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Friendship and Creativity
Friendship and Creativity L M Cohen, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA ã 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Glossary Collaboration To work with another or others on an intellectual or creative endeavor, focused on a product or performance. Conflict Mental struggles based on opposing or incompatible internal needs, desires, or feelings as well as on external forces, such as competition or power. Domain A body of organized knowledge, skills, and traits underlying a discipline, requiring specific preparation to reach high levels. Eminence A position of high rank or prominence socially bestowed by the field of endeavor.
The role of friendship in the lives of creative individuals has had very little systematic research attention. In fact, friendship is a neglected research topic throughout the social and behavioral sciences, according to philosophers Sandra Lynch and James Grunebaum, and it has been overlooked in research on collaboration as well. Although most biographies of eminent individuals discuss friends and relationships, little attention has been given to the role of friendship in creative lives.
Defining Friendship Definitions of friendship vary, depending on whether we are talking about business relationships, childhood buddies, or best friends, each with a set of norms and demands. Early definitions from the ancient Greeks idealized friendship as a virtue and viewed it as only possible between good men. More current views recognize its complexity. Jan Barkas described friendship as a relationship that is voluntary and caring between two or more persons who have no kinship or legal bonds that reinforces self-esteem and a feeling of being needed or liked. Robert Wubbolding viewed friendship as based on the deepest human need for belonging, interconnectedness, and the satisfaction of power. According to James Grunebaum, friendship is based on caring, with willingness to assist or benefit the other. One treats one’s friends well, helps and does not harm them. Friendship involves responsibility to receive personal confidences and thoughts, the promise to do one’s duty and not defraud or wound. In friendship, there is concern for each other, the sharing of passionate interests, and giving to each other wholeheartedly based on affection and fondness. Sandra Lynch stated that friendships involve a mutual and reciprocal emotional bond that is at its core nonrational. It involves not just feelings, but knowledge of each other’s character, affairs, and personality. On the other hand, she noted that friendship is not necessarily free of self interest. The experience of pleasure, personal gain, or support may motivate such engagement. At the same time, friends are vulnerable to
538
Follower One in the service of another; a fan, devotee, or enthusiast. Friendship A voluntary caring relationship between two or more persons who are not kin that is emotionally based, nonrational, and promotes mutual support, feelings of interconnectedness, and self-esteem. Peers Belonging to the same group in society, typically by age, status, or culture. Power Possession, control, or influence over others. Validation The process of confirming, supporting, and accepting the value of another’s work or being.
disappointments, pain, or hurt in their relationships, so trust is important. There are both rewards and challenges in these voluntary relationships. Professor and creativity scholar, Alfonso Montouri, described his own close friendship, which allows open-ended conversations, exploration of ideas, concepts, feelings, fears, and joys in a spirit of mutual respect, caring, and affection. He noted that through walks and talks with this friend, intuitions and ideas, self-expression, and points of difference and agreement are aspects of their bond that lead to a union of knowledge and are vitally important for creative thought. Yet, he lamented, both organizational and academic cultures in their bureaucratic and often adversarial approaches, mitigate against such exchanges, relegating friendships to the private sphere. He suggested that the safety of exploring not-knowing with an intimate friend, or a discourse as a collective improvisation based on trust, caring, and excitement at being together is a valuable opportunity. For Montouri, as people develop trust and take risks together, are vulnerable and open and admit uncertainties, the quality of knowledge and inquiry is greatly improved and creative capacities supported.
Collaboration and Friendship Although there are numerous biographies of eminent persons that describe the importance of individual friendships and detail exchanges of letters and ideas, there has been little in the creativity literature that focuses specifically on this important aspect. Jock Abra and Gordon Abra noted that even collaboration among creative individuals has been rarely studied, which they considered strange, given that almost every creative act involves working with others. A book on the topic by Vera John-Steiner, published a year later, addressed the importance of collaboration in creative work and viewed creativity as a social phenomenon, rather than an individualistic one, wherein the collaborative relationship scaffolds the construction of new ideas and also strengthens the creator’s sense
Friendship and Creativity
of self, providing support in overcoming self doubt and vulnerability. Abra and Abra specified that most creators communicate with an audience of some kind, implying a kind of collaboration. They also suggested that collaborative relationships may be intimate (such as Watson and Crick) or remote (an orchestra that does not meet the composer). They may be homogeneous (same service, i.e., musicians in an orchestra) or heterogeneous (different, such as the composer, conductor and orchestra members). Collaboration may also be horizontal (democratic, with equal weight, as in Gilbert and Sullivan’s productions) or hierarchical, with differences in power and dominance, such as Jerome Robbins’ final say in choreography and direction. However, collaboration is more a required or necessary relationship, such as that between a choreographer and a dancer, or among a group of scientists working on a problem, while a friendship has no formal requirements but results in caring and reciprocal bonding. While collaboration may grow into friendship or vice versa, the two are not synonymous.
