People who score high for creative achievement in the arts are more likely to believe in telepathic communication, dreams that foretell the future, and past lives.
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In Brief
- People who are highly creative often have odd thoughts and behaviors—and vice versa.
- Both creativity and eccentricity may be the result of genetic variations that increase cognitive disinhibition—the brain’s failure to filter out extraneous information.
- When unfiltered information reaches conscious awareness in the brains of people who are highly intelligent and can process this information without being overwhelmed, it may lead to exceptional insights and sensations.
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7 Ways to Cultivate Your Creativity [Slide Show]
He is one of the world’s best known and most successful entrepreneurs, with hundreds of patents to his name—including the Segway scooter. But you will never see Dean Kamen in a suit and tie: the eccentric inventor dresses almost exclusively in denim. He spent five years in college before dropping out, does not take vacations and has never married. Kamen presides (along with his Ministers of Ice Cream, Brunch and Nepotism) over the Connecticut island kingdom of North Dumpling, which has “seceded” from the U.S. and dispenses its own currency in units of pi. Visitors are issued a visa form that includes spaces on which to note identifying marks on both their face and buttocks.
Kamen, who works tirelessly at inspiring kids to pursue careers in science and engineering, is one of many highly creative people whose personal behavior sometimes strikes others as odd. Albert Einstein picked up cigarette butts off the street to get tobacco for his pipe; Howard Hughes spent entire days on a chair in the middle of the supposedly germ-free zone of his Beverly Hills Hotel suite; the composer Robert Schumann believed that his musical compositions were dictated to him by Beethoven and other deceased luminaries from their tombs; and Charles Dickens is said to have fended off imaginary urchins with his umbrella as he walked the streets of London. More recently, we have seen Michael Jackson’s preoccupation with rhinoplasty, Salvador Dalí’s affection for dangerous pets and the Icelandic singer Björk dressed for the Oscars as a swan.
This article was originally published with the title The Unleashed Mind.
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118 Comments
Add CommentOnly us with genius can see that brown belts with black shoes don't look that bad.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe rest of you... pah! You match your shoes to your belt... we'll be snickering at YOU.
This is old news.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople for a long time have known that the ability to connect two disparate thoughts is both a sign of creativity *and* insanity.
It's nice to see a more formal study of it, though.
I like my argyle socks, thought these day's I only wear white athletic socks whether I am wearing jeans and boots or jacket and tie. I can't stand those thin black socks you are "supposed" to wear. At least my feet are comfy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thispah! on you all.... what about walking in snow storms wearing very thin pajamas so the wind can titillate the cotton in the pj's and the hair on your legs to make you have visions of great stories appear in your mind in picture form?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh crap, now shoes and belts are supposed to match? And I just got the hang of matching socks and shoes and finally threw out the pocket protector.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you for this article. Personally, I can tell you that much of what has been studied is true; however, there is much more that goes along with this. Fitting into a lock-step hole is just killer-boring!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInteresting article, although I don't find it to be all that surprising. I will say that all you round peg people may like to know that we square peg people really don't care that we can't fit into your round hole. Heck, who would want to fit into any hole? Sounds a bit confining to me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI also found this comment to be especially interesting, "I have found that study participants who score high in a measure of creative achievement in the arts are more likely to endorse magical thinking—such as belief in telepathic communication, dreams that portend the future, and memories of past lives." So, if the prophetic dreams actually come true and you really CAN tell what someone else is thinking, is it "magical" or only called magical because you can't figure out some explanation that is acceptable?
Perhaps people who are able to see or hear things that others can't are just tapping into an energy stream that isn't perceived by most. Does that make them schizophrenic or just hyper-aware? After all, energy can not be destroyed, it just changes shape and it has to be "out there" in some form. Right?
If we could physically bend time and go back 150 years with our cell phones we would immediately be locked up during a conversation because surely we were completely insane. After all, since no one could actually see the person on the other end, they must not exist.
When I was a kid my parents belonged to a local MENSA group. The local picnics were entertaining to say the least. It kind of ruined me for PTA meetings since the people who attend those were rather bland.
Depression linked to high IQ? Have you ever heard the phrase "ignorance is bliss"? I'm sure its true. My son (who is an aerospace engineering major at MIT) and I have talked about this before. When your mind works at warp speed and one question leads to a million questions that end up in the demise of the world as we know it, it can tend to be a bit of a downer.
I would be interested in research concerning photographic memory and IQ as well as the connection between substance abuse in high IQ individuals who are attempting to block out all those extra thoughts.
