Smith, Pickering & Bhattacharya - The creative life
Smith, K., Pickering, A., & Bhattacharya. J. (2022). The creative life: A daily diary study of creativity, affect, and well-being in creative individuals. Creativity Research Journal, 34(4), 460–479.
This article is based on a study of the daily lives of creative individuals who regularly engage in both professional creative behaviours and everyday creative experiences. The goal of the research was to see whether participating in creative activities is associated with increased positive emotions and enhanced subjective well-being in this population in the same way as it has been established for general populations. A sample of creative adults (N = 290; creative professionals, students studying creative disciplines, and hobbyists engaged in 20+ hours of creative activities per week) provided daily responses on their creative behaviours, emotions, and flourishing over two weeks.
Creative adults were found to be the most creative on days with highly activated positive emotions and increased well-being and were significantly less creative on days with negative emotions. Furthermore, individuals with higher levels of openness were found to have stronger ties between their emotions and overall daily creativity than those with lower levels of openness. Increased openness does not appear to have the same moderating effects on professional creativity and emotional relationships. Finally, high conscientiousness and low neuroticism were also found to predict increased levels of creative activity.
Smith, Pickering & Bhattacharya “The creative life: A daily diary study of creativity, affect, and well-being in creative individuals”