Role of Peers Jean Piaget considered the period of early childhood as the most creative as the child invents the world, trying it out before assimilating through symbolic play and imagination. Likewise, Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky described the origins of creative imagination and later creativity in the early play of childhood. Play with peers allows the making of errors without sanctions, the stretching of imagination, the trying on of roles. Although some researchers find creative children crave solitude, they also describe the desire and emotional satisfaction that comes from being with others and having friends in order to ‘try on different hats.’ Psychologist Howard Gardner, in his study of highly creative lives representing each of the Multiple Intelligences, delineated the crucial aspect of informed peers, who play a supportive and caring role as an essential element in the creative process through their beliefs in the revolutionary ideas of the creators. At the same time, the seven eminent individuals he studied had problems forming deep emotional attachments or close friendships. Friends, spouses, or lovers were important, but more for their contributions to the needs and purposes of the creator, rather than for their inherent value. These creators benefited from supportive relationships during periods of major work toward breakthrough, but caring others were less important once the breakthrough occurred and were sometimes discarded. This implies that the friend or significant other’s personhood was less central than his or her supporting role. However, “what has been overlooked is a discussion of supportive persons themselves as creative forces in their own right with the ‘object’ of creation being the development of others for the greater good: engendering”, according to Erin Miller and LeoNora Cohen, creativity researchers. Although more typical among peers, friendships can also be cross-generational, especially those that develop between mentors and their prote´ge´es. The relationships can blossom into friendships if values and interest are shared, as noted by Vera John-Steiner.
539
Domain Basis for Friendships Often, friendships of creative individuals come from the same or related domain of endeavor. “People become friends because they are passionately and emotionally involved in the same pursuits. They have common ground and become friends because of their common interests,” according to creativity scholar, Jane Piirto. Although adult creators often describe great loneliness in childhood, they may develop strong peer friendships in late adolescence, particularly if they are able to learn or work together in their domain, which may sustain them throughout life. Friendships among creative children are important for development of self-esteem and for intimacy, particularly as students become teenagers. To share passions with like minds is important for well-being, as well as for generation of ideas, testing novel ideas, and growing cognitively and creatively. However, such friendships may be fraught with problems. Creative young people have the need to be valued and to share their interests with others. At the same time, there is a need to have time and space alone to focus on their own work. There is also the competition for the same scholarships or awards, for accomplishment, and the need to be ‘the best,’ especially among young performers. Such conflicts may lead creative young people to eschew one aspect for the other. How to find a balance that is both personally satisfying and allows for the freedom to create is a challenge.
A Look at One Domain: Music and Friendship Some fields, such as music, are more conducive to collaboration and possible friendships. Alfonso Montouri and Ronald Purser noted: Music is an emergent property of other relationships in a group. The organic nature of musical groups can ideally create a situation where the collaboration is enormously enriching, and the music emerges out of the constant interplay of musicians rehearsing, performing, and recording.
At the same time, as noted earlier, there may be a tremendous level of competition, especially among aspiring young musicians where only the best succeed. While the friendships incubated in the conservatory evolve from passion for their craft and field, there is both the need to beat out the competition and the simultaneous need to share the joy of music, according to Judith Kogan and Lauren Sosniack, scholars of music development. In western music, particularly orchestral, there is a natural tripartite: the composer, the conductor, and the soloists or orchestra. Musical creativity is complex, occurring within a given timeframe and place, involving all three roles, wherein the music is cocreated. This suggests that the relationships among these three types of musicians would necessarily be collaborative, while those relationships among specific instrumentalists (such as violinists) might be more conflicted. Although conductors and soloists certainly play works of dead composers, the dependence of the living composer on the conductor and soloists to get heard is central.
