Sunday, February 28, 2010

Department of whoo-fucking-hoo

It must be true! Actual scientific scientists have studied the matter:
[Social psychologist Joe] Forgas said he has found that sadness correlates with clearer and more compelling sentences, and that negative moods "promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style." Because we're more critical of what we're writing, we produce more refined prose, the sentences polished by our angst. As Roland Barthes observed, "A creative writer is one for whom writing is a problem."
(Yep. Still working on that essay over here. More later.)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

awesome. i also like the studies that say that negative people are more correct more often than positive people.

Flavia said...

E: Yes! I knew you'd like that. As do I.

Dr. Koshary said...

Suddenly grad school makes much more sense as a whole.