Creativity may be a joke, but it is no accident

The late American artist and televised painting teacher, Bob Ross, was best known for his positive attitude summed up by his classic saying, "we don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents." Because of this cheery outlook he has been much loved and often parodied in our culture:

If Bob Ross was creative, would he be likely to think aggressive memes like this one were funny? Was Bob Ross creative because he was so positive or because he was a complex person (he was also a Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force, a rescuer of injured squirrels in Muncie, Indiana, the father of three boys from two marriages, a painter of - as he often said - "happy trees").

Chang, Chen, Hsu, Chan, and Chang (2015) were interested in a similar question: does a person's style of humor relate to that person's level of creativity? To answer this, they conducted a large study (1,252 participants) with Chinese 13-year-olds living in Taiwan. The measures that they used were translated into Chinese and were chosen because they worked in cross-cultural settings (meaning that the nationality of the participants should not be an issue that will influence the results).

The teenagers competed a Humor Styles Questionnaire and a cluster analysis of their answers placed them into groups. Similar to past research, four styles emerged:

1) Positive Humor: joking about yourself in a positive way (showing off) or joking about others in a positive way to show that you like them.

2) Negative Humor: joking about yourself in a negative way (putting yourself down) or joking about others in a negative way to be aggressive. For example, implying that nobody will date you!

3) General Humor: joking in both positive and negative ways about yourself and about others. In this case humor can be used to both befriend and to be aggressive at times.

4) Humor Deniers: below average use of any type of humor.

Among other measures, the participants took a modified figure drawing test of creative thinking. Each teenager received a piece of paper with 27 versions of the Chinese character for "Human" printed on it. They were asked to doodle upon each symbol to create drawings that incorporated that shape. The drawings were rated on: Fluency (how many of the 27 versions were drawn upon in ten minutes); Flexibility (the number of categories in the drawings' themes); Originality (how novel the drawings were compared to others); and Elaboration (the number of details in the drawings).

The most robust results strongly supported a theory of creativity: Intrapersonal Variability. In this perspective, "...individuals who hold opposing or conflicting traits...[or have] complex personalities..." are more creative (p. 307). The teenagers whose main humor style was General, or full of contradictions and complexity, scored noticeably higher than the other students on all four ratings of creativity.

On the other hand, one comparison did seem to support an alternate theory: the Positivity Perspective suggests that positive humor is linked to more creative thinking. Only in the ratings of Elaboration did participants with Positive Humor outscore the participants with Negative Humor.

If we accept that Bob Ross was a creative man, the most prominent results of this study support that his complex personality and conflicting life experiences may have increased that creativity. Chang et al. explain that creativity may be enhanced when people are able to accept their inner conflicts (self-integration) or when their complex personalities allow them to be psychologically flexible in their thinking.

At the same time, the Elaboration finding implies that Bob Ross' attention to detail in his paintings may have been, at least in part, related to his positive outlook on life. The Positivity Perspective assumes that using positive humor is associated with being in a positive mood, which is assumed to allow one to be more creative, or in this case, to embellish creative acts.

Although Bob Ross' humor clearly included positivity, his life experiences may have led him to embrace a General Humor style, which in turn may have fostered his creativity. In that case Bob Ross would probably find this week's meme funny, even though its humor is aggressive.

Further Reading:

The Chang et al. (2015) article can be accessed through your local college library.

Watch a talk by Dr. Robert Provine, a psychologist and neuroscientist, on laughter.

Read a press release from the Association for Psychological Science about a research study by Vohs, Redden, and Rahinel (2013) that links a messy work environment to increased creativity. 

BONUS:

Feel the positivity! Feel the creativity! The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Digital Studios created a really amazing musical remix of Bob Ross using manipulated clips from his television program.

Parenting with Style: Warmth; Control; Involvement

School's out for Summer!  The kids are home all day and parents are growing in appreciation for teachers with each passing moment!

In honor of this, That's Psych! will focus on Parenting Styles for the month of June.

Psychologists usually evaluate parenting based on three dimensions: Warmth; Control; and Involvement.  Warmth has to do with how much parents express the love that they feel for their children. This love can be expressed through praising children when they do something well, hugs and kisses, saying, "I love you," and keeping things positive around the kids - shielding them from the ups and downs of the adults' own lives.  If parents frequently do these things, they are getting it right!  These parents would be considered to be High in Warmth.

On the other hand, parents who are Low in Warmth, may love their children, but they do not show it very much.  Instead they may appear stern, they are not very affectionate and rarely say "I love you," and if they have a bad day, they take it out on their kids by being grumpy around them.

Control has to do with discipline:  does the parent have rules and, if those rules are broken, is there some kind of consequence?  The parents who get it right, are considered to be Medium in Control.  This means that they have rules, but these are age-appropriate and sensible.  It also means that when these rules are broken, there is some sort of consequence, but this punishment is also age-appropriate and sensible.  These parents are really interested in teaching children the moral, or the reason, behind the rules.  For example, you don't hit people because it is not okay to hurt others.

In contrast, parents who are High in Control have too many rules and they often expect their children to behave as if they are older than they really are.  If expectations are too high, it means that the kids will often fail at following these rules; a parent who is High in Control also gives very harsh punishment as a consequence.  These parents are really interested in their children obeying authority: it does not matter why there is a rule, if an adult tells you to do something you must do it.

We can also find parents who are very Low in Control.  These parents either don't have rules or have very few rules for their children.  It may be that they don't expect enough from their children as they grow up.  If a rule is broken, these parents rarely have consequences for their children, or the punishment is so light that it has little effect.  These parents aren't interested in playing a role in shaping their children's behavior by teaching right from wrong.

In addition to Warmth and Control, parents can also differ in the amount of Involvement that they have in their children's lives.  Parents who are High in Involvement really know their children:  they know what is happening in their daily lives and in their inner lives.  For example, a parent who is High in Involvement would know the names of the child's friends and teachers, the child's favorite and most despised foods,  and what scares the child the most.  These parents spend quality time with their children and, just like Involvement, usually get Warmth and Control right.

A parent who is Low in Involvement would not know the details of the child's daily life or emotional life.  Often these parents spend little quality time with their children, and are likely to show problems with Warmth and Control.

In the next four blog posts, we'll feature the different types of parents and how they stack up on Warmth, Control, and by association, Involvement.  Parenting styles are in fashion this June!

Further Reading:

Want some ideas about showing High Warmth to your kids?  The Baby Center has ideas for young children and Psychology Today has ideas for teens.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has a website for parents: healthychildren.org .  Look here for good suggestions about discipline and how to be Medium in Control.

Related to Involvement, here is an article from The Daily Telegraph that includes 25 questions to ask your children.