540
Friendship and Creativity
In a study of the friendship between two Brazilian composers, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Walter Burle Marx, LeoNora Cohen found that the relationship started badly, with perceptions of each other on the one hand as unschooled and wild and on the other as an upper crust snoot overly concerned with form. However, Marx, sent to Europe at age 18 to study piano, composition, and conducting with the musical masters there, grew to love the deeply Brazilian works of Villa-Lobos and began to emulate them, also championing Villa-Lobos’ works through conducting them in Rio and across the United States. Villa-Lobos grew to value Marx, dedicating two works to him. Trust to critique each others’ compositions evolved, but it was a lopsided friendship, with Marx, younger and less eminent, deferring to Villa-Lobos.
Benefits and Problems in Friendships of Creators Friends benefit creators not only in sharing new ideas and stretching cognitive growth, but also in validating and sustaining them on a personal level, helping them to overcome selfdoubt, a characteristic that creative personality researcher Frank Barron found characterizes creative individuals, expressed as concern about personal adequacy and motivation to prove oneself. Friendship can provide emotional strengthening and a sense of confidence, enhancing the creator’s self-esteem. Difficulties also arise, including conflicts and power issues.
Validation Safety and social validation of creative products are a major function of friends and work place collaborators. They provide creative individuals a safe space where they can break rules without sanctions, as well as offering them a positive perspective on themselves; for instance, that their ideas are not crazy but creative. Friends and colleagues can help foster the courage to test limits, according to psychologist and creativity researcher Arthur Cropley. David Harrington, known for his work on the ecology of creativity, discussed the role of advocates such as parents, friends, or mentors who champion creative individuals and provide them with help or needed resources. He noted that explicit encouragement is almost always helpful, stating: Creatively effective people have often described a positive impact which words of encouragement in understanding from credible sources have had upon the creative work, particularly at times of unusual creative challenge and stress.
He observed the importance of feedback that encourages revision without embarrassment or feelings of inadequacy.
Conflicts But there are also conflicts in friendships and close relationships for creative people, particularly when the friend is not supportive of a creative idea, the creator feels judged or rejected, or power issues arise, such as who gets credit for the new product or idea. Although, as Robert Sternberg and
colleagues noted, “creativity requires a risk-taking personality”, the taking of risks by putting a new idea ‘out there’ can be daunting, especially if not supported by friends, colleagues, or contemporaries. Although collaboration may lessen the fear of ridicule for innovative work, organizational creativity researcher Teresa Amabile found that when one believes one’s work will be judged or evaluated by others, creativity suffers. For example, Howard Gruber, in discussing the risk Darwin felt in expressing new ideas, noted, “Darwin had a real need to ingratiate himself with others to avoid sharp personal controversy, to feel that he’d made the effort to avoid conflict.” According to Gruber, although the essence of his understanding of the theory of evolution was complete in his 1837–38 notebooks, it took some 20 years to publish, in part because Darwin was aware of the intellectual and religious forces arrayed against him. Teresa Amabile also described how peer pressure is an inhibitor of risk taking, which discourages the presentation of new or different ideas. Among school children, John Dacey and Kathleen Lennon found that classmates may negatively impact creativity. They discuss the fourth grade slump described by Paul Torrance, suggesting pressure to conform to peers as a reason. Twila Tardif and Robert Sternberg noted that in addition to the conflict between criticism and confidence, there is also a conflict or paradox between social withdrawal and social integration tendencies. For creators, there is often both a lack of fit to their environments and the need to maintain distance from peers, avoid interpersonal contact, and resist societal demands. Psychologist Gregory Feist stated that creative people often have the “desire and preference to be somewhat removed from regular social contact” and to focus on their craft. “A unique trait of creative people is their disposition to be autonomous and independent of the influence of the group.” They may be introverted and prefer solitude. Yet there is a drive for accomplishment and recognition, a need to form alliances, a desire for attention, praise, and support, and there may also be an emotional expressiveness, charisma, honesty, and courageousness. These dualities may be temporal aspects, according to Jock Abra and Gordon Abra, who stated that creators have time periods when there is greater need for relationship and feelings of intimacy, and other times for aloneness, although there is considerable individual variation. Fear of intimacy or rejection can also make for focus on creative work rather than relationships. Gail Lewis reported conflicting studies about peer relationships, speculating that tension develops from the contradictory needs for solitude, working alone, and self discovery and at the same time, for recognition, affirmation, and social support.
