As much as difficult it is to analyze creativity, itโs even harder to assess it. Some questions that have puzzled scientists and psychologists for decades include โ what does to be creative mean? Is it something that you can learn or acquire? Where does it come from?
Assumptions regarding creative minds can educate curious people, be it a suffering genius or an unorganized dreamer. However, it can also be a negative influence. So what is the truth about creativity?
Here are 25 facts about creativity that may help enlighten you.
1. Conformity is Creativities Killer.
Conformity brings about a huge pressure, whose motivation is not exactly compatible with the creative process. People who are extremely susceptible to these pressures have certain personality traits that are harmful to the process of creative thinking.
2. Creative People are More Likely to be Dishonest.
A study shows how entitlement, from trusting that one is creative and different, is often the push for unethical conduct. Much of this comes from holding creativity on the base that treats it as a rare gift reserved only for a few people. Other studies show that deceitfulness comes from a need to โthink outside the boxโ even when it comes to morals and basic ethics.
3. Creative People are More Likely to Have Psychopathic Inclinations.
Research has shown that artistic abilities and psychopathic behaviors have a direct connection. Hence, a creative field doesnโt just make a person narcissistic or dishonest, but it actively searches those traits out and feeds on them.
4. A Personโs Creativity Mostly Peaks During โoffโ Hours.
Another research shows that your inclination towards being a night or day person affects your creativity in interesting ways. One of the lesser-known facts about creativity is that night owl creatives are smarter and outgoing and early birds are more proactive, persistent, and meticulous. When challenged to create at their non-preferred times, they passed the questions with amazing marks.
5. Creative People are More Likely to be โSituationists.โ
According to a political theory set in the late 1950s in Europe, a situationist thought means that creatives are more likely to be caring and practical when it comes to ethical decision making while making mistakes on the idealistic side.
6. Creative People Tend to be Independent and Aspirational.
One of the facts about creativity is that creatives are more often self-centered rather than other-centered, causing relationship troubles and having a love of work. This may be because they consider themselves superior to other people. Itโs a common moral problem between creatives.
7. Creativity is Enhanced by a Diverse Social Network.
Having a huge diversified group of friends and guidance has been said to enhance creativity. To be a part of a multicultural society is probably the best idea to have creativity flow due to the majorly benefitting types of knowledge being very specific and having a domain-specific effect on creativity.
8. Memory Plays a Significant Role in Creative Thought.
Our subconscious immediately takes us to the past, which is very familiar when asked to think of a new idea. Future circumstances are fabricated by details we have retrieved from past scenarios. Hence, having a strong sporadic memory can help in creative thinking.
9. Love, Specifically Long-Term Relationships, Boosts Creative Thinking.
One of the facts about creativity is that even though creatives struggle with relationships, a strong focus on long-term commitment can boost entire thinking skills and creative perception. Romantic love can help an individual think more flexibly than compared to purely sexual encounters, which are often centered around the present moment and tangible details, which increases analytical thinking.
10. Creative People are Messy.
According to a recent study, while a clean space is recommended for good decision making, messy workspaces help creative thinking. Cluttered and messy spaces help the brain to focus on the bigger picture, hence breaking the idea generation of tradition.
11. Creativity Seems to Be Declining.
Children are not doing as highly on creative tests as they once were, whether itโs because of iPad childcare, less time for creative play, or uniform testing in schools. Schools just need to move their importance to foster creativity.
12. Males and Females Tend to Have Different Creative Strong Points.
A recent study has found that males and females approach the idea of creativity differently. Males are riskier, showing more individuality and eccentricity, and females excel at the skill to adapt better. When testing students, it was found that females dominated men when it came to be thinking thoroughly and men dominated females when it came to breaking the boundaries in thinking.
13. Creative People are Often Perceived to be Poor Leaders.
One of the facts about creativity is that creatives need to push a little harder to show that they can take up responsibility. Whether itโs their idealism, or a matter of bias, the most common misunderstanding of people is that creatives canโt lead.