As an aside, although I test in the top .1% I only use half of it on most days. On those days my shoes match my belt.
As my mom has said before, when you get frustrated with others, remember that the average IQ is only 100.
Agreed! Boring is pure torture.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSanity as defined by the "normal" people of the world is HIGHLY over rated.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh kimberanne...you are SOOOOO brilliant! lying is a small part of creativity. Notice how many people take this opportunity to brag and lie? People who SAY they are smart, are almost always quite stupid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAw, "Doctor" Richard, I'm sorry that my comments triggered such a bitter response in you. Wre you teased as a child by some braggart that din't appreciate your opinions? You bring up an interesting thought however. By saying that I'm bragging you are assuming that I think being "smart" is something that makes another person superior to another. I'm not surprised by your comment and am pretty amused by it. I hope you work out your "issues" so that simple observations don't trigger your obvious insecurities as much as this has.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDickens could have been right about his characters, if he devoted so much brain power to emulating his characters, that became closer to being permanent fixtures in his mind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI went to school with a gal who graduated 17th in her class. I graduated around out of around 500. Our IQ test results are on our certified transcripts. Mine was 25% higher than hers - I was both bored and scared in school. She ended up preggers at 19 with an abusive husband. I ended up starting my own successful business and later on started up a non-profit. She worked hard for her grades, but for what? She did the family thing. I see education causing many to be able to excell at fitting in; what is that value? To be a government worker, to take orders, to perpetrate mediocrity in perpetuity? YAY! Mediocrity!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThose in positions of authority are easily threatened by a verbally astute free-thinker, because it appears threatening to them. It is the creative mind which most benefits society. Additionally, the creative are often highly sensitive (Dr. Elaine Aron did us a great service in her books on The Highly Sensitive Person).
The way I see it, the creative people in the world are able to perceive a wider range in most areas; it is like being able to see colors in a color-blind world. So you think there is such a thing as red and pink and magenta? Really? Describe them to me. Would you prefer Prozac or Paxil? (No, I'm not on anti-depressives.)
Most people are boring, typical, knee-jerk reactive, fearful, typical and traditional. They DO lead lives of "quiet desperation" and they will attack you for pointing it out. Creativity is a great deal of fun and they can't know what they are missing. This does not stop them, however, from utilizing what has been provided to them or from judging it negatively.
Ignorance may be bliss, and with knowledge comes responsibility, but ignorant people are generally ignorant of the fact that they are ignorant. It isn't easy to see much ado about nothing on a daily basis! LOL!
Very true about Dickens. We are working from the perspective that the only reality is the one that we can see. I love Plato's allegory of the cave and find it explains a lot of things in life. Most of us can't live outside the constructs of what we have been taught in mainstream society. We can't "think outside the cave". Giving up the need to be right when we define reality is a very freeing state.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJTSAASTJ, you bring up a wonderful point. What good is doing well in school if you aren't able to apply it in life? I've always told my kids that being smart is a nice thing, but it doesn't mean squat if you don't do anything with it. In other words,he who rests on his laurels only gets a moldy butt!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDopamine and cognitive disinhibition being related t both creativity and schizophrenia - does autism fit in here somewhere as well?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow if only SA was smart enough to let the poor creative artists read the rest of the article for free... As a public service
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat is considered normal and acceptable is constantly changing. Remember that a lot of this is based on perception rather than formal studies or percentages or the population.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI used to skip school once or twice a week when I was a kid and never had a bad grade. I would get too bored and frustrated me the slow pace at what the class went even though I attended a good private school. Luckily my mom allowed me to skip school and play at home. Thanks mom…
Oh, it's always the one calling out the liar who is the biggest liar of all. You must be a genius, Dr. R?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI hate to blow everyone's bubble here but this describes High Functioning Autism or Asperger's Syndrome.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSad that people have spent their life studying Schizophrenia only to find out it is just Autism. No wonder there is an explosion of diagnosis of Autism. They were labelled as other disorders. Or are these other disorders just a different name for the same thing?
