Most of us have a clear idea of where we fall on the creativity spectrum. On the long journey from papier mache to professional, we figure out if we’re more actuary than Matisse or closer to concert pianist than astrophysicist.
While most of us accept our spot on the scale, researchers in Poland wanted to find out why there were such differences in creativity among people. Their study, which was published in Creativity Research Journal, compared 60 bank tellers and 60 artists on two points: temperament and divergent thinking.
In a nutshell, temperament is part of your innate personality. It includes things like introversion or extraversion and attention and persistence. Divergent thinking, which can be learned and improved during your life, is the process of generating ideas by exploring different options or solutions. It’s how your mind would answer a question such as:
How many uses can you make of a toothpick? Continue reading “The Secret to Creating Creativity”