Power Differences: Stars, Followers, and Friendship Stars, whether musicians, scientists, sports heroes, politicians, or eminent creators attract followers, fans, and sometimes sycophants. Highly creative individuals are sought after by such individuals who believe in the greatness of that creator, or may seek favor, affection or even self-aggrandizement, but who often contribute to the creator’s success. The follower wants to be a friend of the eminent or potentially eminent
Friendship and Creativity
creator and enthusiastically supports the star’s growth, sometimes as benefactor, at other times, affirming the creator’s ideas. The creator may identify the follower as a friend, but the relationship is often grounded in an imbalance of power, wherein the eminent person gets needs satisfied but does not always give back. This may be a pattern in friendships among highly creative individuals, the more eminent in the dyad being dominant, wherein the friend is more a support than a beloved person to the dominant creator. In the case of Villa-Lobos, almost all of his friends were musicians or critics who championed VillaLobos’s career and aspirations. More rarely they were equals, such as the famous pianist, Arthur Rubenstein, who was inspired by Villa-Lobos’s music and played it often.
Future Research on Friendship and Creativity Systematic study of friendships in creative lives is needed. Studies of friendships within particular domains, such as those among mathematicians, or across domains, such as a scientist and a painter, would be valuable, perhaps using cross-case methodology through studies of biographies or among living creators. Friendships that fail but stimulate creative output through criticism, such as that between Van Gogh and Gauguin, as well as friendships that are consistently supportive should be pursued. Friendships that are more equal between the creator and another and those that are less so need to be analyzed. What are the benefits to the friend of the creator, is there satisfaction in supporting creative growth, and is engendering of others’ potential a type of creativity are questions to consider. How a friendship can grow out of collaboration or vice-versa needs study. It is not just the work-related collaboration or the intimate connections with spouses or lovers, but the emotionally satisfying,
541
mutually supportive, power-related, and irrational aspects of friendships that need to be better understood in creative lives.
See also: Collaboration; Creative Environments, Conditions, and Settings; Emotion/Affect; Social Psychology.
Further Reading Abra J and Abra G (1999) Collaboration and competition. Encyclopedia of creativity, vol. I, pp. 283–293. San Diego: Academic Press. Barrett M (2006) Creative collaboration: An eminence study of teaching and learning in music composition. Psychology of Music 35(2): 195–218. Cohen LM (in review) Friendship in creative lives: Heitor Villa-Lobos and Walter Burle Marx. Available from the authors. Cropley AJ (1999) Definitions of creativity. Encyclopedia of Creativity, vol. I, pp. 511–524. San Diego: Academic Press. Feist GJ (1999) Autonomy and independence. Encyclopedia of Creativity, vol. 1, pp. 157–163. San Diego: Academic Press. Gardner H (1993) Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi. New York: Basic Books. Grunebaum JO (2003) Friendship: Liberty, Equality, and Utility. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Harrington DM (1999) Conditions and setting/environment. Encyclopedia of creativity, vol. 1, pp. 323–340. San Diego: Academic Press. John-Steiner V (2000) Creative Collaboration. New York: Oxford University Press. Lewis G (1999) Motivation for productive creativity. In: Fishkin AS, Cramond B, and Olszewski-Kubilius P (eds.) Investigating Creativity in Youth: Research and Methods, pp. 179–202. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Lynch S (2005) Philosophy and Friendship. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press. Miller EM and Cohen LM (in review) Engendering talent in others: Expanding domains of giftedness and creativity. Available from the authors. Montouri A (1997) Social creativity, academic discourse, and the improvisation of inquiry. ReVision 20: 34–40. Montouri A and Purser RE (eds.) (1999) Social creativity: Introduction. Social Creativity, vol. 1, pp. 1–45. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Wubbolding RE (2005) The power of belonging. International Journal of Reality Therapy 24(2): 43–44.