thank you, I've learned a lot about myself today. My pH may be d-less, but reading how other people struggle does alleviate some of my social anxiety. My son needs an outlet that our incomes can't support. Sometimes it feels like a curse to see and know things others scoff at. Other times my patience abandons me just when I need it most. I may seem rude, abrasive and aloof when in fact I'm screaming so loud inside I can't hear others at all. In the early '80s, my first white board experience concocted a "mega" pixel transceiver-like display of light, sound and energy to hide stationary objects. But we (low-level military) were stymied by the upper echelon focused on secure communications. A few years back I watched my invisibility blanket being tested in some desert. Sgt MacDonald wherever you are, hey we tried.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPCFree, you have a good point there, but I think it's much more complicated than that. It appears that in Autism there is an over stimulus issue going on where as with Ausperger's there is a social disconnect more than an issue with processing too much stimuli. Even though Ausperger's is considered to be part of the spectrum of the "disorder" it seems to be more than just a mild form of autism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy theory is that there is a mechanism in the brain that causes the messages to travel either more quickly through the brain or in a disorganized way. The cause of this very well could be the cholesterol that coats the myalin at the end of the nerves. When they have too much the messages race across the synapses too quickly and in an uncoordinated manner. This is obviously a very simplistic way of looking at it, but its a thought anyway. That and $1 won't even buy you a cup of coffee at McDonalds.
You can see how some people are predisposed to having cholesterol induced heart disease while others can eat crap all the time can have low cholesterol. There is obviously a genetic factor at play.
One path to explore as for a reason we are seeing more individuals diagnosed with autism as well as ADHD is that we now raise our children with more exposure to television and video games than we did before. No, I'm not blaming television in the traditional way, but by plopping a 6 month old in front of a television instead of reading to them or playing with them could have a significant effect on how the neuro-pathways are developed. If a child is predisposed to having a dis-regulation in their ability to handle the stimulus in their brain, this could lead to developing traits that lead to a diagnosis of one of these "disorders".
pHenry, I hear what you are saying about not having the income for some things that you would like to provide your child with, but there are many things you can provide that are free or of little cost. My kids loved to read and we would hit the half price book store or Barnes & Noble for a big treat. There are also lots of great programs you can get for little to no cost and MIT has free online classes available. You sometimes have to look for them and your child has to be motivated to do them, but they are out there.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood luck to you!
You know, I'm highly suspecting this article is an April Fools Joke. Come on, creativity as a highly sought-after commodity?? By orgs as big as Coca-Cola, DuPont, Citigroup, Humana, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, PepsiCo, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Aetna, Marriott, and Deka R&D? And they're putting on "creativity classes" for people who aren't insane enough to come up with ideas? Wow. It's either a joke or I'm living in a different dimension called Creative Squelch and Squat: you get squelched, you get squat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, it is not that they can't filter, it is that the brain initiates too much stimuli in an attempt to get endorphine processing. Seems that brain cells will only feed and reproduce unless motivated. Cells will only "pay attention" to a signal from another cell if there is some kind of reward. Endorphines are opiate-like chemicals that regulate how much the next cell pays attention. It is like a volume control. More endorphines released, the more the receiving cell "pays attention." If you ever took pain killers based on opiates, you would know the euphoria of "well being" they create. The genetic problem is when there are not enough endorphine receptor sites so the signals are always stuck at a volume of, say, 3 on a scale of one to ten. Thus with the reduced endorphine processing, the brain initiates more activity in that area of perception to get enough processing to create a euphoria of well-being. But too many signals are confusing and irritating to the whole. This is why you have excessive behaviors in one of three "feedback loops" in the brain. One is physical information from the outside world triggered by Dopamine. The second is an "emotional" loop triggered by nor-epinephrine. The third loop only makes connections between what is already in the brain (the analytical process) and that is triggered by Serotonin. If the volume control is stuck low on any of the three or combination of them, the brain initiates increased processing to make up for the deficiency. Thus you have hyperactivity or over stimulation of thrill-seekers tied to Dopamine, excessive emotional behaviors such as "Drama kings/queens" tied to nor-epinephrine or over thinkers such as OCD tied to Serotonin. Without the processing, a person feels angst or depression. Most successful medications affect these three endorphines by blocking their re-uptake and thus they stay in the receptors longer to give a bigger signal effect.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe difference between high-functioning Autism and full blown Autism is the level that the "volume" controls are set. When it is really low, after about a year and a half after birth, the child gets bored and pays more attention to their imagination. With the lack of nerve development tied to the outside world, the Autistic child does not lay down the foundations to develop abilities like speech. With intensive forced contact with the outside world, we can get their brains to lay down this foundation and by the time they reach 4, they will stay connected. If not, we lose them for life.
