Creativity: an overused term still misunderstood (2)  

This series of articles on the subject of creativity started with a few questions.

How many times a day do you hear the word creativity? What about using it? Are we all supposed to be creative or is just the privilege of a few? Do you consider yourself creative? If yes, in which way? If not, why not? Moreover I invited you to reflect on what creativity means for you.

Indeed, before adventuring into more interesting issues, it is important to mention that creativity as a concept has been the subject of many definitions throughout the specialized literature and, at the same time, has a vast array of applicability. This is one reason why is in the same time overused and still misunderstood.

So, how can we define creativity?

We have already seen the definition for creativity at a personal level: “Creativity is the result of individual’s intentions, discretion, and capacity to construct original interpretations of experience. The last assumes a transformational capacity.” (Runco, 2011&2015)

A broader and more interesting definition was given by Csikszenmihalyi (1996):

“Creativity is the cultural equivalent of the process of genetic changes that result in biological evolution, where random variations take place in the chemistry of the chromosomes, below the threshold of consciousness. These changes result in a sudden appearance of a new physical characteristic in a child, and if that trait is an improvement over what existed before, it will have a greater chance to be transmitted to the child’s descendants. (…) In cultural evolution there are no mechanisms equivalent to genes and chromosomes. Therefore, a new idea or invention is not automatically passed into the next generation. Instructions on how to use the fire, or the wheel, or atomic energy are not built into the nervous system of children after such discoveries. Each child has to learn them again from the start.The analogy to genes in the evolution of culture are memes, or units of information that must be learnt if culture is to continue. Languages, numbers, theories, songs, recipes, laws, and values are all memes that we pass on to our children so that they can be remembered. It is these memes that a creative person changes, and if enough of the right people see the change as an improvement, it will become part of culture.”

Sternberg, a professor and researcher passionate by themes like creativity and love, defines the nature of creativity through six main interrelated factors: (1) intellectual abilities; (2) knowledge; (3) styles of thinking; (4) personality; (5) motivation and (6) environment. But, in his theory of creativity explains that besides these factors, creativity is more about decision and less about ability hence it can be learned (Sternberg, 2006).

Different levels of creativity have been defined: The “Big-C” belonging to eminent minds like Einstein and other Nobel laureates; “Pro-C” creativity belonging to those who developed a certain level of expertise in their professional domain; the “Little-c” which stands for creativity experienced in everyday forms and “Mini-c”, the creativity related to the normal learning process (Kaufaman and Beghetto, 2009).

Csikszentmihalyi studied creative people belonging to the “Big-C” level, while Sternberg tried to understand the essence of creativity in educational settings with students of different ages(Little and Mini-C). Both underline that creativity is not just a moment of inspiration, but  rather a lifetime continuous process that requires passion and preparation,  as well as a lot of hard work and commitment together with active interaction and support from other people.

Now that we scratched the surface of definitions, let’s focus a bit on the question of whether some people are more inclined to be creative than others are. Especially if there are any particularities, any personality traits that could define a creative person.

And here again, I address one question to reflect upon: Think of some creative people you know. Why do you consider them creative?

If your examples are about extroverted people, laughing and dancing, working in art or advertising, dressed in a funny or unconventional manner, skinny-dipping in the sea during full moon nights…you will be surprised by what follows.

Between 1990 and 1995,  Csikszentmihalyi and his team at the University of Chicago conducted a qualitative study interviewing 91 creative personalities or exceptional people. The interviews were about their life, habits, beliefs, the way they lived and how they worked through their lifetime achievements.

One interesting aspect about the personality of the interviewed people was their complexity.

“If I had to express in one word what make their personalities different from others, it would be complexity. By this I mean that they showed tendencies of thought and action that in most people are segregated” (Csikszentmihalyi, 2013, p.57).

The study identified ten antithetical dimensions often present in creative individuals: (1) being able to be very active with great physical endurance but also being quite often at rest or quiet; (2) being smart and knowledgeable in some areas and somehow naïve for the rest; (3) a good balance between playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility; (4) being able to have an incredible imagination and fantasy and at the same time a great sense of reality, or having both the capacity for convergent and divergent thinking; (5) showing both tendencies of extraversion and introversion having a need to be in the world and connected but also to be alone and work solitary; (6) feeling humble and proud, in a way aware of their accomplishments but realistic in relation to the universal scale; (7) androgyny showing neither too masculine or too feminine traits; (8) traditional (knowing or learning the domain of their interest very well) and independent rebellious by not accepting things as they were done before; (9) being attached passionate about what they do and like, but also detached or objective, being able to see what is good and less good in their work; and (10) being capable of pain sacrifice and also manifesting enjoyment in their domain due to their openness or sensitivity.

The capacity to play and shift between these dimensions according to various needs and situations made them flexible between imagining great things and also having the persistence and determination to make things happen.

An older study from the 1960s also found that creative people are characterised by preference and knowledge about their inner life, as well as being attracted by complexity and ambiguity, a high tolerance for disorder and being able to see patterns or connections in what might look like chaos for others, independence, unconventionality and attraction to risk (Richards, 2006).

So, we see that creative people are highly flexible, being capable of using an entire range of personality dimensions and not being born with certain traits. [Note: In psychology we do not talk anymore about personality types and not even about personality traits but about dimensions. The first two terms give the (false) impression that on one hand some traits are inherited, and on the other hand that they are discrete mutually exclusive categories (if you are extravert you cannot be introvert etc) and fixed. The dimensions are more flexible and this suggests that one shows a preference or a certain percentage in behaving in a certain way without excluding other behaviors depending on the context. ]

Why is this important? It is important because this means we can have a chance to widen our areal of behavior and develop our personality. All the exercises I proposed in my research have this opposite type of behaviors. Like being active and then reflective, but there are two particular exercises that invite to a greater exploration.

Important note: these exercises are better to explore in a coaching or counseling programme than alone.

Next article is about a very important factor influencing our personal creativity: our own self-beliefs.

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