Glossary Collaboration To work with another or others on an intellectual or creative endeavor, focused on a product or performance. Conflict Mental struggles based on opposing or incompatible internal needs, desires, or feelings as well as on external forces, such as competition or power. Domain A body of organized knowledge, skills, and traits underlying a discipline, requiring specific preparation to reach high levels. Eminence A position of high rank or prominence socially bestowed by the field of endeavor.
The role of friendship in the lives of creative individuals has had very little systematic research attention. In fact, friendship is a neglected research topic throughout the social and behavioral sciences, according to philosophers Sandra Lynch and James Grunebaum, and it has been overlooked in research on collaboration as well. Although most biographies of eminent individuals discuss friends and relationships, little attention has been given to the role of friendship in creative lives.
Defining Friendship Definitions of friendship vary, depending on whether we are talking about business relationships, childhood buddies, or best friends, each with a set of norms and demands. Early definitions from the ancient Greeks idealized friendship as a virtue and viewed it as only possible between good men. More current views recognize its complexity. Jan Barkas described friendship as a relationship that is voluntary and caring between two or more persons who have no kinship or legal bonds that reinforces self-esteem and a feeling of being needed or liked. Robert Wubbolding viewed friendship as based on the deepest human need for belonging, interconnectedness, and the satisfaction of power. According to James Grunebaum, friendship is based on caring, with willingness to assist or benefit the other. One treats one’s friends well, helps and does not harm them. Friendship involves responsibility to receive personal confidences and thoughts, the promise to do one’s duty and not defraud or wound. In friendship, there is concern for each other, the sharing of passionate interests, and giving to each other wholeheartedly based on affection and fondness. Sandra Lynch stated that friendships involve a mutual and reciprocal emotional bond that is at its core nonrational. It involves not just feelings, but knowledge of each other’s character, affairs, and personality. On the other hand, she noted that friendship is not necessarily free of self interest. The experience of pleasure, personal gain, or support may motivate such engagement. At the same time, friends are vulnerable to
538
Follower One in the service of another; a fan, devotee, or enthusiast. Friendship A voluntary caring relationship between two or more persons who are not kin that is emotionally based, nonrational, and promotes mutual support, feelings of interconnectedness, and self-esteem. Peers Belonging to the same group in society, typically by age, status, or culture. Power Possession, control, or influence over others. Validation The process of confirming, supporting, and accepting the value of another’s work or being.
disappointments, pain, or hurt in their relationships, so trust is important. There are both rewards and challenges in these voluntary relationships. Professor and creativity scholar, Alfonso Montouri, described his own close friendship, which allows open-ended conversations, exploration of ideas, concepts, feelings, fears, and joys in a spirit of mutual respect, caring, and affection. He noted that through walks and talks with this friend, intuitions and ideas, self-expression, and points of difference and agreement are aspects of their bond that lead to a union of knowledge and are vitally important for creative thought. Yet, he lamented, both organizational and academic cultures in their bureaucratic and often adversarial approaches, mitigate against such exchanges, relegating friendships to the private sphere. He suggested that the safety of exploring not-knowing with an intimate friend, or a discourse as a collective improvisation based on trust, caring, and excitement at being together is a valuable opportunity. For Montouri, as people develop trust and take risks together, are vulnerable and open and admit uncertainties, the quality of knowledge and inquiry is greatly improved and creative capacities supported.
Collaboration and Friendship Although there are numerous biographies of eminent persons that describe the importance of individual friendships and detail exchanges of letters and ideas, there has been little in the creativity literature that focuses specifically on this important aspect. Jock Abra and Gordon Abra noted that even collaboration among creative individuals has been rarely studied, which they considered strange, given that almost every creative act involves working with others. A book on the topic by Vera John-Steiner, published a year later, addressed the importance of collaboration in creative work and viewed creativity as a social phenomenon, rather than an individualistic one, wherein the collaborative relationship scaffolds the construction of new ideas and also strengthens the creator’s sense
Friendship and Creativity
of self, providing support in overcoming self doubt and vulnerability. Abra and Abra specified that most creators communicate with an audience of some kind, implying a kind of collaboration. They also suggested that collaborative relationships may be intimate (such as Watson and Crick) or remote (an orchestra that does not meet the composer). They may be homogeneous (same service, i.e., musicians in an orchestra) or heterogeneous (different, such as the composer, conductor and orchestra members). Collaboration may also be horizontal (democratic, with equal weight, as in Gilbert and Sullivan’s productions) or hierarchical, with differences in power and dominance, such as Jerome Robbins’ final say in choreography and direction. However, collaboration is more a required or necessary relationship, such as that between a choreographer and a dancer, or among a group of scientists working on a problem, while a friendship has no formal requirements but results in caring and reciprocal bonding. While collaboration may grow into friendship or vice versa, the two are not synonymous.
