlerde bulunmamızı daha iyi hale getirebileceği inancı, mevcut zorlukların ortasında rahatlık sağlayabileceği, literatürde vurgulanan bir husustur (Forgeard, 2024). İnsan zihnini meşgul eden duyusal ve çoğunlukla çevresel engeller süreğen hale geldiğinde yaratıcı bir fikre ulaşabileceği ile ilgili çalışmalar da vardır (G. ...
In this chapter, where new technologies and working life are examined, in this section where creativity and innovation management in business life is discussed, it will be discussed how businesses and individuals who want to maintain their place and exist in the future should handle creativity and innovation management.
A small but growing body of research suggests that prosocial motivation (i.e., the desire to act for the benefit or welfare of others) may enhance creativity. Most of the relevant research on this topic, however, has focused on creativity in business or everyday life settings. The present studies are the first to examine the nature and potential role of prosocial motivation in the arts and sciences specifically. This project used a qualitative-to-quantitative approach to anchor its operationalization of prosocial motivation in the lived experiences of creators. Study 1, a qualitative study of 56 professional artists and scientists, provided a rich list of self-reported conscious motivations (including prosocial) for creative work in these two domains. Study 2, a cross-sectional study of 972 graduate students in artistic and scientific fields, validated a new self-report scale based on results of Study 1. Factor analyses revealed three types of motivation (prosocial, emotional, intellectual) and one process (sense of audience). Study 2 also showed that associations between these variables and outcomes related to creativity and well-being differed between the arts and sciences. Taken together, results of these studies confirm that prosocial motivation is an important but understudied aspect of creative work. They also highlight the promise of bridging different areas of research in psychology in order to provide a comprehensive examination of potential antecedents and outcomes of creative behavior.
Conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) presents many opportunities in the psychotherapeutic landscape-such as therapeutic support for people with mental health problems and without access to care. The adoption of CAI poses many risks that need in-depth ethical scrutiny. The objective of this paper is to complement current research on the ethics of AI for mental health by proposing a holistic, ethical, and epistemic analysis of CAI adoption. First, we focus on the question of whether CAI is rather a tool or an agent. This question serves as a framework for the subsequent ethical analysis of CAI focusing on topics of (self-) knowledge, (self-)understanding, and relationships. Second, we propose further conceptual and ethical analysis regarding human-AI interaction and argue that CAI cannot be considered as an equal partner in a conversation as is the case with a human therapist. Instead, CAI's role in a conversation should be restricted to specific functions.
Objective:
Posttraumatic growth typically refers to enduring positive psychological change experienced as a result of adversity, trauma, or highly challenging life circumstances. Critics have challenged insights from much of the prior research on this topic, pinpointing its significant methodological limitations. In response to these critiques, we propose that posttraumatic growth can be more accurately captured in terms of personality change-an approach that affords a more rigorous examination of the phenomenon.
Method:
We outline a set of conceptual and methodological questions and considerations for future work on the topic of post-traumatic growth.
Results:
We provide a series of recommendations for researchers from across the disciplines of clinical/counseling, developmental, health, personality, and social psychology and beyond, who are interested in improving the quality of research examining resilience and growth in the context of adversity.
Conclusion:
We are hopeful that these recommendations will pave the way for a more accurate understanding of the ubiquity, durability and causal processes underlying post-traumatic growth.
The ability to effectively regulate our emotions has been shown to be impaired in people with depression. Arts activities have been found to improve depression, but whether people with depression make differential use of emotion regulation strategies (ERSs) when engaging in the arts remains unclear. This study analysed data from 11,248 individuals with depression who were matched on demographics, personality and arts experience with a further 11,248 individuals without depression. We found a significantly lower overall use of self-reported ERSs when engaging in arts amongst those with depression; specifically lower use of approach strategies (e.g. reappraisal) and self-development strategies (e.g. improved self-esteem), but the same use of avoidance strategies (e.g. distraction). However, these differences were very slight (very small effect size and <1% difference). This suggests that people with depression still experience benefits for emotion regulation, which could help to explain the beneficial effects of arts interventions reducing symptoms of depression.
