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Odd behavior and creativity may go hand-in-hand article excerpt Often viewed as a hindrance, having a quirky or socially awkward approach to lifemay be the key to becoming a great artist, composer or inventor. New research on individuals with schizotypal personalities – people characterized by odd behavior and language but who are not psychotic or schizophrenic – offers the first neurological evidence that they are more creative than either normal or fully schizophrenic individuals, and rely more heavily on the right sides of their brains than the general population to access their creativity. The work by Vanderbilt psychologists Brad Folley and Sohee Park was published online last week by the journal  Schizophrenia Research. "The idea that schizotypes have enhanced creativity has been out there for a long time but no one has investigated the behavioral manifestations and their neural correlates experimentally," Folley says. "Our paper is unique because we investigated the creative process experimentally and we also looked at the blood flow in the brain while research subjects were undergoing creative tasks." ...

. The results showed that the schizotypes were better able to creatively suggest new uses for the objects, while the schizophrenics and average subjects performed similarly to one another. > From article Odd behavior and creativity may go hand-in-hand - By Melanie Moran, Exploration, Sept 6, 2005 [research journal of Vanderbilt Univ]  Emily Dickinson, Vincent Van Gogh - images from Famous schizotypal personalities list - from article: Quirks, creativity may go hand-in-hand [The Globe and Mail, September 7, 2005] > Related books : Schizotypal Personality - by Adrian Raine, et al. The New Personality Self-Portrait : Why You Think, Work, Love and Act the Way You Do - by John M. Oldham, Lois B. Morris (M.D.) David Weeks. Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness

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"Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream." Malcolm Muggeridge ....Malcolm Muggeridge: A Biography by Gregory Wolfe

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I think being different, being against the grain of society, is the greatest thing in the world. Elijah Wood  ... [imdb.com bio]

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"His confidence [Daniel Radcliffe] has really grown. He's great company. And he's quite eccentric for his age, really batty. Great taste in music, he got me into some great bands I've never listened to before."

. David Thewlis   [from moviehole.net interview] - about his co-star Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban [DVD] - David Thewlis plays Professor Lupin

 

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If you are too busy being a diva or a freak, then you are not enjoying it. Lucy Liu ..... [imdb.com bio]

 
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When I met her [Scarlett Johansson], OK, she's 15, but she could easily pass for 30. She's a very attractive girl, but she's sort of a weirdo.  I like that about her.  Terry Zwigoff  - her director for "Ghost World" (2000) [from "Young heart and old soul" by John Clark,  LA Times, Nov 9 2003] / photo by Richard Hartog / LAT

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"I've never liked categories; I've never liked boxes; I've always tried to be unconventional as much as I possibly could." Gary Dourdan    ['Warrick' on tv series "CSI"] [Ebony, Sept, 2001]

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.. .. Creative productivity involves a great deal of hard work and creative producers are generally highly prolific. They are often characterized as workaholics... A second characteristic of eminent adults is a lack of concern with conventionality, particularly social conventions and conventional paths to achievement (Albert, 1994).  Historically, many eminent adults came from families that were of high social standing and "well-to-do."  These families had the financial means to support their child's interests and strivings, even if they were in unconventional fields or areas.

They were less likely to press children to enter traditionally upwardly mobile professions (such as law or medicine in today's society).  Earning a living was less of a concern and career choice could be made on the basis of interest and one's "fit" to the profession. Parents had more time, energy and financial resources to devote to developing their child's interests and creative pursuits.  Parents of eminent individuals were also less vigilant about monitoring school achievement and holding children to achievement standards (Albert, 1994). from article: Psychological Factors in the Development of Adulthood Giftedness from Childhood Talent, by Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, PhD, director of the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University Albert, R. "The contribution of early family history to the achievement of eminence" in the book : Talent Development. Proceedings from the 1993 Henry B. and Jocelyn Wallace National Research Symposium on Talent Development. Eds. N. Colangelo, S.G. Assouline and D.L. Ambroson, 1994, pp. 311-360. Picasso self portrait from book Ultimate Picasso by Christi Brigitte

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When a true genius appears in the world, you may  know him by this sign, that the dunces are all  in confederacy against him.   Jonathan Swift A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. ... In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly's supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D. H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress. Several of the outfits, Ignatius noticed, were new enough and expensive enough to be properly considered offenses against taste and decency.

.. .. Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person's lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one's soul. ....from A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

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Actor John Barrymore [1882 - 1942] became an eccentric animal collector in his later years. His beloved menagerie consisted of 300 different birds, dozens of Siamese cats, and 19 dogs, of which there were 11 greyhounds, several St. Bernards, and a few Kerry blue terriers.  Barrymore also had a monkey, a few opossum, and mouse deer... [reported on  Dog Trivia site]

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The movie "Buddy" is the true story of Gertude "Trudy" Lintz, an eccentric socialite in the 1920s... On her New York estate, she, her physician husband Bill (Robbie Coltrane) and her loyal assistant Dick (Alan Cumming) care for a menagerie as extensive as a zoo's: a kennel of championship Briard dogs, Rex rabbits, guinea pigs, schools of tropical fish, flocks of geese and rare pigeons, a stable of horses, two horned owls, three snakes and a kitten. Adding to the fun are her four chimpanzees whom she treats as her children; their clothes are tailor-made at Bergdorf Goodman; she teaches them table manners, how to play croquet, mix martinis, do light housework and say their prayers.  And they become the stars of Chicago's 1933 World's fair. But her gorilla, Buddy, is her favorite child. When she first sees him, he is a sickly baby gorilla. But she opens her home and her heart to him, saves him from the jaws of death, and proceeds to raise him as if he were her own... [from findthefun.com article]

.. .. Rene Russo as Gertrude Lintz book: Buddy by William Joyce the movie Buddy [dvd]

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.. .. Director and screenwriter Caroline Thompson,  from interview  - about making her film "Buddy" This was a time [the '20s] when eccentricity was honored, when people said "What are we made of? Let's find out."

It was also a time when Freud was new, and people were exploring, as they put it 'the beast within' and thinking about the id.  But now, in the '90s, what are we exploring? The child within. How much more interesting, at least to me, to be in a world where the culture is exploring the beast within, and how rich and juicy and how brave.

..related page: ....the shadow self

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Nicolas Cage has extraordinary housemates - a dead bat, two live lizards, a pet octopus and a human skull called Vincent. Cage admits he becomes bored with the downright safe and straightforward, but will not resort to drink and drugs for thrills.  The 37-year-old actor says, "I am just not a conventional guy. I was the kid at school who was the weirdo, who could not get the girl and was teased for not playing sports. The only way life slipped into place was through acting. I have been told many times that I march to the beat of a different drummer." [imdb.com May 1 2001]

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