The Creative Mindset and the Brain
Humans are naturally creative. The very way in which we manipulate our environment so extensively proves this. However, it is obvious that certain humans foster innovation with more ease and regularity than others; this is because of our mindsets. If you would like to become a more creative person for any of the above reasons or simply to better yourself than this essay will have some very valuable information and advice for you.
Creativity & Eccentricity
Creativity and socially abnormal behavior go hand in hand. This can come in many forms, in things as simple as wearing odd clothing, saying unexpected things, or even singing and yelling in the hallways.
In 1966 American behavioral geneticist Leonard Heston found the connection between eccentric personality and creativity. Test subjects who scored high on the creativity scale correspondingly tested positive for having a schizotypal personality.
Schizotypal personality manifests in a variety of forms that include paranormal beliefs, fanciful ideas, mild paranoia, social anxiety, and preference of work over socializing. This final trait is most common among creators, Nikola Tesla, Emily Dickenson, Isaac Newton, myself and I’m sure many artists all have said that we prefer our work to socializing.
In a study of the correlation between schizotypal personality and creativity done in 1997 J.H Brod of the University of Oxford stated that the already established combination of creativity and eccentricity often is passed through families, indicating a genetic component. However, just because schizotypal and creative traits are inherent in bloodlines this does not mean one with uncreative parents cannot become creative; if one can come to an understanding and application of the creative mindset then they will defy their genes and become innovative. Understanding the creative mindset simply comes easier for some with that genetic aptitude, this does not mean that those without said genetic aptitude cannot achieve great creativity it only means they will have to work harder if they wish to innovate.
The right brain is responsible for processing space and complex patterns and is also commonly associated with creative ability; this is because people with right brain stokes always lose the creative ability. However, creativity is a whole brain activity. During creative tasks the brain has a shift in activity in which the lateral prefrontal cortex shuts down, thus lowering mental inhibition and allowing ideas to flow freely.
In 2010 researchers at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm did a brain-imaging study. They found that creative and original insights result from a specific configuration of neurotransmitter receptors in the brain. It was found that people that displayed a high creative ability correspondingly showed to have a low number of dopamine receptors in the subcortical thalamus. The researchers concluded that decreased possibility of dopamine binding in the thalamus may decrease cognitive filtering, and as we know reducing cognitive filtering is key to combining elements to come up with a fresh innovation.
The Creative Mindset
When one learns to abandon mental restrictions, they become creative. The art of abandoning these limitations that are often manifested by social and cultural taboos is called cognitive disinhibition. In order to process information, we use cognitive filters; these filters leave out information that seems irrelevant to the current task.
In a 1970’s EEG study done by Carline Martindale of the University of Maine results showed that people who tested to be highly creative also displayed having much less active cognitive filters. Cognitive disinhibition is the key to innovative success. In order to make an innovation one needs to be able to combine multiple and diverse elements and create something different enough to be called original.
The act of combining seemingly unrelated elements to solve a problem or make an innovation is called divergent thinking. When one does not censor information intake they start to sense and understand things they did not before and thus it becomes easier to connect and combine elements into a new innovation.
Extremely creative people fully realize the interdependencies of the environment. Because of this we do not label things as being more or less important to the current goal but realize that anything and everything is entirely dependent on its environment so there is no point in limiting the intake of information into the conscious. Interdependence is the place where advanced science, spirituality, and all things meet and those who realize the full implications of this are often deemed creative in our society.