You have never worked in the advertising field. The creative people are really eccentric and that is why they have "account executives" that are the intermediary between the crazy creative people and the clients. Who do you think creates all the wacky ad campaigns? The guys in the suits? No. It is the guy sleeping under his desk.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLOL... love that comment. Yep, the guys sleeping under the desks who don't care if their belts match their shoes are the ones who are the creative genius behind most out of the box campaigns. The problem lies in the fact that most account execs don't know how to herd cats very well and can't handle the unpredictable aspects of the creative mind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, my brother is an advertising account exec and maybe years of growing up with me helped him understand the crazy creative mind. BTW, I am in the field of nero-psychological research and my Autism helped me see the connecting of the brain functioning and behavior in a different way that conventional psychology. The field of psychology was developed in a "top down" fashion. Behaviors were grouped together and as the understanding of the brain developed, they looked for patterns to explain their groupings. Autistics see things in a "bottom up" fashion where we look at the cells doing the work, see the ways cells are linked to precipitate behaviors and when cell function goes wrong, how those behaviors change. With this ground up framework, we can see a different way of grouping behaviors and realize that many of the different labels are actually the same dysfunction, just looked at from a different angle. Such as this article could also be describing high-functioning Autism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis link between eccentricity and creativity has given rise to an enormous masquerade of pseudo-creatives--people dressing weird and acting obnoxious in order to appear "creative" but who are tragically lacking in a single original idea. It often cloaks both laziness and arrogance, as in, "Don't bother me, I'm thinking up something brilliant." Lazy, arrogant people have gotten mega-rich off this ruse. And creatives are under pressure to put on some sort of wacky persona in order to be registered as the bonafide "creative" by people who lack discernment and buy because of this silly packaging. That circus detracts from the work itself, which, by the way, is really what counts. I don't care what you've pierced or how much ear wax you've collected, I'll tell you what you're made of when I see your work.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, my brother is an advertising account exec and maybe years of growing up with me helped him understand the crazy creative mind. BTW, I am in the field of nero-psychological research and my Autism helped me see the connecting of the brain functioning and behavior in a different way that conventional psychology. The field of psychology was developed in a "top down" fashion. Behaviors were grouped together and as the understanding of the brain developed, they looked for patterns to explain their groupings. Autistics see things in a "bottom up" fashion where we look at the cells doing the work, see the ways cells are linked to precipitate behaviors and when cell function goes wrong, how those behaviors change. With this ground up framework, we can see a different way of grouping behaviors and realize that many of the different labels are actually the same dysfunction, just looked at from a different angle. Such as this article could also be describing high-functioning Autism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJames - you may enjoy reading of a kindred spirit in "The Man Who Tasted Colors." (Overheard tasting spaghetti sauce, said "hmm, a little too yellow.") Seems that folks whose neural systems 'overlap' are not uncommon, but they learn to hide their peculiarities at an early age.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have ADHD and we didn't even have a TV until I was 9.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy mother, and her mother, CLEARLY had ADHD, though they passed away before being diagnosed. We also all share psoriasis, a common co-morbidity.
They say ADHD is hereditary -- you get it from your kids (because they're more likely to be diagnosed). It goes right through families. It is obviously inherited. I contend we got a bit o' Neanderthal in us, since ADHD does not appear to exist in Asia. It is a northern European condition.
Prior to the 1980's, there was no ADHD because the diagnosis had not been determined. Professionals are simply getting better at differentiating our peculiar strain of widely-varying behaviors.
Well, as is to be expected, I've gone completely off-topic . . . Now, back to our comments, which are already in progress.
And, yes, I consider myself both creative and odd. It's a burden and a blessing. But I don't think I'd trade it for being a Farmer (ADHD'er's term for the folks with blinders on who get all the routine work accomplished). Our style causes us to fall behind, then zoom ahead. We're more comfortable moving than standing still.
I grew up before the term ADD/ADHD existed. I was labeled a PITA child (PITA = Pain In The Ass)!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi Chazzzmannn, I think I meant more on the lines of autism, but we can fit ADHD in there too.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI hear what you are saying. We call that the "Oh, something shiny" syndrome. :) I have that label too, but for me it can be more a matter of having a tough time with organization when I have a million things to do that don't capture my attention. In school I was the annoying kid that asked all the questions in class,talked too much, and always put my hand up when the teacher asked a question. Waiting for my classmates to answer was pure torture. I ended up being on the speech and debate team in college for one of my outlets and loved it.
