E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
AP
Arrogant, me? The character Don Draper (played by actor Jon Hamm) on "Mad Men" epitomizes the creative, not-a-humble-bone-in-his-body persona.
You might know some extremely creative people who are anything but humble about their talents -- the full-of-himself actor, the self-important artist, the vain musician, the pompous writer or -- possibly most annoying of all -- the insufferable ad agency creative type (think Don Draper from "Mad Men").
A new study reveals there may be a kernel of truth to these cultural stereotypes.
The research, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, stopped short of labeling creative types as jerks, but it didn't paint a pretty portrait of some aspects of their personalities, either. Psychologists asked more than 1,300 college students to complete a personality test and various creativity questionnaires. The data they collected was self-reported and measured creative abilities mainly in arts, crafts, drama, and creative writing.
The researchers looked at how six different personality traits influenced creativity. They found an openness to experience is the personality characteristic with the largest influence on creativity, a result seen in previous studies. Extroversion had a smaller effect, while emotionality and conscientiousness made no difference.
Agreeableness, which indicates that people can compromise, sympathize and get along well with others, also had no effect. But honesty-humility was shown to have a negative influence on creativity.
"Our research didn't find a huge effect, and we certainly aren't claiming that all creative people are insufferably arrogant but, on average, people with a lot of creative accomplishments were less humble and modest," says Paul Silvia, an associate professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the study's lead author.
While the creative personality has many appealing traits -- being curious, broad-minded, and open to new experiences -- it has a few unappealing ones, like less modesty and more arrogance, explains Silvia.
But scoring low on honesty-humility characteristics can actually be quite helpful to folks in creative fields. "You're going to have critics and detractors and people who discourage you from pursuing your creative vision," says Silvia. And the farther people get in a creative field, the louder the criticism gets, so it takes some self-assurance to stick with it and take creative risks.
On the flip side, though, creative pursuits often require teachers and mentors to nurture your talents and connect you to people who can get your work out to the public. "So the truly arrogant will have a harder time cultivating the relationships and networks needed to get 'plugged in' to a creative community," points out Silvia.
More creative and less creative people are different in a lot of ways, explains Silvia, and every imaginative person is not a pretentious blowhard. "I suspect that the creative greats can balance genuine grandiosity and genuine humility," he says.
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
Interestingly, the last paragraph invalidates the entire article when the author includes the statement"...and every imaginative person is not a pretentious blowhard." What, logically speaking, the statement should be is "...not every imaginative person is a pretentious blowhard." A small difference of placement of a word, but a huge difference in meaning! I wish there were more people who understand this structure and use it correctly.
The article also forgot to mention other fields such as medicine or the law in which very talented, creative individuals often can be very full of themselves. Going further, look at the current crop of GOP candidates. Love of self is ever evident in a big way with the likes of Palin and Bachmann.
"Full of themselves" individuals are not relegated to just the creative arts. Therefore, the article reinforces a cultural stereotype without evidence.
"Going further, look at the current crop of GOP candidates. Love of self is ever evident in a big way with the likes of Palin and Bachmann."
lololol... you've got to be kidding me.... Using this story as an avenue for republican bashing???? That's simply pitiful... Obamaites ont he campaign trail again.... How about it Jenart... Why didn't you elaborate and really put your intelligence on display for everyone to see and call them racists too... Pathetic to say the least...
This had nothing to do with politics and I would venture to say politicians are generally not creative except in the lies they feed us. Keep on topic.
As a side note I have a cousin who is very creative- she writes, "acts" , and is a barista at a coffee shop and being in a room with her and her husband who restores furniture is insufferable for more than 5 minutes.
Of course the creators are all self absorbed narcissists.
After all, we enrich and give meaning to the otherwise dull meaningless lives of the pion masses. We provide the hope and the connections the pions all cling to, however false it all may actually be.
lol
Interesting article. Jibes pretty well with my impression of the vast majority of "creative types" I've encountered. At the same time, though, I think many people who call themselves creative are simply posers, as opposed to dedicated, successful professionals in a given creative field. And, in my humble experience, it's the "wannabe artists" who tend to be the most arrogant and pretentious in order to compensate for their insecurities and/or lack of talent.
@GendoIkari
The word you are looking for is 'peon'!
Thanks! I always misspell that.
Just remember peon=pee on, same dif in the mind of a narcissist and/or an elitist.
My pleasure, and your definition of it is spot on.
lol
Silly study and 'conclusions.' I'm a creative person, yes, both brilliant and superior to most people, but not arrogant. ;-)
As a creative guy most of my life, I find some of this offensive. While it does take a certain ambition to pursue the speculative nature of creativity, and withstand criticism, this ambition, or related traits, certainly doesn't mean that creative people act like an ass. I can't believe a stereotype is being pushed by a study.
You just don't like the results. Your emotions don't invalidate the study. Sorry.
Not a very good study, actually: According to the article, Psychologists asked more than 1,300 college students...
Keywords: "college students". Most kids I know are full of themselves. This would have been more valid if they had done a study on actual ADULTS.
