Artists may indeed have a more active love
life than most of us -- and part of the reason may be
their tendency toward a certain schizophrenia-linked personality
trait, a study suggests.
In a survey of 425 British adults, researchers found
that serious poets and visual artists generally had more
sexual partners than those who were either not artistic
or only dabbled in the arts.
Further analysis showed that one personality dimension
-- a tendency toward "unusual" thoughts and perceptions
-- was related to both creativity and sexual success.
That tendency is also seen in people with schizophrenia.
And the findings, according to the study authors, may
help explain why schizophrenia -- a mental disorder that
often runs in families -- has not been extinguished from
the gene pool.
Certain schizophrenia-related personality traits, they
speculate, may confer benefits when they are not part
of a mental illness. When they instead spur creativity,
for example, they may offer a mating advantage, according
to the researchers, led by Daniel Nettle, a psychologist
at the University of Newcastle.
He and colleague Helen Keenoo report their findings in
the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Artists, from 18th Century poets to 21st Century musicians,
have a well-earned reputation for leading busy romantic
lives. But until now, there had never been a systematic
comparison to document the phenomenon, Nettle stated.
There have, though, been studies showing that creative
types have higher-than-average rates of schizophrenia
in their families, and that they themselves have a heightened
tendency toward schizophrenia-like traits.
Schizophrenia itself has a strong genetic component,
and since people with the disorder suffer poor overall
health and have a low likelihood of having children, evolution
should have lead to the disappearance of traits that predispose
to schizophrenia.
But it has not. And some researchers have speculated
that the link between schizophrenic traits and creativity
-- a positive effect -- could be one reason.
In the new study, participants disclosed the number of
sexual partners they'd had as adults and answered questions
that gauge four schizophrenia-related personality dimensions.
One is the tendency toward "unusual experiences," defined
as atypical thoughts or perceptions, or "magical thinking."
This trait, the study found, was more common in serious
artists, and people who scored high on the unusual-experiences
front also tended to have more sexual partners.
The findings, according to Nettle, suggest that unusual
thinking and perceptions, when operating in a healthy
person, spur creativity and, in turn, may make a person
more attractive.
"Successful creative types are signaling that they have
unusual mental qualities that can command the attention
of others, and as such, they are likely to bear or sire
us children who can do the same," he explained.
Coupled with other traits, however - such as disorganized
thoughts and concentration problems, and social withdrawal
-- this feature may make a person vulnerable to schizophrenia.
In this study, these other traits were either unrelated
to creativity and sexual activity or tended to hinder
both.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the Royal Society, November 2005.
