Is it possible to have contradicting personality traits

Why does that happen? My thoughts make cohesive sense to me, yet others sometimes feel that I am contradicting myself or switching positions. What is wrong with me? Most creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but are often quiet and at rest. They can work long hours at great concentration. Most creative people tend to be smart and naive at the same time. These are the dimensions of thinking that most creativity tests measure, and that most creativity workshops try to enhance.

Most creative people combine both playfulness and productivity, which can sometimes mean both responsibility and irresponsibility. Most creative people alternate fluently between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.

In both art and science, movement forward involves a leap of imagination, a leap into a world that is different from our present. Interestingly, this visionary imagination works in conjunction with a hyperawareness of reality. Attention to real details allows a creative person to imagine ways to improve them.

Most creative people tend to be both introverted and extroverted. Creative Personality: The Classical Approach Classical research on personality dimensions in creative persons emphasises the description of certain accentuated and relatively stable traits in such individuals.

Creative Personality in College Students Creative profiles have been studied in college students taken as a whole population, considering pathological and adaptive traits. Creative Personality: The Complex Perspective and the Concept of Paradoxical Personality As stated before, the classical study of creative personality aims at analysing different traits, trying to explain creative behaviours in such individuals.

Method Design A descriptive-inferential design was carried out, analysing differences between groups and correlating the behaviour of academic achievement by means of paradoxical traits.

Instruments Personal and Academic Survey It included information about age, gender, university, faculty, academic major, time elapsed from the beginning of studies, and number of passed classes. Table 1 Paradoxical Personality Dimensions Csikszentmihalyi, Dimension Description Hyperactivity-Hypoactivity Persons who are sometimes very energetic and some other times, they remain quiet and silent.

They can work continuously for huge periods, and after that they use to take long breaks. They think that a given activity rhythm must be followed by another of reflection and leisure. Imagination-Reality These people possess fantastic ideas with a strong anchorage in reality.

Their mental models account, at least, a minimal connection to some aspect of reality. Extraversion-Introversion These persons enjoy being in a crowd, though sometimes they remain aside and avoid participation.

However they tolerate loneliness, as necessary in the creative process. Humility-Pride The most capable persons use to employ self-criticism, sometimes being shy. Some other times they behave arrogantly and contemptuously. This polarity also manifests as ambition-cooperation or disinterest-competitiveness. These individuals use to be ambitious and aggressive but on the other hand they are inclined to subordinate their own projects and interests to benefit the group or the team.

Conservatism-Iconoclasm This paradox is also represented by rebellion and traditionalism. Creative products require some knowledge and acceptance of values, manners and cultural products which will be transgressed. Rebellion and traditionalism are necessary for allowing the creative process taking place.

Being only conservative leaves the field unmodified; and taking chances permanently without referring to the past rarely conduces to a novel production accepted as an improved product. Suffering-Pleasure Openness and sensibility expose creative persons to suffering and pain, but to also to pleasure. Inventors possess a low pain threshold. Because of that when an artist has dedicated years to some composition — or a scientist to some development — it is devastating when nobody shows interest.

On the other hand, the pleasure they experience when they can work in complete freedom is huge. Open in a separate window.

Participants The sample was composed of college students from Buenos Aires — Procedures Data gathering was developed during classes by a trained psychologist. Results In order to identify paradoxical personality traits in college students from different majors, raw scores were classified according to 5 percentile ranks established for every trait, considering the whole sample.

Table 2 Paradoxical Personality Traits. Presence According to Raw Scores. Table 3 Paradoxical Personality Traits by Major. Table 4 Paradoxical Personality Traits. Differences by Major. Discussion The study analysed paradoxical personality traits in college students from different academic majors.

Acknowledgments There is not any additional support to be reported. Items in Spanish Items in English 1. Soy una persona que ante la menor cosa negativa sufro, y ante la menor cosa positiva me alegro. Facing the minimal negative event, I suffer, and facing the minimal positive event, I feel happy. Creo ser una persona muy sensible y susceptible a experimentar placer y dolor. I think I am a very sensitive and susceptible person, when experiencing pleasure and pain.

