THE IMPACT OF STRESS ON THE CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY OF BEACH BOY BRIAN WILSON, 1962-1971 by ERNEST MICHAEL JORDAN (Under the Direction of Bonnie L. Cramond) ABSTRACT The darker aspects of Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s life and career are well known. However, the tendency of popular media coverage to focus entirely on his troubled life fuels the “mad genius” stereotype attribution while ignoring his legitimate musical legacy. This study examines the longitudinal relationship between his total, positive, and negative stress levels and the variations in his creative productivity from 1962 through 1971. Biographical stress and creative productivity data on Wilson were collected from numerous sources, converted to quantitative data and measured, and collated into separate sets of yearly chronologies. The results of time series analyses indicate that neither total stress nor negative stress significantly impacted Wilson’s creative output. However, the impact of positive stress on his creative output was found to be very significant, contradicting many previous depictions of Wilson’s troubled life and career. His productivity over the study period seems to have persevered despite the numerous negative stressors he experienced. These findings provide evidence that the popular stereotypes of “mad” Brian Wilson do not accurately portray his legitimate creativity. INDEX WORDS: Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Creative Productivity, Creativity, Genius, Historiometry, Music, Negative Stress, Popular Music, Positive Stress, Rock and Roll, Social Readjustment Rating Scale, Stress, Time Series THE IMPACT OF STRESS ON THE CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY OF BEACH BOY BRIAN WILSON, 1962-1971 by ERNEST MICHAEL JORDAN B.S., Georgia Southwestern College, 1989 B.S., Georgia Southwestern College, 1995 M.S., The University Of Georgia, 1999 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2004 © 2004 Ernest Michael Jordan All Rights Reserved THE IMPACT OF STRESS ON THE CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY OF BEACH BOY BRIAN WILSON, 1962-1971 by ERNEST MICHAEL JORDAN Major Professor: Bonnie Cramond Committee: Thomas Hébert Carl J Huberty Stephen Valdez Joseph Wisenbaker Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2004 iv DEDICATION To Mr. Wilson, with maximum respect. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank You, Heavenly Father, for loving me and blessing me with a beautiful, wonderful wife, the great love of my life, and for the most gloriously beautiful, riotously humorous, perfect baby I could have ever dreamed of. Thank You, too, for blessing me with sensitivity. To my precious wife: I absolutely adore you. You deserve much more than I am capable of writing, but I am comforted that you know that feeling is more important than words, the experience above the explanation. Always. After nearly 20 years together, I remain dizzyingly, madly in love with you. I would not be here if not for your loving warmth and kindness. Thank you for making “home” happy. To my precious baby girl, Bunnie: As with your mother, I remain wordless in my utter adoration of you. You are beautiful beyond description, and leave me mumbling senselessly whenever I attempt to articulate your impact on me. Thank you for being here, and for your rapturously beautiful smile, and for your wondrous, intoxicating laughter. Like your mother, you leave me awestruck; you simply will never know how much I love you. To my beloved Gretchen and Suky: “Please remember me, Gretchen my dear. Don’t forget me, Suky my love.” Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful feline Jordans. Please, please do not forget me, my babies . .Oh, I love so much. So very much. I will never forget the impact of my great committee on my learning experiences, both professionally and personally. I’m leaving a better person because of them, and I will not forget them. A very special thanks to Bonnie Cramond, who shared my interest and enthusiasm in creativity and music. Thank you so much for teaching me and giving me freedom-with proper nurturing-I pursued my folly. Oh, and at age 32, the youngest, prettiest advisor I’ve ever had. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………….v LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Purpose ......................................................................................................................3 Significance...............................................................................................................3 Questions...................................................................................................................4 II REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................................................................5 Stress .........................................................................................................................5 Eminent Creative Productivity ..................................................................................5 Stress and Creative Productivity ...............................................................................7 Previous Research .....................................................................................................8 Summary .................................................................................................................10 III METHOD ....................................................................................................................12 Subject.....................................................................................................................12 Data Collection........................................................................................................16 Time Period: 1962 - 1971.......................................................................................17 vii Instruments ..............................................................................................................18 Stress Chronologies...........................................................................................18 The Social Readjustment Rating Scale .............................................................19 Participants/External Raters ..............................................................................20 Positive and Negative Stress Ratings ................................................................22 Creative Productivity Chronologies ..................................................................24 Data Analysis ..........................................................................................................27 IV RESULTS ....................................................................................................................32 Descriptive Statistics ...............................................................................................32 Correlations .............................................................................................................35 Time Series Regression Analyses ...........................................................................36 Subsidiary Analyses ................................................................................................37 Summary .................................................................................................................39 V DISCUSSION..............................................................................................................40 Total Stress and Creative Productivity....................................................................40 Positive Stress, Negative Stress, and Creative Productivity ...................................42 Limitations...............................................................................................................44 Recommendations for Future Study........................................................................45 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................49 APPENDICES ...............................................................................................................................55 A BIOGRAPHICAL AND ARCHIVAL SOURCES USED..........................................56 B SAMPLE FROM STRESS CHRONOLOGIES ..........................................................61 C MODIFIED SOCIAL READJUSTMENT RATING SCALE ....................................62 viii D EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE STRESS CLASSIFICATIONS…..64 E SAMPLE PAGE FROM CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY CHRONOLOGY……….66 ix LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Descriptive Statistics for Wilson’s Stress and Productivity Measures, 1962 – 1971……………………………………………..…………....32 Table 2: Annual Proportions of Total Brian Wilson Creativity and Stress Measures, 1962-1971……………………………………………………..34 Table 3: Correlations Among Brian Wilson’s Annual Creative Productivity and Stress Ratings ……………………………………………………………….35 Table 4: Stress Determinants of Brian Wilson's Creative Productivity, 1962-1971……………………….……………………………………………….36 x LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Annual Fluctuations in Brian