Creativity
The human species is innately creative. We are all capable of it, but we tap into it in differing degrees. Creativity is strongly correlated with flow and resilience. It allows for innovation, ingenuity and the production of something out of nothing. Creativity is associated with individuals, dyads and teams. However, for the purposes of this blog post, the focus is on individual creativity.
Creativity Defined
Creativity has been defined as the ability to produce or use original and unusual ideas. It is embedded in the human species and viewed as a product of our unique individual life experiences and imagination that is interpreted in accordance with our values and driven by our perceived sense of purpose.[1]
The Neuroscience of Creativity
From a neuroscience perspective, there are three core networks involved in creativity:
The Default Mode Network – is “associated with spontaneous self-generated thought, most often planning for or fantasising about the future.”[2]
The Salience Network – “monitors our internal and external environments for signals that require conscious attention.”[3] Once found, this network directs our attention to them and shifts other networks on and off as required.
The Executive Control Network – this “oversees specific externally directed tasks.”[4] For example, naming your two closest friends from high school.
How do these networks work together to generate creativity? Theoretically, the kernel of the idea originates in the Default Mode Network. The Salience Network then engages the Executive Control Network to develop and refine the idea. Once refined, the new information is looped back to the Default Mode Network. This process requires conscious attention that is focused on the direction most likely to produce the desired result.[5]
Creativity isn’t Equal
As mentioned before, we are all creative, however, not to the same degree. So, why do some people appear to be more creative than others?
Creativity is individual specific with research suggesting it is linked to personality traits. The personality trait most consistently associated with creativity is openness to experience i.e., having an abiding curiosity and appreciation of and for new ideas and experiences. For creativity to thrive, there needs to be a willingness to step beyond one’s comfort zone and embrace curiosity and tolerance for ambiguity.
Research has demonstrated via fMRI data that openness allows for more efficient processing of information in the Default Mode Network so that it can be shared with other networks.[6]
Dopamine, known as the “reward molecule”, is a neurotransmitter that couples the Default Mode Network and the Executive Control Network. It’s the pleasure facilitator and shows up in studies on the genetics of creativity and openness.
Research into the genetics of creativity and openness have shown that people with a high degree of openness and creativity have significant genetic variations in the number of “dopamine receptors, dopamine pathways and levels of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex.”[7]
It is theorised that highly creative people pursue novelty and the pleasure of generating new ideas because of the dopamine hit.
According to Rosen Kellerman and Seligman in Tomorrowmind, whilst there is a hereditability component in openness to experience, it is approximately 21% which implies that what determines our individual openness to new experiences has little or nothing to do with genetics.[8] Accordingly, aspects of openness are thus trainable. An example of which is, cognitive agility i.e., that “ability to flexibly balance open exploration with focused attention.”[9]
When we build our cognitive agility, our ability to mentally pivot, we build our resilience and we gain a “powerful secondary benefit of expanding our openness to experience and our creative capacity.”[10]
Resilience and Creativity
Our resilience is about our adaptability to the challenges we face. We need to be able to bounce and not shatter. Many of the resilience drivers are also found in creativity:
Optimism – heralds a mindset of hopefulness and confidence in a positive future or outcome. Optimism is not static it can be built.
Positive moods – activating positive and optimistic moods or mindsets stimulates creativity. We are much more likely to engage with the possible when in this state.
Negative moods – if one is adept at Emotional Regulation, it can quell overwhelm and allow us to address the challenge we face by channelling negative energy into creative fuel.
Self-efficacy – is essentially the confidence we have in the value of our creative effort. For creativity to thrive, creative people must be able to withstand criticism and failure. They must be willing to fail and fail again. They must be willing to dwell in ambiguity and uncertainty without being subsumed by it. The iteration process requires patience and persistence. It is a data gathering process that allows for refinement and paves the way for success.
Intrinsic motivation - just like resilience, creative self-efficacy, Emotional Self-regulation and optimism can be developed.[11] This, however, requires motivation. Interestingly, “highly creative people often describe themselves as driven to create.”[12]This drive is intrinsic to the individual. It comes from within and is linked to a sense of mattering (i.e., when we believe we matter, it enhances our incentive to create) and the meaning and sense of purpose it provides. For creatives, the power is in the intrinsic motivation. It is the key driver for innovation.
This is also borne out by self-determination theory. Richard Ryan and Edward Deci found that intrinsic motivation is the tendency to “seek out novelty and challenge, to extend and exercise one’s capacity to explore and learn.”[13] And that this intrinsic motivation tendency “is one of the strongest predictors of well-being and performance.”[14]
The Creative Idea
I am sure you are aware that there are many ways to be original. Rosen Kellerman and Seligman in their book Tomorrowmind, have identified four types of original thinking associated with creativity:
Integration – This is the idea that “things that look different are really the same and that there is an orderly process that explains them all.”[15] A well known example of this would be todays smartphone. Previously things like a radio, camera, internet and digital sound system were all separate specific types of data or devices. With the advent of the smartphone, they were all seamlessly integrated into one device.
Splitting – Here there is recognition that things that look the same aren’t. They’re different and thus can be split apart. For example, the assembly line – when labour is decentralised and split, construction becomes faster and more scalable than if a single individual was required for the entire production process of X.