Role of Peers Jean Piaget considered the period of early childhood as the most creative as the child invents the world, trying it out before assimilating through symbolic play and imagination. Likewise, Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky described the origins of creative imagination and later creativity in the early play of childhood. Play with peers allows the making of errors without sanctions, the stretching of imagination, the trying on of roles. Although some researchers find creative children crave solitude, they also describe the desire and emotional satisfaction that comes from being with others and having friends in order to ‘try on different hats.’ Psychologist Howard Gardner, in his study of highly creative lives representing each of the Multiple Intelligences, delineated the crucial aspect of informed peers, who play a supportive and caring role as an essential element in the creative process through their beliefs in the revolutionary ideas of the creators. At the same time, the seven eminent individuals he studied had problems forming deep emotional attachments or close friendships. Friends, spouses, or lovers were important, but more for their contributions to the needs and purposes of the creator, rather than for their inherent value. These creators benefited from supportive relationships during periods of major work toward breakthrough, but caring others were less important once the breakthrough occurred and were sometimes discarded. This implies that the friend or significant other’s personhood was less central than his or her supporting role. However, “what has been overlooked is a discussion of supportive persons themselves as creative forces in their own right with the ‘object’ of creation being the development of others for the greater good: engendering”, according to Erin Miller and LeoNora Cohen, creativity researchers. Although more typical among peers, friendships can also be cross-generational, especially those that develop between mentors and their prote´ge´es. The relationships can blossom into friendships if values and interest are shared, as noted by Vera John-Steiner.
539
Domain Basis for Friendships Often, friendships of creative individuals come from the same or related domain of endeavor. “People become friends because they are passionately and emotionally involved in the same pursuits. They have common ground and become friends because of their common interests,” according to creativity scholar, Jane Piirto. Although adult creators often describe great loneliness in childhood, they may develop strong peer friendships in late adolescence, particularly if they are able to learn or work together in their domain, which may sustain them throughout life. Friendships among creative children are important for development of self-esteem and for intimacy, particularly as students become teenagers. To share passions with like minds is important for well-being, as well as for generation of ideas, testing novel ideas, and growing cognitively and creatively. However, such friendships may be fraught with problems. Creative young people have the need to be valued and to share their interests with others. At the same time, there is a need to have time and space alone to focus on their own work. There is also the competition for the same scholarships or awards, for accomplishment, and the need to be ‘the best,’ especially among young performers. Such conflicts may lead creative young people to eschew one aspect for the other. How to find a balance that is both personally satisfying and allows for the freedom to create is a challenge.
A Look at One Domain: Music and Friendship Some fields, such as music, are more conducive to collaboration and possible friendships. Alfonso Montouri and Ronald Purser noted: Music is an emergent property of other relationships in a group. The organic nature of musical groups can ideally create a situation where the collaboration is enormously enriching, and the music emerges out of the constant interplay of musicians rehearsing, performing, and recording.
At the same time, as noted earlier, there may be a tremendous level of competition, especially among aspiring young musicians where only the best succeed. While the friendships incubated in the conservatory evolve from passion for their craft and field, there is both the need to beat out the competition and the simultaneous need to share the joy of music, according to Judith Kogan and Lauren Sosniack, scholars of music development. In western music, particularly orchestral, there is a natural tripartite: the composer, the conductor, and the soloists or orchestra. Musical creativity is complex, occurring within a given timeframe and place, involving all three roles, wherein the music is cocreated. This suggests that the relationships among these three types of musicians would necessarily be collaborative, while those relationships among specific instrumentalists (such as violinists) might be more conflicted. Although conductors and soloists certainly play works of dead composers, the dependence of the living composer on the conductor and soloists to get heard is central.
