Is a creative person born or made?

There are a series of studies in which creative people, selected based on their achievements, are compared with less creative people. The difference between the highly creative and the relatively uncreative is not intelligence as measured by intelligence tests. The creative person can differentiate himself from others in terms of his personality traits.

There are many exceptions, but in general It has been proven that the creative person tends to be introvert, needs long periods of solitude and seems to have little time for social relationships. In addition, they are intuitive and enjoy abstracting problems and models.

What do creative people usually have in common?

Self-confidence, flexibility, high capacity for association, fineness of perception, imagination, critical capacity, intellectual curiosity, freedom, enthusiasm, depth and tenacity.

Creativity is often described in terms of three main components: skill, attitude and process.. We all have a certain level of ability to create, but it is with the right attitude and process that the creative product is achieved.

This conception of creativity is synonymous with creative thinking. All other terms, referring to skills, techniques and methods, are included within the process within the framework of creative thinking. Creativity is a complex mix of motivation, personality, environment, luck and even products, all contributing to new and original ideas.

Why are some people more creative than others?

It is clear that a certain level of intelligence is required; Below it, it is very difficult to produce a valuable creative result. On the other hand, being a necessary factor, it is not sufficient. Certain scientific studies suggest that A creative person has a stronger neural network and practices hobbies that enhance this facet.

There are different factors related to the social and environmental environment that will affect the development of creativity. For example, in a school environment, role models (such as teachers) who provide innovative cognitive and behavioral tools (through teaching or imitating behavior) influence students’ creativity.

Let’s think about the teacher who poses a problem, allowing his students time to find a solution and valuing those students who are capable of reaching a solution in ways other than the usual ones. Let’s now think about that teacher who limits himself to asking his students to memorize texts.

Artistic and scientific creativity

Artistic and scientific creativity are not two separate categories of activity; On the contrary, they overlap in different ways.

An artist like Picasso interacted with the rest of the world; Newton did it with nature. The first attempted to communicate his vision to the rest of the world by painting it; the other, to seek the reason for the systems by asking nature. Today we know, contrary to what our intuition may dictate, that the percentage of creatives in the art world is greater than in the scientific community.

Artists are more creative than scientistsSimply because latent inhibitors do not work well for them. Instead of concentrating on the object of their research, knowing more and more about less… until they know everything about nothing, artists keep their minds open to the gale of ideas, coherent or crazy, that are born within them or come from outside.

Convergent and divergent thinking

Much research on intellectual abilities revolved almost exclusively around certain cognitive skills considered important, such as the capacity for abstraction, reasoning or critical thinking. This has led to focusing the tools for measuring intellect on certain types of problems with a single solution; for example, which piece would complete a puzzle. This is an act of convergent thinking: it assumes that there is only one correct answer.

However, in our lives we face problems on a daily basis that may have several acceptable solutions: what to eat today? How to make the best use of extra money? To the extent that this class of problems has more than one solution, it constitutes a demand for divergent thinking.

Creativity is inclined towards the pole of divergent thinking, while conventional reasoning and intelligence are rather situated at the pole of convergent thinking.

Differences between lateral thinking and vertical thinking

Most people consider vertical or logical thinking as the only possible form of effective thinking. Therefore. The identity of lateral thinking must be established based on the differences that separate it from vertical thinking. Vertical thinking is selective, while lateral thinking is creative.

In vertical thinking, the logical correctness of the chain of ideas matters above all. Vertical thinking selects a path by excluding other paths and forks. Instead, In lateral thinking, the essential thing is the effectiveness of the conclusions.

Educate in creativity

The education of creativity is a fundamental pillar in the new education, since students’ creativity must be developed to help them face their future. We live in a changing society and it is vital to promote the autonomy of boys and girls when it comes to facing different situations that are presented to them in a different and original way.

We must prepare the new generations to be different and original, enhancing their ability to be innovative and creative in all areas of life. Creativity also serves to reinforce self-esteem, autonomy and security, therefore, we can see how creativity helps to increase people’s quality of life.

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