Figure - Ground Reversal – This term derives from our ability to shift our attention between the background and the foreground. It allows for a different perspective of the same thing which can often be revealing. It challenges how we look at things and what we perceive. Positive psychology is an example of shifting perspective from fighting anger, anxiety and depression to building engagement, positive emotions, good relations and a sense of meaning, purpose and accomplishment in and with life.[16]
Distal – This type of thinking is “the skill of imagining things very differently from the here and now.”[17] Nikola Tesla was a prolific inventor who embodied the distal type of thinking e.g., hydroelectric power, neon lamps and the radio. Another example might also be Science Fiction writing, notwithstanding Philip K. Dick’s assertion of accessing different timelines and simulated realities.
Sometimes, where products are imagined with distal thinking, commerciality can be challenging. There are ways to address this via accelerating market maturity or employing backwards innovation where immediately marketable intermediate technologies are developed, and which pave the way for acceptability of the original invention.[18] An example of building readiness for the original invention would be in the realm of autonomous vehicles where auto-park and autopilot have made the concept of fully autonomous vehicles more palatable and therefore potentially more marketable and commercial.
Creativity Hygiene
Creativity is a highly complex process requiring brain function that is not fully conscious i.e., mental processes that we are unaware of but that nonetheless influence our behaviour.[19]
When we are creative, there is an intricate balance between “intense focus and daydreaming, guided problem solving and divergent brainstorming.”[20]
We can’t just summon creativity at will, but we can facilitate conditions that engage it. To do this, it is suggested that we:
Engage with Novelty
That is, engage with new and different experiences. This will prevent tunnel vision and allow for the identification of unusual connections. As the Default Mode Network seeks to “juxtapose concepts differing across time and space in surprising ways,”[21] it behoves us to be curious and open to new experiences.
One way to do this is to break old habits and deliberately disrupt the groove in which you find yourself. For example:
Take a different route to work
Try a new/different coffee shop
Read a book from a genre slightly outside of your comfort zone.
Extend Yourself Socially - There are many ways to do this but somethings you could try include: when you are next out to lunch with a group of people, sit next to someone you haven’t sat next to in a while, reconnect with people in your personal and business network.
Window Shop and Browse Broadly - Engage your senses and become inspired. Explore physical bookshops, libraries, art galleries, museums and botanical gardens for example.
Go Deep Strategically - Here you might read that book that relates to a problem you are trying to solve or is about a subject you just want to know more about. When we build our knowledge, we facilitate innovation.
Essentially, un-silo yourself!
Incubation Periods
Research has suggested that when we are conducting focused research (i.e., gathering information and knowledge) or simply brainstorming, we benefit most if we build in periods when the mind is free to wander.
Start with the challenge being faced, try to problem solve and then move to downtime. From a neuroscience perspective, the Executive Control Network will generate ideas for take-up by the Default Mode Network. This loop is most likely to occur, from a creativity perspective, when we are engaged in undemanding tasks. It is important to note that incubation does not mean rest.[22] Incubation is about doing “just little enough” like reading or going for a walk. Research has shown that when we move into a green space the mind slows, becomes more curious, creative and calmer.[23]
Mindfulness, in the context of creativity, won’t facilitate incubation as it is a conscious direction of attention to the moment. It is the opposite of mind wandering which tends to be intuitive, free-flowing, spontaneous and future focused. [24]
Embrace Ambiguity
Ambiguity is a hallmark feature of the initial creative phase. It is a state that some people can have difficulty tolerating, because of the anxiety it can generate. Highly creative people don’t have this response. They embrace ambiguity.
Can we learn to tolerate ambiguity better? Absolutely. One possible strategy for building tolerance for ambiguity is to stretch our comfort zone by extending the period when we are exploring, researching and so forth before we select a solution. When we prolong our tolerance in this way, we promote the possibility of generating a big or better idea because we increase our capacity for openness
Conclusion
Creativity is one of the quickest ways to enter flow which is characterised by urgent concentration and absorption and may get us that much closer to our Ikigai or resolution of the challenge we face. Creativity although complex is to be embraced. And, it is easily accessible where there is a willingness to:
Embrace and tolerate ambiguity – this takes courage
Believe in our self-efficacy – our confidence that we have in the belief that we can succeed. This is tied to cognitive agility and is a major player in our willingness to persevere.
Engage with a positive failure mindset – we need to be willing to fail and fail again and to recognise that this is ok, that it’s an iterative process and a learning opportunity.
Challenge or reframe unhelpful thinking
Engage our curiosity and seek out novel or inspiring experiences
Allow all the information to incubate
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References
[1] Rosen Kellerman, G and Seilgman, M. (2023). Tomorrowmind. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. London. Boston. Pg 203
[2] Ibid pg 172
[3] Ibid pg 172
[4] Ibid pg 172
[5] Ibid pg 173
[6] Ibid pg 175
[7] Ibid pg 175
[8] Ibid pg 176
[9] ibid
[10] Ibid
[11] Ibid pg 177
[12] Ibid pg 178
[13] ibid
[14] ibid
[15] Ibid pg 179
[16] Ibid pg 184
[17] Ibid pg 185
[18] Ibid pg186
[19] Ibid pg 192
[20] Ibid pg 192
[21] Ibid pg 193
[22] Ibid pg 195
[23] Epel, E, PhD. 2022. The Seven-Day Stress Prescription. Penguin Life.pg 122
[24] Tomorrowmind pg 195-196