Half the Right People: Network Density and Creativity

Social scientists investigating the attributes associated with creativity have for the most part confined their research to the study only of creative people. This research attempts to compare creativity with non-creativity by comparing creative with non-creative periods in the lives of three famous...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Katherine Giuffre
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Linköping University Electronic Press 2010-12-01
Series:Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/1955
Description
Summary:Social scientists investigating the attributes associated with creativity have for the most part confined their research to the study only of creative people. This research attempts to compare creativity with non-creativity by comparing creative with non-creative periods in the lives of three famously isolated creators (Emily Dickinson, Paul Gauguin, and Charlotte Brontë) to argue that the social networks of the individuals are different during creative periods than during non-creative periods. By using the correspondence of each of the artists to construct social networks, it is possible to analyze the artist’s relationships with regard to density and betweenness and to compare those across creative and non-creative time periods. The average network density of the first order zone network around each of the artists was 0.475 during periods of creativity. There was no correlation with a particular betweenness score.
ISSN:2000-1525