A solo research paper exploring the relationship between maladaptive daydreaming and creativity.
Maladaptive daydreaming refers to excessive, immersive fantasy that takes up so much of a person's time it starts to negatively affect their emotional and psychological wellbeing. This paper looks at what that means for creativity.
The short answer is complicated. People with maladaptive daydreaming tend to score high on creative personal identity: they see themselves as creative people. But they score low on creative self-efficacy, the actual ability to sit down and make something. The daydreaming itself gets in the way, pulling them away from the creative process rather than feeding into it. Creative anxiety plays a role too, where the act of putting ideas to paper becomes genuinely uncomfortable.
The paper also looks at notable examples like Neil Gaiman and Tolkien, who both credited daydreams as a source of creative inspiration, and draws a distinction between productive daydreaming and the more excessive, escapist kind.
Written for the Research Fundamentals course of the Creative Intelligence and Technology MSc at Leiden University.