When I develop my activities, I often feel a huge satisfaction and I leave my worries away, but occasionally suffering begins to increase. I have moments of melancholy which sometimes change towards moments of great joy. When I cannot do things well, I use to suffer quite a bit and to freeze, but sometimes, on the contrary, I take hold and I cope with those things. Soy muy susceptible a experimentar placer cuando se me elogia, y gran sufrimiento cuando se me critica.

I am so inclined to experience pleasure when somebody praises me, and a huge suffering when somebody criticises me. A menudo experimento el sufrimiento y el placer con gran facilidad. I often experience suffering and pleasure very easily. Por momentos hago muchas cosas a la vez, y por momentos no hago nada. Sometimes I do a lot of things at once, and sometimes I do nothing. Soy una persona que puede pasar largas horas en actividad, pero que a la vez le gusta dormir otra buena cantidad de tiempo.

I am a person who can spend long time in activity, but who likes to sleep similar periods of time. I use to spend a big amount of energy in my activities for long periods, and later I take long periods to rest. Tengo por costumbre dedicar tiempo al ocio luego de haber trabajado mucho. I use to spend time in leisure after long periods working.

I spend long periods to reflexion and leisure, to could work hard for long periods after that. Puedo permanecer atento y concentrado durante mucho tiempo, y disperso y desconcentrado durante otro.

I can stay concentrated and focused during long periods, and dispersed and unfocused by similar periods. Creo poder concentrarme cuando lo necesito, sin embargo cada tanto me distraigo con facilidad. I think I can stay concentrated when I need it; however I am distracted from time to time. I am generally quite shy, but sometimes I am quite audacious. En ciertas circunstancias soy una persona muy introvertida, pero en otras soy muy extrovertida.

Under some circumstances I am very introverted, but sometimes I am very extroverted. En ciertas reuniones suelo quedarme callado, pero en otras suelo ser muy participativo.

In some social situations I use to remain silent, but in some others I use to participate a lot. Being in parties or reunions I use to be introspective, ignoring people, but sometimes y participate a lot. Soy una persona con muchas ideas fantasiosas, pero que no siempre se deja llevar por ellas.

I am a person who has many fanciful ideas, but who not always permits being pulled by them. I use to have pretty fanciful ideas with very little approval, and so ordinary ideas which are strongly accepted. Sometimes I try to create new realities, but some other times I prefer to stay comfortably in the actual reality.

Tengo producciones novedosas que suelen adaptarse a la realidad, aunque otras veces no se ajustan tanto. I have got novel productions which use to be adapted to reality, though some other times they do not adapt so well.

I feel safe being traditional, but I know that sometimes it is good to try different things. Suelo ser consciente de la importancia del aporte previo de otras personas a mis actividades, aunque otras veces creo que mis logros son solo gracias a mi esfuerzo. I use to be aware of the importance of previous contributions from other people to my activities, although some other times I think that my achievements are only due to me.

I use to explore new ideas by means of trial and error, although sometimes I prefer doing things in the most familiar and standard way as possible. I think I am a very traditional person, although sometimes I like to do things out of the ordinary. Trato de no alejarme de los convencionalismos por temor al fracaso, pero en ocasiones tomo coraje y emprendo actividades innovadoras. I intend not to get away from conventions because of my fear to failure, but sometimes I take courage and I start with innovative activities.

Occasionally I am quite self-criticism person, and sometimes I behave arrogantly. Sometimes I feel superior to other people, but some other times I feel I am too much inferior.

A veces me comporto como una persona muy competitiva pero, en ciertas ocasiones, soy bastante cooperativo. Sometimes I behave as a very competitive person, but occasionally I am quite helpful. References Abraham A. Conceptual expansion and creative imagery as a function of psychoticism. Consciousness and Cognition , 14 3 , — Psychoticism and creativity: A meta-analytic review. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts , 6 4 , — A theory of adult intellectual development: Process, personality, interests, and knowledge.

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Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time. A third paradoxical trait refers to the related combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.

Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy at one end, and a rooted sense of reality at the other. Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion. Creative individuals are also remarkably humble and proud at the same time.