Agreed. Most of the successful creatives that I know have worked hard and in spite of all their success they maintain humble attitudes. Several comments on this board seem to reflect an overall jealousy towards creative folks.
ivanho75
Wow. That was really a jerk thing to say. Sorry.
having been extremely creative all my life - and having been through the disdain of 'non-creatives' (i can't draw a straight line folks) - i can think of some people in my history who have literally decided to not like me because i was arrogant, boastful or conceited - all because i says things like: look - this is what i did - this is what i made - this is what i painted............ how a person maintains their confidence in their own ability - in the face of people who decide that confidence is conceit? just what i thought - don't have any time to worry about that - got stuff to do.
Ivanho - you're a prick.
Most likely a jealous, non-creative one. Sucks to be you no doubt.
What does this really mean? I have been a creative writer all my life, am constantly looking at things from my own unique perspective, but have not tried much to get my stuff out there and gain recognition, so there's another factor in the person who really gets recognized. Any self-importance I feel comes from seeing myself as more honest in fact, than most I come across, and I'm more humble because I can't get the story from the down and out guy in the gutter who's story I may want to tell thru my writing if I think I'm so great. True artists are actually more humble than others in fact, seeing the substance behind the glossy fake surface is very humbling.
RE: "True artists are actually more humble than others in fact, seeing the substance behind the glossy fake surface is very humbling."
Good job bragging about how you're way more humble than everyone else. It really drives your point home.
And the haters come out of the woodwork what a surprise.
Keep writing salsa I hope you get published so we can experience your efforts!
if you want to be #1, you better believe you are #1
john lennon...........1963
I am not creative, but my husband was...that is why he was so great. His ever so slight arrogance and fearlessness was wonderful.
I consider myself to be a creative type and will be the first to admit that I have plenty of personality faults, but I have some questions about the broad generalizations being made out of this study.
Agreeableness, which indicates that people can compromise, sympathize and get along well with others, also had no effect. But honesty-humility was shown to have a negative influence on creativity. I would argue that being an arrogant jerk would require a low degree of "agreeableness", but the study indicated that this trait was no more or less likely to show up in creative types than in non-creative types. A low degree of humility may simply be an indicator of self-confidence.
"Our research didn't find a huge effect." I'm curious to know just how much of an effect showed up. Was the effect big enough to draw a definitive conclusion or it is small enough to simply be part of the normal spectrum of personalities?
The data was collected from self-reported questionnaires completed by college students. I'm not sure I would draw any major conclusions about the population at large from a sample of people who have not had much "real-life" experience. I've found that the "school of hard knocks" has a tendency to teach a person a few things about both humility and self-assessment.
Like I said, I'm the first to admit that I'm not perfect, but my own personal experience has taught me that arrogant jerks come in a variety of forms. I think I would give the study more credence if it involved a broader sampling of adults from various backgrounds and that the psychological and creativity assessments were performed by trained professionals.
"The data they collected was self-reported and measured creative abilities mainly in arts, crafts, drama, and creative writing." The word "data" is plural, so the verb should be "were."
Don't you just love all these "studies" by so-called "experts". And they get grants to do this crap, too!
Yeah ? So....
I know several very creative people and they are not arrogant in the least.
Tina
I agree! It's just that we're smarter than those who aren't creative.
:)
Everyone is smart in a different way.
I should have indicated "sarcasm" in my comment.
I got it...
I have been a graphic designer since 2002 & I think this study is deeply flawed. The key paragraph: "Psychologists asked more than 1,300 college students to complete a personality test and various creativity questionnaires. The data they collected was self-reported and measured creative abilities mainly in arts, crafts, drama, and creative writing."
Had they given the same test to a wide group of creatives actually in the industry I believe they would have got a different set of results. We learn from one another constantly both & without modesty or humility you may actually face more barriers to improvement.
One of the most liberating moments for me was at a conference in my last month of school with top creative directors from agencies who said "we're not interested in what title or degree is attached to your names or your schools. Here is a pencil & paper. Show us what creative looks like." What was in my head & flowing from the passion for creativity in my heart was more important to them than anything.
And I know several arrogant people who are not, in the least, creative.
I've met far more arrogant people in the business world than I have creative types. And I've met plenty of creative types in Los Angeles.
Yes there are some that are full of themselves and the person who made the correlation of the least successful sometimes being the most arrogant is correct IMO.
Between the A-listers I've encountered and the reality show types, the big stars as a general trend were far more personable and not near as arrogant. Maybe confident because of their success, but not arrogant.
Contrastingly some of the reality "stars" demanded special treatment and were tyrants in a public setting. Probably because of their insecurity about their lack of true success/talent.
It was the same with musicians I've met where some of the biggest egotistical jerks are people who couldn't get a show in a dingy bar, much less a record deal. Perhaps sometimes nasty attitude has more to do with lack of success.
Seriously though, corporate types in my experience seem to be way more full of themselves. Even if they're just the guy in the boiler room cold calling people.
