Abstract
BackgroundSchizotypy is a set of personality traits that resemble the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia in the general population, and it is associated with various subclinical mental health problems, including sleep disturbances. Additionally, dimensions of schizotypy show specific but weak associations with creativity. Given that creativity demands cognitive control and mental health, and that sleep disturbances negatively impact cognitive control, we predicted that positive, impulsive and disorganised schizotypy will demonstrate stronger associations with indicators of creativity, if the effect of mental health, insomnia, and intellect are statistically controlled.MethodsUniversity students (N = 182) took part in the study. Schizotypy was assessed with the shortened Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (sO-LIFE). Creative achievements were measured with the Creative Achievement Questionnaire (CAQ), divergent thinking was assessed with the ‘Just suppose’ task, and remote association problem solving was tested with Compound Remote Associate (CRA) problems. Mental health was assessed with the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), and insomnia was examined with the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Verbal short term memory was measured with the forward digit span task, and intellect was assessed with the Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI). Multiple linear regressions were performed to examine the relationship between creativity and schizotypy. Indicators of creativity were the dependent variables. In the first block, dimensions of schizotypy, age, gender and smoking were entered, and in the second block, the models were extended with mental health, insomnia, verbal short term memory, and intellect.ResultsPositive schizotypy positively predicted real-life creative achievements, independently from the positive effect of intellect. Follow-up analyses revealed that positive schizotypy predicted creative achievements in art, while higher disorganised schizotypy was associated with creative achievements in science (when intellect was controlled for). Furthermore, disorganised schizotypy positively predicted remote association problem solving performance, if insomnia and verbal short term memory were statistically controlled. No dimension of schizotypy was significantly associated with divergent thinking.DiscussionIn line with previous findings, positive schizotypy predicted real-life creative achievements. The positive effects of disorganised schizotypy might be explained in terms of the simultaneous involvement of enhanced semantic priming and cognitive control in problem solving. We speculate that the lack of associations between divergent thinking and schizotypy might be related to instruction effects. Our study underscores the relevance of sleep impairment to the psychosis-spectrum, and refines our knowledge about the adaptive aspects of schizotypy in the general population.
Highlights
IntroductionSchizotypy is often regarded as a set of quasi-pathological personality traits with milder forms of schizophrenia-like symptoms (e.g., odd beliefs, suspiciousness, perceptual anomalies, loosened associations, and peculiar speech) (e.g., Kwapil et al, 2013; Nelson et al, 2013; Ettinger et al, 2014)
Schizotypy is often regarded as a set of quasi-pathological personality traits with milder forms of schizophrenia-like symptoms (e.g., Kwapil et al, 2013; Nelson et al, 2013; Ettinger et al, 2014)
Dimensions of schizotypy were negatively related to mental health and positively to insomnia
Summary
Schizotypy is often regarded as a set of quasi-pathological personality traits with milder forms of schizophrenia-like symptoms (e.g., odd beliefs, suspiciousness, perceptual anomalies, loosened associations, and peculiar speech) (e.g., Kwapil et al, 2013; Nelson et al, 2013; Ettinger et al, 2014). Meehl highlighted that favourable early social experiences and adaptive personality traits (e.g., resilience and reduced trait anxiety) will prevent schizotypes from developing schizophrenia Contrasting these clinically oriented conceptualisations, Claridge (1994) made a case for a fully dimensional perspective and regarded schizotypy as a trait continuously distributed in the general population that indicates liability to schizophrenia and covers potentially adaptive variation in normal personality; Claridge theorised that conversion to schizophrenia is a function of other inherited traits, dysfunctions, and environmental effects ( see Grant, Green & Mason, 2018; Lenzenweger, 2018 for recent overviews of schizotypy concepts). Disorganised schizotypy positively predicted remote association problem solving performance, if insomnia and verbal short term memory were statistically controlled.
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