540
Friendship and Creativity
In a study of the friendship between two Brazilian composers, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Walter Burle Marx, LeoNora Cohen found that the relationship started badly, with perceptions of each other on the one hand as unschooled and wild and on the other as an upper crust snoot overly concerned with form. However, Marx, sent to Europe at age 18 to study piano, composition, and conducting with the musical masters there, grew to love the deeply Brazilian works of Villa-Lobos and began to emulate them, also championing Villa-Lobos’ works through conducting them in Rio and across the United States. Villa-Lobos grew to value Marx, dedicating two works to him. Trust to critique each others’ compositions evolved, but it was a lopsided friendship, with Marx, younger and less eminent, deferring to Villa-Lobos.
Benefits and Problems in Friendships of Creators Friends benefit creators not only in sharing new ideas and stretching cognitive growth, but also in validating and sustaining them on a personal level, helping them to overcome selfdoubt, a characteristic that creative personality researcher Frank Barron found characterizes creative individuals, expressed as concern about personal adequacy and motivation to prove oneself. Friendship can provide emotional strengthening and a sense of confidence, enhancing the creator’s self-esteem. Difficulties also arise, including conflicts and power issues.
Validation Safety and social validation of creative products are a major function of friends and work place collaborators. They provide creative individuals a safe space where they can break rules without sanctions, as well as offering them a positive perspective on themselves; for instance, that their ideas are not crazy but creative. Friends and colleagues can help foster the courage to test limits, according to psychologist and creativity researcher Arthur Cropley. David Harrington, known for his work on the ecology of creativity, discussed the role of advocates such as parents, friends, or mentors who champion creative individuals and provide them with help or needed resources. He noted that explicit encouragement is almost always helpful, stating: Creatively effective people have often described a positive impact which words of encouragement in understanding from credible sources have had upon the creative work, particularly at times of unusual creative challenge and stress.
He observed the importance of feedback that encourages revision without embarrassment or feelings of inadequacy.
Conflicts But there are also conflicts in friendships and close relationships for creative people, particularly when the friend is not supportive of a creative idea, the creator feels judged or rejected, or power issues arise, such as who gets credit for the new product or idea. Although, as Robert Sternberg and
colleagues noted, “creativity requires a risk-taking personality”, the taking of risks by putting a new idea ‘out there’ can be daunting, especially if not supported by friends, colleagues, or contemporaries. Although collaboration may lessen the fear of ridicule for innovative work, organizational creativity researcher Teresa Amabile found that when one believes one’s work will be judged or evaluated by others, creativity suffers. For example, Howard Gruber, in discussing the risk Darwin felt in expressing new ideas, noted, “Darwin had a real need to ingratiate himself with others to avoid sharp personal controversy, to feel that he’d made the effort to avoid conflict.” According to Gruber, although the essence of his understanding of the theory of evolution was complete in his 1837–38 notebooks, it took some 20 years to publish, in part because Darwin was aware of the intellectual and religious forces arrayed against him. Teresa Amabile also described how peer pressure is an inhibitor of risk taking, which discourages the presentation of new or different ideas. Among school children, John Dacey and Kathleen Lennon found that classmates may negatively impact creativity. They discuss the fourth grade slump described by Paul Torrance, suggesting pressure to conform to peers as a reason. Twila Tardif and Robert Sternberg noted that in addition to the conflict between criticism and confidence, there is also a conflict or paradox between social withdrawal and social integration tendencies. For creators, there is often both a lack of fit to their environments and the need to maintain distance from peers, avoid interpersonal contact, and resist societal demands. Psychologist Gregory Feist stated that creative people often have the “desire and preference to be somewhat removed from regular social contact” and to focus on their craft. “A unique trait of creative people is their disposition to be autonomous and independent of the influence of the group.” They may be introverted and prefer solitude. Yet there is a drive for accomplishment and recognition, a need to form alliances, a desire for attention, praise, and support, and there may also be an emotional expressiveness, charisma, honesty, and courageousness. These dualities may be temporal aspects, according to Jock Abra and Gordon Abra, who stated that creators have time periods when there is greater need for relationship and feelings of intimacy, and other times for aloneness, although there is considerable individual variation. Fear of intimacy or rejection can also make for focus on creative work rather than relationships. Gail Lewis reported conflicting studies about peer relationships, speculating that tension develops from the contradictory needs for solitude, working alone, and self discovery and at the same time, for recognition, affirmation, and social support.