Trait stability and maturation are fundamental principles of contemporary personality psychology and have been shown to hold across many cultures. However, it has proven difficult to move beyond these general findings to a detailed account of trait development. There are pervasive and unexplained inconsistencies across studies that may be due to (a) insufficient attention to measurement error, (b) subtle but age-sensitive differences in alternative measures of the same trait, or (c) different perspectives reflected in self-reports and observer ratings. Multiscale, multimethod-and ideally multinational-studies are needed. Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for trait stability and change, but supporting evidence is currently weak or indirect; trait development is a fertile if sometimes frustrating field for theory and research. Beyond traits, there are approaches to personality development that are of interest to students of adult development, and these may be fruitfully addressed from a trait perspective. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology Volume 70 is January 4, 2019. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
This brief essay argues for the importance for more work on how creativity predicts positive outcomes, with a particular emphasis on expanding our definitions of these positive outcomes. The way that creativity may lead to increased equity and social justice is used as an example of these type of potential research questions.
Although the belief that creativity is related to psychopathology is prevalent, empirical evidence is limited. Research findings relating to mood disorder in particular are mixed, possibly as a result of differing research approaches (e.g., assessing the creativity of individuals with versus without mood disorder opposed to the prevalence of mood disorder in creative versus noncreative individuals). Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to investigate prior research examining the link between mood disorder and creativity from three distinct research approaches. Multilevel random effects models were used to calculate the overall effect size for studies that assessed (a) creativity in a clinical versus nonclinical sample (k = 13), (b) mood disorder in a creative versus noncreative sample (k = 10), and (c) the correlation between dimensional measures of creativity and mood disorder symptoms (k = 15). Potential moderators were examined using meta-regression and subgroup analyses, as significant heterogeneity was detected among the effects in all three analyses. Results reveal a differential strength and pattern of effects across the three analyses, suggesting that the relationship between creativity and mood disorder differs according to the research approach. The theoretical implications of results and potential mechanisms responsible for the relationship between creativity and mood disorder are discussed.
Recent experience sampling and diary studies have shown that spending time on creative goals during a day is associated with higher activated positive affect (PA) on that day. Based on models of creativity as a tool for promoting well-being, the present study examined cross-day relationships between creative activity, affect, and flourishing. A large sample of young adults (n = 658) took part in a 13-day daily diary study. Each day, they reported how much time they spent on creative activities, daily positive and negative affect, and daily flourishing. Lagged multilevel models revealed that people felt higher activated PA and flourishing following days when they reported more creative activity than usual. The other direction – PA predicting next-day creative activity – was not supported, suggesting that the cross-day effect was specific to creative activity predicting well-being. Overall, these findings support the emerging emphasis on everyday creativity as a means of cultivating positive psychological functioning.
Do researchers who study imagination, creativity, and innovation (ICI) explain to their audience why this topic is important, and if so, what reasons do they put forward? To answer this question, the present review examined a randomly selected sample of 200 empirical peer-reviewed articles published over the course of 3 years (2009-2012). The sample was stratified to include 50 articles in 4 disciplines (psychology journals, creativity journals, business or industrial/organizational psychology journals, and education journals). Across this sample of articles, ICI were treated as dependent variables most of the time, suggesting that scientists may be more interested in investigating what predicts ICI, rather than what ICI can predict. Approximately a third of articles examined did not explicitly address why researchers should care about ICI. Less than 10% included any type of substantive discussion of the issue. Qualitative analysis highlighted 9 main themes among the explicit reasons provided by researchers for studying ICI. Results varied according to journal types considered. Overall, findings from this review suggest that scientists may often assume that that their readers already share the implicit assumption that ICI constitute inherently valuable traits/behaviors, and thus pass up opportunities to explain why they think that ICI are important to study. (PsycINFO Database Record
Narrative identity is a person's internalized and evolving life story, integrating the reconstructed past and imagined future to provide life with some degree of unity and purpose. In recent studies on narrative identity, researchers have paid a great deal of attention to (a) psychological adaptation and (b) development. Research into the relation between life stories and adaptation shows that narrators who find redemptive meanings in suffering and adversity, and who construct life stories that feature themes of personal agency and exploration, tend to enjoy higher levels of mental health, well-being, and maturity. Researchers have tracked the development of narrative identity from its origins in conversations between parents and their young children to the articulation of sophisticated meaning-making strategies in the personal stories told in adolescence and the emerging adulthood years. Future researchers need to (a) disentangle causal relations between features of life stories and positive psychological adaptation and (b) explore further the role of broad cultural contexts in the development of narrative identity.
