Creativity, Schizotypicality, and Mystical Experience: An Empirical Study

Abstract

This study examined the commonalities and the differences between creativity and the schizophrenia spectrum. The variables measured were creativity, schizotypy, absorption, mystical experiences, spatial ability, balance, positive and negative presence, and neuroticism. Three community groups were recruited: 31 artists, 10 people with schizophrenia, and 31 comparisons matched for gender and age with the artists. A larger student group, consisting of 102 students, was also recruited to examine the correlations among the same variables within a larger, more normative, group. The largest commonality between the artist and the schizophrenic groups was the propensity to mystical experiences. The greatest differences between them were that the artists were higher in creativity, had better spatial ability, had better balance, had more positive states of presence, and were lower in neuroticism. In the student group, creativity was positively correlated with positive schizotypy, impulsive nonconformity, spatial ability, positive presence, absorption, and mystical experiences, although in the student group, the relation between creativity and mystical experiences was completely mediated by absorption.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Kathy Belicki and Paul Tyson for their conceptual advice, to Nancy DeCourville and Tim Murphy for their statistical help, and to the following organizations for their assistance in recruiting participants: the Brock University psychology department, the Oak Center in Welland (Ontario), the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario (St. Catharine's division), the Niagara Artists Company, the Niagara Gallery, the Kennedy Gallery, the Niagara Falls Gallery, Kijiji, and the Café Tu Tu Tango.

Notes

Note. B-W scale = Barron-Welsh Art Scale. UnEx = unusual experiences. CogDis = cognitive disorganization. IntAn = introvertive anhedonia. ImpNon = impulsive nonconformity. Abs = Absorption. MysEx = Mystical Experiences. Neur = Neuroticism. E-F task = Embedded-Figures. PosPres = Positive Presence. NegPres = Negative Presence.

*Based on total scores not individual mean scores.

*p < .05. **p < .01, two-tailed.

*p < .05. **p < .01, two-tailed.

*p < .05. **p < .01, two-tailed.

*p < .05. **p < .01, two-tailed.

*p < .05. **p < .01, two-tailed.