Toxic Jam

(this blog is relevant to the 6 week creativity task)

Creativity, a bit of history and some studies...
(this blog only contains research, my personal opinions will come a bit later)

It was once thought that Inspiration and ideas came from a higher power. During the Romantic era it began to be seen as originating from the Human being. At this point creative genius was highly valued, i believe it is still valued today, but for some reason it is not encouraged.

This image shows the fibre tracts of the corpus callosum which is the link between the two halves of the brain. higher interaction between the two halves is thought to be evident in creative people. Some people have a thicker corpus callosum than others.


One of the first studies of Creativity was undertaken by Galton in 1869, his main focus was 'Genius'. In the 1920's the main study of psychological research was 'intelligence' but no major studies into Creativity occurred until the 1950's. Though most theories were a result of philosophical speculation than real investigation.

In the 1950's the limitations of intelligence tests was recognized. Attempts were made to measure creativity by defining creative characteristics. This led to study into personality, cognition and simulating creativity.

Research into creative personality's created a list of characteristics accurate for describing the creative person.

• Strong motivation
• Endurance
• intellectual curiosity
• deep commitment
• independence in thought and action
• strong desire for self-realization
• strong sense of self
• strong self-confidence
• openness to impressions from within and without
• attracted to complexity and obscurity
• high sensitivity
  
• high capacity for emotional involvement in their investigations

This list was summarized by Brolin in1992. There are obviously criticisms to this research. The studies were narrow, conducted mainly on productive people. The list contains contradictory characteristics. The criteria for defining what creativity is may vary.

In 2000 Dacey and Lennon comprised a list of distinct characteristics that are apparent in consistent creativity of a high standard.

• self-control
• sustained hard work
• determination
• perseverance

In 1996 Stoycheva studied exceptional students at high schools in Bulgaria. She noticed that creative pupils have 'self-perceptions, values and motivations that differ from those of other pupils, which can create problems for them in seeking peer acceptance.' She also found that 'teachers tended to devalue independence of judgement and also the involvement of emotion' which are characteristics shown by research to be key aspects of creative persons.

More recently links have been made between Creativity and certain disorders such as ADHD and Bi-polar. Consistent features of Creativity and Bi-polar disorder have become apparent through research. They are both genetic and influenced by our environment. Looking back to the list of Creative attributes, these are similar to those found in people suffering from Bi-polar. This link has been apparent for centuries, no research has to be undertaken to notice the evidence in geniuses we know have existed, and who currently exist.

An analysis of research and literature on creativity in education by Anna Craft

Creativity and Bi-polar Disorder

Relationship between mental disorders and Creativity