Who Knew!?!

Part of what I do for a living is reading up on the creatives industry (my work after all, is running a creatives consultancy - more on that in following posts).

Most of what I read come from industry journals regarding design, branding, advertising and such. But every once in a while, I come across a science article or two.

This, so far, is the most interesting. I leave all opinions to you.

Let me go on record, though, in saying that I make no real claims on my creativity; which perhaps may explain my shortcomings as to the indicated results of the findings shared below. Also that how one defines "success" in the said article is also in question.

The "other result" is more applicable to me, I suppose.

So, without further ado, the article in full is posted below. If you want to see the article itself, here's the link.

News
November 30, 2005

Creativity Linked to Sexual Success and Schizophrenia
By David Biello

The list of promiscuous poets and artists is long, as is the list of poets' and artists' children who suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Now new research links creative ability and sexual success--and explains why something as seemingly maladaptive as schizophrenia would persist among humans.

Psychologist Daniel Nettle of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England and his colleagues recruited 425 British men and women through advertisements in a small town newsletter and specialty lists for creative types. The researchers surveyed this group with questions designed to measure various schizophrenic behaviors, artistic output and sexual success, among other aspects of their personal history.

Results of that survey showed that people who displayed strong evidence of "unusual experiences" and "impulsive non-conformity"--two broad types of schizophrenic behavior--had more sexual partners than their peers did and were more likely to be involved in artistic pursuits, either professionally or as a hobby. Those who professionally pursued the arts had the highest average number of partners--5.5--compared to just over four for the less creativestudy participants.

Of course, there are a number of possible reasons for the artists' mating success. "Creative people are often considered to be very attractive and get lots of attention as a result," Nettle explains. "It could also be that very creative types lead a bohemian lifestyle and tend to act on more sexual impulses and opportunities."

But the finding, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), offers some insights into why schizophrenia, which seems to be passed from generation to generation and affects roughly 1 percent of people, does not disappear from the general population. In the study, even non-creative types who revealed an urge to resist conformity had more sexual success. In short, some of the traits associated with the debilitating mental illness can actually increase a person’s desirability. And sometimes produce major works of art as well.