Do You Pursue Your Heart or Your Art? Creativity, Personality, and Love
Published online on February 11, 2015
Abstract
We examined the associations between love, personality, and creativity for people in relationships of varying durations. Participants (N = 1,529) from regions across the United States completed an online survey. Consistent with prior work, we found that relationship length was negatively associated with passion, positively associated with commitment, and did not exhibit a significant association with intimacy. For personality, agreeableness was positively associated with passion, intimacy, and commitment, and conscientiousness was positively associated with intimacy and commitment. Additionally, openness was significantly associated with passion and intimacy for men, and emotional stability was significantly associated with intimacy for women. Of note, artistic creative behaviors were negatively associated with all three love components, whereas everyday creative behaviors and self-assessed creativity were positively associated with each love component.