Art therapy has often been applied in the treatment of traumatized adults, and good results in clinical practice have been reported. However, although art therapy experts underline these benefits, the effectiveness of art therapy in trauma treatment has not been established by systematic review. The aim of this systematic review is to identify and evaluate empirical evidence of the effectiveness of art therapy for trauma treatment. As a result of the systematic review, six controlled, comparative studies on art therapy for trauma in adult patients were found. In half of the included studies, a significant decrease in psychological trauma symptoms was found in the treatment groups, and one study reported a significant decrease in depression. Although there are limitations in the number of included studies, the number of participants, the heterogeneity of included studies, and their methodological quality, the results contribute to insight into the effectiveness of art therapy in trauma treatment and form an evidence base for the urgent need for further research on art therapy and trauma treatment.
© The Author(s) 2014.
Symptoms associated with mental illness have been hypothesized to relate to creative achievement because they act as diversifying experiences. However, this theory has only been tested on predominantly majority-culture samples. Do tendencies toward mental illness still predict eminent creativity when they coexist with other diversifying experiences, such as early parental death, minority-status, or poverty? These alternative diversifying experiences can be collectively referred to as examples of developmental adversity. This conjecture was tested on a significant sample of 291 eminent African Americans who, by the nature of their status as long-term minorities, would experience more developmental adversity. Replicating majority-culture patterns, African American artists showed higher mental illness rates than African American scientists. Yet the absolute percentages were significantly lower for the African Americans, regardless of profession. Furthermore, mental illness predicted higher eminence levels only for the African American artists, an effect that diminished when controlling for developmental adversity. Because the latter predicted eminence for both artists and scientists, the “madness-to-genius” link probably represents just 1 of several routes by which diversifying experiences can influence eminence. The same developmental ends can be attained by different means. This inference warrants further research using other eminent creators emerging from minority culture populations.
Can the therapeutic benefits of creativity explain its documented association with psychopathology (Andreasen, 1987; Ludwig, 1995)? Past research seems to have devoted most of its attention to another hypothesis in order to explain this relationship: that features of some disorders may be beneficial for creative cognition (especially in the arts)—for example, the racing thoughts, energy, and openness characteristic of hypomania in bipolar disorder (Johnson et al., 2012), or the rumination observed in depression (Verhaeghen et al., 2005). Other explanations, however, should not be ignored or considered mutually exclusive. Creative work may sometimes exacerbate psychopathology. For example, Kaufman and Baer (2002) suggested that poets may be especially susceptible to mental illness because poetry requires emotional expression and introspection, and unlike prose, may not provide adequate opportunities for making meaning out of one's experience. Conversely, and leaving aside third variable explanations (which also deserve further research), we explore the hypothesis that psychopathology may motivate individuals to engage in creative activities as a way to alleviate their suffering and enhance their well-being. To date, two main empirical literatures have examined this claim. First, reviews of art therapy trials have found that such interventions typically lead to small but statistically significant improvements on a range of psychological measures (Slayton et al., 2010; Forgeard and Eichner, 2014; Maujean et al., 2014). Second, studies examining the benefits of “everyday creativity” suggest that engaging in day-to-day creative activities may both reflect and foster psychological health (Richards, 2007). In keeping with this, findings of a recent experience-sampling study showed that young adult participants were more likely to be engaged in creative activities than other activities when they reported feeling happy and active (Silvia et al., 2014).
In spite of these efforts, important gaps exist in our understanding of the therapeutic benefits of creativity. The first and foremost of these gaps is the following: to the best of our knowledge, little empirical evidence has demonstrated that creative thinking per se is one of the specific active ingredients accounting for the benefits of creative activities. To date, past research has investigated the role of other potential mechanisms including adaptive emotion regulation, flow, meaning-making, or growth from adversity in order to explain the benefits of creative activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Drake and Winner, 2012; Forgeard et al., 2014). Thus, it remains unclear whether the benefits of creative activities are due to creative thinking, or to other factors. We propose that the time is ripe to collect such evidence in order to provide a richer understanding of the nature of the therapeutic benefits of creative thinking. We outline a research agenda to advance the clinical science of creativity from a cognitive-behavioral perspective.
