Creativity and Body Image Boundaries

Abstract

Descriptions of the creative individual or the individual who can regress in the service of the ego seem to parallel Fisher and Cleveland's (1968) description of the high barrier individual: well-integrated; self-sufficient, but often outgoing and communicative; and able to experience a full range of sensations and emotions without neurotic anxiety. The relationships between Barrier and five measures associated with creativity were investigated, using 100 paid male college student volunteers. The results support the notion that creativity is not a functional unity. Barrier was found to be related to artistic, expressive creativity which seems to be related to interest in human interactions, but unrelated to creativity associated with scientific endeavors and unrelated to creative receptivity (i.e., purest adaptive regression).