Power Differences: Stars, Followers, and Friendship Stars, whether musicians, scientists, sports heroes, politicians, or eminent creators attract followers, fans, and sometimes sycophants. Highly creative individuals are sought after by such individuals who believe in the greatness of that creator, or may seek favor, affection or even self-aggrandizement, but who often contribute to the creator’s success. The follower wants to be a friend of the eminent or potentially eminent
Friendship and Creativity
creator and enthusiastically supports the star’s growth, sometimes as benefactor, at other times, affirming the creator’s ideas. The creator may identify the follower as a friend, but the relationship is often grounded in an imbalance of power, wherein the eminent person gets needs satisfied but does not always give back. This may be a pattern in friendships among highly creative individuals, the more eminent in the dyad being dominant, wherein the friend is more a support than a beloved person to the dominant creator. In the case of Villa-Lobos, almost all of his friends were musicians or critics who championed VillaLobos’s career and aspirations. More rarely they were equals, such as the famous pianist, Arthur Rubenstein, who was inspired by Villa-Lobos’s music and played it often.
Future Research on Friendship and Creativity Systematic study of friendships in creative lives is needed. Studies of friendships within particular domains, such as those among mathematicians, or across domains, such as a scientist and a painter, would be valuable, perhaps using cross-case methodology through studies of biographies or among living creators. Friendships that fail but stimulate creative output through criticism, such as that between Van Gogh and Gauguin, as well as friendships that are consistently supportive should be pursued. Friendships that are more equal between the creator and another and those that are less so need to be analyzed. What are the benefits to the friend of the creator, is there satisfaction in supporting creative growth, and is engendering of others’ potential a type of creativity are questions to consider. How a friendship can grow out of collaboration or vice-versa needs study. It is not just the work-related collaboration or the intimate connections with spouses or lovers, but the emotionally satisfying,
541
mutually supportive, power-related, and irrational aspects of friendships that need to be better understood in creative lives.
See also: Collaboration; Creative Environments, Conditions, and Settings; Emotion/Affect; Social Psychology.
Further Reading Abra J and Abra G (1999) Collaboration and competition. Encyclopedia of creativity, vol. I, pp. 283–293. San Diego: Academic Press. Barrett M (2006) Creative collaboration: An eminence study of teaching and learning in music composition. Psychology of Music 35(2): 195–218. Cohen LM (in review) Friendship in creative lives: Heitor Villa-Lobos and Walter Burle Marx. Available from the authors. Cropley AJ (1999) Definitions of creativity. Encyclopedia of Creativity, vol. I, pp. 511–524. San Diego: Academic Press. Feist GJ (1999) Autonomy and independence. Encyclopedia of Creativity, vol. 1, pp. 157–163. San Diego: Academic Press. Gardner H (1993) Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi. New York: Basic Books. Grunebaum JO (2003) Friendship: Liberty, Equality, and Utility. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Harrington DM (1999) Conditions and setting/environment. Encyclopedia of creativity, vol. 1, pp. 323–340. San Diego: Academic Press. John-Steiner V (2000) Creative Collaboration. New York: Oxford University Press. Lewis G (1999) Motivation for productive creativity. In: Fishkin AS, Cramond B, and Olszewski-Kubilius P (eds.) Investigating Creativity in Youth: Research and Methods, pp. 179–202. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Lynch S (2005) Philosophy and Friendship. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press. Miller EM and Cohen LM (in review) Engendering talent in others: Expanding domains of giftedness and creativity. Available from the authors. Montouri A (1997) Social creativity, academic discourse, and the improvisation of inquiry. ReVision 20: 34–40. Montouri A and Purser RE (eds.) (1999) Social creativity: Introduction. Social Creativity, vol. 1, pp. 1–45. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Wubbolding RE (2005) The power of belonging. International Journal of Reality Therapy 24(2): 43–44.