Anecdotal and scientific evidence has documented the existence of a relationship between the experience of adversity and creativity. Accounts of the challenges endured by creative individuals suggest that they may have been able to channel their negative experiences as sources of inspiration and motivation for their work. Increased creativity may therefore constitute a manifestation of posttraumatic growth, defined as retrospective perceptions of positive psychological changes that take place following experiences of highly challenging life circumstances. To investigate this hypothesis, the present study tested whether scores on a measure of posttraumatic growth and depreciation related to scores on self-reported measures of creativity in the aftermath of adversity. Results of a path analysis showed that adversity-induced distress predicted self-reported creative growth and breadth in a sample of online participants. Cognitive processing (intrusive/deliberative rumination) as well as domains of posttraumatic growth/depreciation—in particular, self-reported changes in interpersonal relationships and in the perception of new possibilities for one’s life—mediated the link between self-reported distress and creativity outcomes. This study is the first focused investigation showing that self-reported posttraumatic growth may be manifested through perceptions of increased creativity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
This article describes the concept of posttraumatic growth. its conceptual founda- tions, a/id supporting empirical evidence. Posttraumatic growth is the experience of positive change that occurs as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life cri- ses. It is manifested in a variety ofways, including an increased appreciationfor life in general, more meaningful interpersonal relationships, an increased sense ofpersonal strength. cha/lged priorities, and a richer existential and spiritual life. Although the term is ne..", the idea that great good can come from great suffering is ancient. We pro- pose a nlOdelfor understanding the process ofposttraumatic growth in which individ- ual characteristics, support and disclosure, a/Id more centrally, significant cognitive processing involving cognitive structures threatened or nullified by the traumatic events, play an important role. It is also suggested that posttraumatic growth mutually interacts with life wisdoma,1d the development of the life narrative, and that it is an on- going process, not a static outcome. In his memoir, No Such Thing as a Bad Day, Hamil- ton Jordan (2000) described some of the changes he experienced following his battle with cancer:
Test scores of divergent thinking obtained between 1959 and 1972 were correlated with a variety of personality measures administered since 1980. In this sample of 268 men, divergent thinking was consistently associated with self-reports and ratings of openness to experience, but not with neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, or conscientiousness. Both divergent thinking and openness were also modestly correlated with Gough's (1979) empirically derived Creative Personality Scale. Several other personality variables mentioned in the literature were also examined; those that were associated with divergent thinking were also generally correlated with openness. These data suggest that creativity is particularly related to the personality domain of openness to experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Most investigations of creativity tend to take one of two directions: everyday creativity (also called "little-c"), which can be found in nearly all people, and eminent creativity (also called "Big-C"), which is reserved for the great. In this paper, the authors propose a Four C model of creativity that expands this dichotomy. Specifically, the authors add the idea of "mini-c," creativity inherent in the learning process, and Pro-c, the developmental and effortful progression beyond little-c that represents professional-level expertise in any creative area. The authors include different transitions and gradations of these four dimensions of creativity, and then discuss advantages and examples of the Four C Model.
In this study, we evaluated the validity of self-reported posttraumatic growth (PTG) by assessing the relation between perceived growth and actual growth from pre- to posttrauma. Undergraduate students completed measures tapping typical PTG domains at Time 1 and Time 2 (2 months later). We compared change in those measures with scores on the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996) for those participants who reported a traumatic event between Time 1 and Time 2 (n= 122). PTGI scores generally were unrelated to actual growth in PTG-related domains. Moreover, perceived growth was associated with increased distress from pre- to posttrauma, whereas actual growth was related to decreased distress, a pattern suggesting that perceived and actual growth reflect different processes. Finally, perceived (but not actual) growth was related to positive reinterpretation coping. Thus, the PTGI, and perhaps other retrospective measures, does not appear to measure actual pre- to posttrauma change.