14. People Who Dream a Lot are More Likely to be Creative.
Dreaming helps you find solutions to every problem that trouble you during the daytime and even stop you from making friends easily. People who dream actively and those who have an imaginative mind and are open are said to recall their dreams easier than others, helping memory.
15. Those Considered Geniuses Describe Their Creative Processes as Surreal.
One of the facts about creativity is that everybody experiences times of normal creativity, which helps in daily tasks. But the creatives all qualifying as geniuses mainly talk about random flashes which set off their best, most iconic works.
16. The First Step to Nurturing the Creative Spark is Perception.
One of the facts about creativity is that all the creative trailing starts when the person becomes conscious of an external stimulus and processes it in his/her mind. More complex than mere sight, the โengines of our ingenuityโ mix the imagery with imagination. Individual differences in this unavoidable connection lead to creative products and skilfully explain why some people have the results they do and help push the society forward.
17. Creative People Have Slower Nerves.
The left frontal cortex goes through more inactivity, during creative moments, which also associates with the reduced white matter and linking axons. When thinking slows down, that is when creativity builds. However, flashes of inspiration and ideas occur very quickly. Scientists like Dr. Jung believe that the emotions and other cognitive occurrences in this region help abstract and unique thinking processes.
18. Creativity is Facilitated by โPsychological Distance.โ
One of the facts about creativity is that abstract thinking is built when the individual separates original points of view with the new, different ones. Studies have proved that the most unswerving creatives show a willingness to tackle their obstacles from several angles and perspectives beyond their original notion.
19. Creativity Might Plummet if it Becomes a Means to a Rewarding End.
This is one of the lesser-known facts about creativity. Studies conducted in Brandeis Universityโs creative writing students showcased a drop in their motivation and tests when it came to working when they achieved rewards or prizes for their attempts. They wrote poetry with less interest, and this discovery was then applying to other situations beyond the creative as well.
20. Improvisation Stimulates the Brainโs Language Centers.
Charles Limb, in his TED lecture, spoke about his amazing discoveries concerning the functioning behind musical improvisation. He discussed how it makes the Brocaโs Area light up. Brain scientists think this part is responsible for language development and cognition, showcasing that the brain might identify music with speech.
21. High IQ Might Correlate with Creativity and Vice Versa.
Some of Dr. Shelley Carsonโs studies note that intelligence and creativity both increase together at the 120, 130, and 150 IQ levels, but to show and prove any solid association between the two, a lot more research is required. However, it is seen that while not all high IQ people are creative, all creatives do hold a high IQ.
22. Creativity and Imagination are Not the Same Things.
One of the most amazing facts about creativity is that the words โcreativityโ and โimaginationโ are often called the same thing, but they arenโt. Imagination is the ability to start an idea that doesnโt exist. Creativity is taking that idea and making it a reality. People who have ideas but donโt act on them are good at imagining. They are not creative.
23. 72% of People Have Creative Insights in the Shower.
A study was conducted in 2014 by Kaufman. In this study, 72% of the people around the world described having new and unique ideas while being in the shower. The complete isolation of a shower is a great medium for generating ideas.
24. Creative Achievers are Likely to Have Unfocused Attention Spans.
The skill of having an open focus where you pay attention to the task in hand and collect information from other sources at the same time helps you make a wide range of connections. This helps in increasing your creative thinking. This is one of the not very well known facts about creativity.
25. Positivity Enhances Creativity.
One of the rare facts about creativity is that happiness and positivity increase creativity in a person. Studies show that sadness has a neutral effect, and fear and anxiety harm creativity.
These are the top 25 facts about creativity. There are several more, like the fact that creativity is enhanced by sleep, and creatives live longer than non-creatives. Let us know the fact that intrigued you the most and connected to even more!
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Last Updated on by Laveleena Sharma
Enjoyed your interesting post, Snigdha! ๐
(Perhaps I should install a shower, LOL! ๐)