A study has found that creative people worry less about mortality because their artistic creations will live on after their death. They are likely to be more resilient to death concerns, according to researchers at the University of Kent.
A group of students were asked to complete two questionnaires to gauge their level of creative achievement and ambition. Those with a record of creative achievement, combined with high levels of creative ambition, were found not to make so many associations with death in their thought processes after thinking about their own demise, in comparison to those in the control group.
But among those with low levels of creative ambition – whatever their creative achievement – thinking about their own mortality did not affect their level of thoughts about death in comparison to controls.
The findings suggest that those who pursue creativity and produce significant creative contributions may benefit from existential security in the face of death. Psychologist Dr Rotem Perach said: “The relationship between creativity and symbolic immortality had been long acknowledged by scholars.
We examined the existential anxiety-buffering functions of creative achievement as assessed by the Creative Achievement Questionnaire in a sample of 108 students.
“It was found that at high, but not low, levels of creative goals, creative achievement was associated with lower death-thought accessibility under mortality salience in comparison to controls.
“To our knowledge, this is the first empirical report of the anxiety buffering functions of creative achievement among people for whom creativity constitutes a central part of their cultural world view.
“The findings support the notion creative achievement may be an avenue for symbolic immortality, particularly among individuals who value creativity.”