Premium
Identification with an aggressor or a victim and its relation to creativity
Author(s) -
CARLSSON INGEGERD,
SMITH GUDMUND J. W.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1986.tb01202.x
Subject(s) - psychology , stimulus (psychology) , subliminal stimuli , creativity , anxiety , percept , developmental psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , perception , neuroscience , psychiatry
Studied identification using a meta‐contrast design. The first stimulus was the word ‘I’. The second stimulus depicted an aggressor and a victim facing each other. The subliminal ‘I’ was flashed on either the victim or on the aggressor, or completely withheld. The subjects were 33 school children, aged 10–12 years. They also took a percept‐genetic (PG) test of creativity, measuring willingness to return to and recognize early conceptions of a stimulus picture (a still‐life). The results showed that the creative children reacted with less anxiety and defense when manipulated to identify with the aggressor than with the victim. The uncreative children showed the opposite reaction, namely a preference for the passive, surrendering victim.