Creativity

Statue of Leonardo da Vinci in Tuscany, Italy.

Creativity is the God-given faculty of coming up with new ideas, new music, new inventions and stories, new ways of doing things. It generally involves combining two things together, especially in a novel way.

Openness to experience is important to one's level of creativity.

Along with individual initiative, creativity is one of the two outstanding characteristics of Americans (See: United States and innovation). More patented inventions, such as the telephone and atomic bomb, were invented by Americans than by people of any other country, although sometimes people of other countries have been able to put the finishing touches on them or market them better. For example, the fax machine, Gunpowder, paper, radio, the printing press, the steam engine, and open heart surgery, are examples of creativity originating in Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Unfortunately, many young artists are under the false assumption that alcohol and drugs can be used to enhance their creativity. Poets, writers, composers, painters, musicians, etc. get caught up in this self-defeating misconception. Part of it has to do with the pleasure center of the brain that the drugs impact - making one falsely believe they are more creative due to a temporary increase of dopamine. If people have trouble driving a car on alcohol or other drugs, it stands to reason it might be harder to play an instrument, coordinate a paintbrush, or mold a lump of clay as well. The most celebrated artists of the past, such as Walt Disney, Leonardo Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Bach and Michelangelo achieved their fame without the use of drugs.

Creativity also allows people to be more open to all of God's given opportunities in life, as when one thinks creatively they open themselves up to limitless possibilities and solutions. Besides from that researchers have determined that creativity uses conservative thinking methods as well. According to the researchers “Creativity is our ability to think in new and original ways to solve problems, but not every original solution is considered a creative one." As creativity requires high standards, something liberals are not too fond of.

Similarly to guns, religion, and other conservative things, creativity has been long suppressed by dictatorships such as Nazi Germany, North Korea, among others as people weren't allowed to feel any way contrary to the dictator. This is why they would burn books and other forms of literature that didn't fit the dictator's agenda.

Methods to increase creativity

• 3 science-based strategies to increase your creativity
• The science of creativity, American Psychological Association
• 7 Tips for Developing Creativity, Grand Canyon University
• How to Boost Creativity, VeryWellMind.com
• 10 Psychological Tricks to Help Boost Your Creativity, VeryWellMind.com
• How to improve creativity, Future Learn website
• 25 Ways to Be More Creative, Inc. magazine

Psychologist Edward de Bono's lateral thinking technique to increase creativity:

• What is lateral thinking? 7 techniques to encourage creative ideas
• Six Thinking Hats by deBono Group website
• Six Thinking Hats, Mindtools.com
• Bono's lateral thinking for creativity - 6 thinking hats
• Lateral thinking - Bono

Videos:

• Creativity videos
• How to be more creative

Buffalo State College video lectures (International Center for Studies in Creativity):

• Creativity - Buffalo State College lectures (International Center for Studies in Creativity) - Playlist 1
• Buffalo State College- (International Center for Studies in Creativity) - Playlist 2
• Buffalo State College- (International Center for Studies in Creativity) - Playlist 3
• Creativity 101
• Disecting creativity
• Alumni videos
• Founder talks

Increasing one's openness

See also: Change management and Comfort zone and Neoroplasticity and the ability of individuals to change their personality

Open people are less resistant to change.

Change, such as the changing of the seasons, is constantly occuring around us.

As noted above, openness to experience is important to one's level of creativity.

The personality trait of openness can change in an individual (changing one's environment such as one's culture, interpersonal relations/skills, etc.).. It was once thought that one's personality was fixed, but modern research indicates that one can positively change one's personality (Neoroplasticity and the ability of individuals to change their personality).

The 2023 journal article The reciprocal relationship between openness and creativity: from neurobiology to multicultural environments published in Frontiers in Neurology indicates:

“

Multicultural exposure, when facilitated by a habit of openness, encourages individuals to be curious about and investigate novel perspectives, ideas, and beliefs, even when they are different from their own. The process of gaining a deeper understanding of the nuances that make each culture unique provides new knowledge and inspiration for innovative thinking and problem-solving. Subsequently, individuals are thereby more likely to creatively incorporate various novel cultural influences into their work, which facilitates cognitive flexibility and the generation of new ideas in a positive feedback loop (15, 55). Moreover, exposure to diverse cultural perspectives has been demonstrated to help individuals to better understand and empathize with others, which in turn facilitates interpersonal conflict resolution."

”

As far as the "habit of openness' mentioned above, habits can be changed (See: Habit). In addition, problem solving, empathy, and creativity are skills that can be learned (See: Problem solving and empathy and Books on creativity). For example, empathy involves being curious about other people, active listening, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence (See: Empathy). In addition, travel broadens the mind as does improving the quality of one's personality relationships due to social influence and the fact that some people are openminded than others (Being around more openminded people is better than being around closedminded people if one wishes to increase their opennesss).

Increasing/expanding the personality trait of openness:

• Openness To Experience: Meaning, Examples & How To Improve Your Openness

• How to Cultivate an Openness to Experience

• How can you improve your self-awareness and openness in relationships?

• 10 Steps To Become More Open-Minded

The symbiotic relationship between creativity and happiness

See also: Happiness

There is a symbiotic relationship between creativity and happiness (In other words, being happier make you more creative. In addition, being more creative makes one happier.).

The difference between creativity and innovation

See also: Innovation

According to Business News Daily:

“

Creativity is the spontaneous development of new ideas and out-of-the-box thinking. Innovation is applied creativity, in which the spark of a new idea is turned into a novel solution or process. Hunter weighs in with his own definition: “Innovation is the implementation or creation of something new that has realized value to others.” Innovation is realized most vividly in the form of a tool, physical benefit or aid that solves a problem or creates an advantage.

”

Innovation: The United States, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Singapore

See also: United States and innovation

Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore are the world’s most innovative economies in 2023, according to WIPO’s Global Innovation Index (GII), as a group of middle-income economies have emerged over the past decade as the fastest climbers of the ranking.

Books on creativity

The human brain is the most complex physical entity in the universe.

See also: Books on creativity

• Design Your Thinking: The Mindsets, Toolsets, and Skill Sets for Creative Problem-Solving by Pavan Soni, Portfolio (October 12, 2020)
• Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelley and David Kelley, ‎Currency; NO-VALUE edition (October 15, 2013)
• Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step by Edward De Bono, Harper Colophon; Reissue edition (February 24, 2015)
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon, Workman Publishing Company; 1st edition (February 28, 2012)
• Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull, Random House; Expanded edition (June 13, 2023)
• 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, by James Higgins; New Management Pub. Co (January 1, 2006)
• The Creative Problem Solver's Toolbox: A Complete Course in the Art of Creating Solutions to Problems of Any Kind by Richard Fobes; Solutions Through Innovation; 2nd edition (April 14, 2014)
• Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques by Michael Michalko, Ten Speed Press; NO-VALUE edition (June 8, 2006)
• Creative Problem Solving by Arthur van Gundy, Praeger (January 19, 1987)
• How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day by Michael J. Gelb, Dell; Revised edition (February 8, 2000)
• Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, HarperCollins; First Edition (January 1, 1996)
• Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod. Portfolio; First Edition (June 11, 2009)

See also

• Ideation
• Innovation

External links

• Creative thinking skills - slides
• Creative thinking - Tony Yoo slides