Psychological beliefs such as optimism, personal control, and a sense of meaning are known to be protective of mental health. Are they protective of physical health as well? The authors present a program of research that has tested the implications of cognitive adaptation theory and research on positive illusions for the relation of positive beliefs to disease progression among men infected with HIV. The investigations have revealed that even unrealistically optimistic beliefs about the future may be health protective. The ability to find meaning in the experience is also associated with a less rapid course of illness. Taken together, the research suggests that psychological beliefs such as meaning, control, and optimism act as resources, which may not only preserve mental health in the context of traumatic or life-threatening events but be protective of physical health as well.
Lenore Terr (1991) proposed a framework for childhood trauma that distinguishes between single-incident trauma (Type I) and repeated or prolonged trauma (Type II). Terr's framework and data collected from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) are used to examine differences in personality between adult survivors of childhood Type I trauma, childhood Type II trauma, and a control group of adults not traumatized as children. Groups were compared on five personality scales. Results indicate that individuals in the trauma categories scored higher in neuroticism and openness to new experiences than individuals in the control group. The Type I group was lower than the control group on interpersonal dependency, whereas the Type II group scored higher than the control group on this measure.
Although many people retrospectively report feeling more open-minded after experiencing highly stressful events, relevant longitudinal studies are scarce and have yielded contradictory findings. The present study used a 12-month longitudinal case-control design to test whether growth in openness (assessed every 4 months using multiple methods) occurs following major stressors, and whether changes relate to clinical symptoms of depression and/or posttraumatic stress. To do so, we compared participants (a) with a recent major stressor and with low symptoms ( n = 66), (b) without a recent major stressor and with low symptoms ( n = 76), and (c) with a recent major stressor and with significant symptoms ( n = 76). Overall, growth curve models showed that group membership was not associated with changes in openness over 12 months for most outcomes. Other variables (e.g., education) predicted changes in openness. This study provides robust evidence that openness to experience is mostly stable following major stressors.
Although many individuals retrospectively report feeling more open and receptive to new ideas and possibilities after experiencing adverse events, research specifically examining growth on this dimension of character (as opposed to more general psychological growth) remains scarce. To stimulate future theoretical and empirical work in this area, this chapter reviews and discusses existing scientific research pertaining to changes in the personality trait of openness to new experience following adversity. Studies using retrospective self-reports have shown that people judge themselves as more open following highly stressful events. Such research also suggests that changes in openness could even help foster more general psychological growth. It is, however, possible that people involuntarily distort their self-perceptions to cope with difficulties, and several other lines of research have produced contradictory findings. Correlational and experimental evidence has shown that stressful experiences can decrease openness. Most longitudinal studies examining changes in personality over time have found no changes in openness following negative events. To help reconcile previous contradictory findings, the authors propose a methodological agenda including using multiple methods to assess openness, complementing correlational with longitudinal methods to examine changes over time, studying everyday manifestations of openness (including how people deal with everyday stressors), and investigating potential moderators and mediators of growth in this trait. Such research will help increase clarity about the circumstances under which people may (or may not) become more open as a result of adversity.
A growing body of scholarship suggests that art-making provides symptom relief as well as short-term mood benefits. However, more research is needed to explore how artistic activities may lead to mood improvements within the course of sessions conducted in clinical contexts.
To this end, we examined short-term outcomes of participation in an art group offered within a brief partial hospital program in which intensive day treatment is delivered. In a preliminary study (Study 1) conducted on Amazon MTurk (N = 193), we validated the use of a brief 7-item self-assessment scale to capture potential outcomes of art-making identified based on a review of the literature: positive/negative mood, general self-efficacy, creative self-efficacy, activation, mindfulness, and social connectedness. In our main study (Study 2), 175 patients in a partial hospital program completed the brief instrument validated in Study 1 at the beginning and end of a 50-minute unstructured art group. All psychological outcomes improved over the course of the group. Changes in general self-efficacy and mindfulness were associated with improvements in mood over and above changes in other outcomes. Results are limited by the naturalistic, uncontrolled, design of the group, which was not led by art therapists. These findings suggest that further studies examining patients’ experiences during art-making in clinical settings may provide useful insights into how this activity enhances mood.
Background
Little is known about the everyday experiences of individuals transitioning from acute to outpatient psychiatric care, an important period of risk for mood symptom relapse. This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine whether specific daily experiences were related to momentary affective states following discharge from a partial hospitalization program (PHP).
