Abstract
Western culture has 2 contradictory images of creativity: the artist as intensely emotional versus the artist as sublimator, for whom work becomes the outlet for what is repressed and denied. We show that both images are correct, but that the routes to creativity are culturally patterned, such that Catholic creatives are relatively more likely to take the emotionally intense route and Protestant creatives relatively more likely to take the sublimating route. This pattern is consistent for both the Big-C creativity of historical eminents (Studies 1 and 1b) and small-c creativity of student samples (Studies 2 and 3). The student samples also highlighted the moderating role of Protestant asceticism, as Protestants who were high in asceticism and who also repressed or minimized troublesome emotions were particularly creative. Analyses of behavioral data in previous lab experiments (Studies 2b and 3b) provided conceptual validation of the findings reported in Studies 2 and 3.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 901-925 |
| Number of pages | 25 |
| Journal | Journal of personality and social psychology |
| Volume | 112 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2017 |
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Keywords
- Creativity
- Culture
- Protestant asceticism
- Religion
- Sublimation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science
Cite this
Roads more and less traveled : Different emotional routes to creativity among Protestants and Catholics. / Kim, Emily; Cohen, Dov.
In: Journal of personality and social psychology, Vol. 112, No. 6, 06.2017, p. 901-925.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Roads more and less traveled
T2 - Different emotional routes to creativity among Protestants and Catholics
AU - Kim, Emily
AU - Cohen, Dov
PY - 2017/6
Y1 - 2017/6
N2 - Western culture has 2 contradictory images of creativity: the artist as intensely emotional versus the artist as sublimator, for whom work becomes the outlet for what is repressed and denied. We show that both images are correct, but that the routes to creativity are culturally patterned, such that Catholic creatives are relatively more likely to take the emotionally intense route and Protestant creatives relatively more likely to take the sublimating route. This pattern is consistent for both the Big-C creativity of historical eminents (Studies 1 and 1b) and small-c creativity of student samples (Studies 2 and 3). The student samples also highlighted the moderating role of Protestant asceticism, as Protestants who were high in asceticism and who also repressed or minimized troublesome emotions were particularly creative. Analyses of behavioral data in previous lab experiments (Studies 2b and 3b) provided conceptual validation of the findings reported in Studies 2 and 3.
AB - Western culture has 2 contradictory images of creativity: the artist as intensely emotional versus the artist as sublimator, for whom work becomes the outlet for what is repressed and denied. We show that both images are correct, but that the routes to creativity are culturally patterned, such that Catholic creatives are relatively more likely to take the emotionally intense route and Protestant creatives relatively more likely to take the sublimating route. This pattern is consistent for both the Big-C creativity of historical eminents (Studies 1 and 1b) and small-c creativity of student samples (Studies 2 and 3). The student samples also highlighted the moderating role of Protestant asceticism, as Protestants who were high in asceticism and who also repressed or minimized troublesome emotions were particularly creative. Analyses of behavioral data in previous lab experiments (Studies 2b and 3b) provided conceptual validation of the findings reported in Studies 2 and 3.
KW - Creativity
KW - Culture
KW - Protestant asceticism
KW - Religion
KW - Sublimation
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85014081192&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/pspp0000105
DO - 10.1037/pspp0000105
M3 - Article
C2 - 28253003
AN - SCOPUS:85014081192
VL - 112
SP - 901
EP - 925
JO - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
SN - 0022-3514
IS - 6
ER -