Comedy might be considered as a simple genre but it is not easy to perform comic acts. This might be the reason that it is considered that comedians might be having some unique traits to entertain people.
Recently, a research has been carried out by a group of researchers from Oxford University. The researchers have unveiled that comedians have some personality traits that are linked with psychosis.
The study was led by Professor Gordon Claridge of the University of Oxford, who says:
“Although schizophrenic psychosis itself can be detrimental to humour, in its lesser form it can increase people’s ability to associate odd or unusual things or to think ‘outside the box’. Equally, manic thinking, which is common in people with bipolar disorder, may help people combine ideas to form new, original and humorous connections.”
Claridge and his colleagues, Victoria Ando and Ken Clark, got 523 comedians to participate in their study. 404 of them were men, while 119 were women. All were asked to complete a questionnaire that was designed to measure certain trains. 364 actors also completed the questionnaire, as well as 831 people with non-creative occupations.
The researchers found that comedians scored significantly higher on all four types of psychotic personality traits compared to the general group.
Agencies/Canadajournal