The 6 Myths Of Creativity

You would think that Psychiatry and Psychology would have unlocked the key to Human Creativity long ago. But it is not so. A recent study by a business researcher at the Havard Business School has results that debunk six commonly held beliefs about creativity. Being business people, it seems they actually wanted something that worked, vs the usual tripe they get.

The following snippets are from a summary was spotted in the magazine Fast Company.

Myth 1. Creativity Comes From Creative Types

Myth 2. Money Is a Creativity Motivator

Myth 3. Time Pressure Fuels Creativity

Myth 4. Fear Forces Breakthroughs

Myth 5. Competition Beats Collaboration

Myth 6. Streamlining an Organization enhances Creativity

There's this widespread notion that fear and sadness somehow spur creativity. There's even some psychological literature suggesting that the incidence of depression is higher in creative writers and artists -- the de-pressed geniuses who are incredibly original in their thinking. But it isn't so. Not for the vast majority of people.

Simply put, creativity is positively associated with joy and love and negatively associated with anger, fear, and anxiety. People are happiest when they come up with a creative idea, but they're more likely to have a breakthrough if they were happy the day before.

People were the least creative when they were fighting the clock. When people were working under great pressure, their creativity went down not only on that day but the next two days as well. Time pressure stifles creativity because people can't deeply engage with the problem. Creativity requires an incubation period; people need time to soak in a problem and let the ideas bubble up.

It's probably only the public-relations departments that believe downsizing and restructuring actually foster creativity. Of course, the opposite is true: Creativity suffers greatly during a downsizing. Anticipation of the downsizing was even worse than the downsizing itself -- people's fear of the unknown led them to basically disengage from the work.

Anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work. Creativity depends on a number of things: experience, including knowledge and technical skills; talent; an ability to think in new ways; and the capacity to push through uncreative dry spells. Intrinsic motivation -- people who are turned on by their work often work creatively -- is especially critical.

An interview with the original researcher can been seen here