Methods
A sample of 114 adults ( Mage = 36 years old, 52% female, 83% White) completed four brief EMA surveys every day for 2 weeks assessing intensity/type of stressful events and social contact, as well as positive/negative affect (PA/NA). Half of participants reported therapeutic skills use.
Results
Stress severity ratings prospectively predicted increased NA. NA predicted spending less time with close relationships. However, interacting with close relationships predicted increased positive affect (PA). Finally, PA predicted spending time with more people. The use of two skills (behavioral activation and interpersonal effectiveness) was concurrently, but not prospectively, associated with improved affect.
Conclusions
Examining daily experiences of individuals discharging from partial hospitalization provides important information about factors that may influence affective states during the transition from acute to outpatient care. Findings from this study can be used to help prepare patients for discharge and develop interventions for the post-acute period.
Statistical mediation analysis can help to identify and explain the mechanisms behind psychological processes. Examining a set of variables for mediation effects is a ubiquitous process in the social sciences literature; however, despite evidence suggesting that cross-sectional data can misrepresent the mediation of longitudinal processes, cross-sectional analyses continue to be used in this manner. Alternative longitudinal mediation models, including those rooted in a structural equation modeling framework (cross-lagged panel, latent growth curve, and latent difference score models) are currently available and may provide a better representation of mediation processes for longitudinal data. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, we provide a comparison of cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation models; second, we advocate using models to evaluate mediation effects that capture the temporal sequence of the process under study. Two separate empirical examples are presented to illustrate differences in the conclusions drawn from cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation analyses. Findings from these examples yielded substantial differences in interpretations between the cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation models considered here. Based on these observations, researchers should use caution when attempting to use cross-sectional data in place of longitudinal data for mediation analyses.
Since the original publication of this seminal work, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has come into its own as a widely practiced approach to helping people change. This book provides the definitive statement of ACT—from conceptual and empirical foundations to clinical techniques—written by its originators. ACT is based on the idea that psychological rigidity is a root cause of a wide range of clinical problems. The authors describe effective, innovative ways to cultivate psychological flexibility by detecting and targeting six key processes: defusion, acceptance, attention to the present moment, self-awareness, values, and committed action. Sample therapeutic exercises and patient–therapist dialogues are integrated throughout.
New to This Edition
*Reflects tremendous advances in ACT clinical applications, theory building, and research.
*Psychological flexibility is now the central organizing focus.
*Expanded coverage of mindfulness, the therapeutic relationship, relational learning, and case formulation.
*Restructured to be more clinician friendly and accessible; focuses on the moment-by-moment process of therapy.
Are creative people more likely to be mentally ill? This basic question has been debated for thousands of years, with the 'mad genius' concept advanced by such luminaries as Aristotle. There are many studies that argue the answer is 'yes', and several prominent scholars who argue strongly for a connection. There are also those who argue equally strongly that the core studies and scholarship underlying the mad genius myth are fundamentally flawed. This book re-examines the common view that a high level of individual creativity often correlates with a heightened risk of mental illness. It reverses conventional wisdom that links creativity with mental illness, arguing that the two traits are not associated. With contributions from some of the most exciting voices in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, physics, psychiatry, and management, this is a dynamic and cutting-edge volume that will inspire new ideas and studies on this fascinating topic.
Although many scholars believe that intrinsic motivation fuels creativity, research has returned equivocal results. Drawing on motivated information processing theory, we propose that the relationship between intrinsic motivation and creativity is enhanced by other-focused psychological processes. Perspective taking, as generated by prosocial motivation, encourages employees to develop ideas that are useful as well as novel. In three studies, using both field and lab data, we found that prosocial motivation strengthened the association between intrinsic motivation and independent creativity ratings. In our second and third studies, perspective taking mediated this moderating effect. We discuss theoretical implications for creativity and motivation.