Well I'm an engineer and never considered myself to be creative. I even got a D in my high school Art class that kept me off the honor society. I did recently attempt to write a movie script for Studios.amazon.com, and I thought I did a pretty good job of it. But since the script looks like it is going nowhere, that fact alone brings a lot of humility to the failed writer I find. I'm so despondent, I haven't yet gotten up the nerve to try and write a second revision to try and make it better.
Just keep trying, and draw on your own experiences and do it for yourself. It doesn't matter how others judge it if it is for your own self discovery and fulfillment.
Best of luck to you! Don't give up and enjoy the process, friend!
Maybe I'm reading it wrong...
Did they say that students self reported on how creative they were and then did a personality questionnaire? I guess I need to read the actual paper, otherwise all they did was prove that arrogant people will respond with arrogant answers.
They have a hell of a nerve talking about us that way. I think that the study is flawed and cannot be replicated. IMHO
Talk about putting the cart before the horse. This 'research' is a prime example of extremely poor science and is worse than worthless. Frankly it doesn't even qualify as science and the conclusions are utterly worthless. Why? Because the data is self reported!
Of course people who aren't humble believe and report themselves as more creative. As better artists, better at whatever they believe to be something positive or that they believe others see as something positive. For there to be any merit in a study of personality traits associated with creativity, there would first have to be some well validated method to actually experimentally measure creativity. Not give some questionnaire asking people to report how good they are or aren't at various activities.
In the scientific community, self reported data has always been considered to be notoriously bad data that should be viewed (and used) with great skepticism. I'm appalled at what all too often seems to pass as scientific research and conclusions these days, how gullible 'science reporters' seem to be, and what all of this implies about the state of our educational system and our future.
So this study confirmed the crazy coincidence that people who self-reported being highly creative were found to be less modest, on average, than others. Wow!
Creative types enjoy playing on the forward edge. Small wonder they need and have a healthy dose of innate confidence. Why not: Create and strut your ingenius stuff!
True. I used to want to be a writer when I was a young, creative, pompous @$$. Then I got older and had to start making a living.
Knowing and working closely with some very talented, creative people, I back this study 150%. When I saw the title of this article, I laughed and laughed, then skimmed it and sent it to a number of friends who I knew with no prompting would immediately be able to pinpoint the people I was thinking of.
Everyone agreed this article is spot on. LOL! Thanks for the laugh!
To say creative types are full of themselves is in itself judgemental and egotistical. To think you're better than other people because you're "humble" cancels out right ? There's nothing wrong with being proud to meet your own standards. This sounds like more armchair critic stuff. Personally I'll take cocky over insecure anyday.
Id say cocky is the mask of insecurity. If you're truly confident, you don't need to be cocky. Talk softly and carry a big stick.
Oh for Christ's sake, really? They had to do research to figure this out? Why oh why can't I get a gig like that? I could do research that proves that fat people can't move as quickly as thin people. Or that leaving food out for long times before refrigerating it makes it spoil faster. Or. whatever. Where do I sign up?
What the heck is a "creative accomplishment?" How does it differ from a "regular" or "non-creative" accomplishment? Wouldn't it make more sense to say, people with lots of accomplishments are more arrogant (and possibly deservedly so)? I mean, of course somebody who's achieved a lot of things in life is going to have a higher opinion of themselves than somebody who's a slacker and hasn't really made anything of his or her life. Achievements are the foundation of self-esteem, whether they're particularly "creative" or not.
Unless done for the good of humanity, most of these so called "accomplishments" mean diddly-squat in the big scheme of things. Making lots of money, winning some award, Setting some record are all selfish pursuits and don't mean shinola, if you really think about it. Whereas giving back is more noble because it enriches the world around you. Being creative or good at something doesn't make one a good person. And nothings worse than a douschebag with an inflated ego.
This article is just plain silly! A lot of self-absorbed people pursue fame and some actually achieve it, so the numbers are going to bear out somewhat falsely. It's like saying 'people who take NyQuil are more likely to get colds'. My whole family (both blood and in-laws) are ALL creative and none are arrogant.
Based on my personal experience, I have to agree with this finding. Not all creative souls are arrogant, but a good number of them are very full of themselves. I have a sister who is a graphic designer. There is NO telling her anything!! She knows all, sees all, does all. She has such glaring weaknesses that it's scary, but she is very far from admitting there is anything she can't do. I really got to the point that talking with her felt more like a marathon run and completely wore me out. So, I limit contact for self sanity. I have several other creative friends who aren't far behind her in attitude. Scary!!
What this news? Anyone who has to work with one of these jacka*sses already knows that. They aren't any better than anyone else, their defective genes just THINK THEY ARE!
Genes don't think. The comment I'm responding to is hate speech.
Someone sounds more arrogant than most creative types I know.
Maybe Big Pharma is behind/supporting this "study."
"See if you can give us findings that all creative people have a mental illness, disease or personality "defect" which requires MORE MEDS to control! Yay!!"
LOL