People commonly experience positive psychological changes after adversity, but little is known about how this growth happens. We propose that engagement with new possibilities – seeing ‘doors opening’ in the wake of loss – is key in this process. We hypothesized that people would report greater growth if they saw new possibilities in the aftermath of adversity. We also predicted that unless people had engaged with new possibilities, they would report greater deterioration when adversity disrupted their core beliefs. A diverse group of adults (N = 276) from the US and India participated in a cross-sectional online study. Individuals experienced more growth if they had experienced more core belief disruption and more engagement with new possibilities. Engagement partially mediated the relationship between core belief disruption and growth. Engagement may also buffer against deterioration when core beliefs are disrupted. We conclude that pursuing new opportunities may be a crucial step in growth.
This target article focuses on the construct of post-traumatic growth—positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances. Prominent theories of post-traumatic growth define it in terms of personality change, and as a result, this area of research should be of great interest to personality psychologists. Despite this fact, most of the research on this topic has not been sufficiently informed by relevant research in personality psychology, and much of the extant research suffers from significant methodological limitations. We review the literature on post-traumatic growth, with a particular focus on how researchers have conceptualized it and the specific methodological issues associated with these conceptualizations. We outline some ways in which personality science can both be enriched by the study of this phenomenon and inform rigorous research on post-traumatic growth and provide a series of guidelines for future research of post-traumatic growth as positive personality change. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology
Past research investigating the role of motivation in creativity has closely examined the role of intrinsic (i.e., process-focused) and extrinsic (i.e., outcome-focused) motivation. Results from this literature have shown that the effects of social factors on creativity (e.g., social inhibition or facilitation effects) are at least partially explained by their effect on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The present review seeks to broaden the scientific understanding of the role of motivation in creativity by proposing that a second dimension of motivation needs to be taken into account. In addition to creators’ locus of motivation (i.e., whether they focus on the intrinsic process and/or extrinsic outcomes), creative behavior also appears to be driven by its intended beneficiaries (i.e., the self and/or others). Supporting the importance of this second dimension, recent empirical research has begun to investigate the relationship between prosocial motivation (i.e., the desire to contribute to other people’s lives) and creativity. Thus, a combined look at research on these two dimensions of motivation highlights the bidirectional nature of the social processes at play in creativity: While studies investigating creators’ locus of motivation have examined the influence of others on creators, recent studies considering creators’ intended beneficiaries have stressed the importance of also understanding how creators wish to affect others in return. To integrate these two perspectives, we propose a reciprocal model of the creative process in which creators’ general motivational orientations (falling along the dimensions outlined above) are translated into specific motivational goals, and we review possible psychological mechanisms explaining how motivation may guide creative cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)
The intent of the author was to identify some of his insights from creativity research which have not been widely accepted, describe what generated the insight, summarize the evidence in support of the insight, and to state what is at stake. It was soon evident that this was a larger task than could be accomplished in an article. The author stated the problem, discussed two examples, and identified fifteen of these insights. A few of them are supported by considerable research evidence but none of them have yet come into acceptance and widespread practice. Others are supported by enough research to convince the author but not enough to convince very many others. The author urges other investigators to examine these insights and to test the validity of some of them. New instruments will have to be created and developed. Longitudinal studies, statistical and qualitative, will be necessary. Experimental studies will also be needed. The author hopes that investigators will be intrigued by some of these insights and will be compelled to investigate them further. Who knows what a new generation of creative investigators will produce?
Traditionally, positive emotions and thoughts, strengths, and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for belonging, competence, and autonomy have been seen as the cornerstones of psychological health. Without disputing their importance, these foci fail to capture many of the fluctuating, conflicting forces that are readily apparent when people navigate the environment and social world. In this paper, we review literature to offer evidence for the prominence of psychological flexibility in understanding psychological health. Thus far, the importance of psychological flexibility has been obscured by the isolation and disconnection of research conducted on this topic. Psychological flexibility spans a wide range of human abilities to: recognize and adapt to various situational demands; shift mindsets or behavioral repertoires when these strategies compromise personal or social functioning; maintain balance among important life domains; and be aware, open, and committed to behaviors that are congruent with deeply held values. In many forms of psychopathology, these flexibility processes are absent. In hopes of creating a more coherent understanding, we synthesize work in emotion regulation, mindfulness and acceptance, social and personality psychology, and neuropsychology. Basic research findings provide insight into the nature, correlates, and consequences of psychological flexibility and applied research provides details on promising interventions. Throughout, we emphasize dynamic approaches that might capture this fluid construct in the real-world.