I hate being bored so in my spare time I taught myself how to build websites from code up. Now learning about php scripts which is really simple for programmers, but I tend to learn by trial and error and learning the language of the code. I love finding the patterns and figuring out how to do something. Sadly, I don't always back things up as much as I'm supposed to and at times I can't figure out how to recreate something, but that is the fun of it. Ok, I went off on one of the mental rabbit trails too.
I tend to hyper focus when I'm interested in something. I had a secretary tell me one time that she was amazed at how I could get a months worth of work done in a week. Hence I tend to procrastinate and get bored VERY easily. I've even joked that sometimes my brain is like a chihuahua on crack.
I personally think that ADHD was probably a trait that was actually supportive of survival in primitive times. We just don't have the physical outlets now that support fitting into our society norms.
We have been around forever. As Temple Grandin said in one of her presentations, "Who do you think invented the spear in the caveman days? Not the social ones sitting around the campfire. It was the one off by themselves trying to come up with a better way to kill their food."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou raise an excellent and insightful point in your original post, and later expounded on it nicely. It seems likely to me that as our understanding of the brain and consciousness increases, we will find more and more that what we had once categorized and labeled, according to the best understanding at the time (schizophrenia & autism, e.g.), are all more alike than had been assumed. The brain, as fantastic and complicated as it is, still is not beyond our ability to comprehend; no more so than any other organ, really. The real complexity lies in consciousness: in the ways that we perceive and interpret the world. We do it in an (unavoidably) individual way, and a disconnect can occur when the unique individual is held up against the backdrop of "social norms," which are really just the weighted average of our interpretations. The saying, "there is a fine line between genius and insanity" is relevant here, I think.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you, PCFree, for your detailed and clear explanation of High-Functioning Autism, by the way. I have never understood the condition very well or grasped what was going on to cause it, but your explanation really cleared up the bits I didn't know. Well delivered; you would make a great teacher :-)
Thank you, Matt. Unfortunately, you will not hear this explanation from the mainstream medical community because they are still stuck in the "top down" paradigm. Sometimes science can be just a stubborn as religion when it comes to shaking off old, outdated ideas. Too many have their lives dedicated to the old system to throw it all away as inaccurate. How sad is it when you find the light at the end of the tunnel is just New Jersey!?!?!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI love this article. I feel validated.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPossibly a connection could exist between creativity and schizophrenia. Such a person sees a connection exists and a way to exploit it. He saw the connections and solutions no one else saw. Of course when a schizophrenic sees such connections people frequently scoff. The citizens of Troy just laughed at Cassandra when she warned them not to bring the big wooden horse into their city.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA disconnect with reality seems to be one of the hallmarks of Schizophrenia... A truly high Intellectual I.Q. seems to require a high Emotional I.Q. as well...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCreativity can be applied to a number of different areas from physics to oil painting, from writing children's books to architecture, systems programming to poetry, etc.
If an indiviual is highly creative, emotion would generate overwhelming energy towards their creative passion. Outcropping behaviour, from the isolative internal dialogue dealing with respective creative insight(s) and the consumptive nature of dealing with innate logistical thought and fantasy would set these individuals apart from the norm population by way of what they uniquely create and what would be perceived by those outside of the process as idiosyncratic behaviour...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut then why stick to matching socks as well...what in our brains tell us to have identical colour? would it be odd to have socks; period, or even no socks (weather or shoes) permitting ...
Other than comfort or convenience..why other factors tempt or discourages us?...and why quote big "successful" names to validate this "scientific" thought...
Where would this discussion be without the input of kimberanne and her creative imagination. Very entertaining. Thanks---
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisany good reading suggestions along lines of your appreciated comments?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI only read scientific papers ,most of them I don´t understand because they are so stupid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswhat do you mean eccentric??
not eating for days ,working for 45 hours without stopping,
creating great answers to impossible questions??
what is eccentric about that?
Of course!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAny creative person who stops to think about it (and many do not bother), will tell you why.
Highly creative people are often obcessed with issues that may not even exist for the average person, and bored by issues that deeply concern the average peron.They are also often amused by the shock & amazement in which the average person reacts to their uncommon behavior.
Maybe I'm not highly creative. At any rate, I do not believe in the supernatural. I know, however, that when I'm obcessed with a specific problem, there is a "gate-keeper" in my mind, that checks every sliver of thought, idea, or piece of information that enters my mind, and "rings a bell", when "it" thinks that any of it might help solve my problem. I only become aware that this "gate-keeper" exists when I "hear the bell". I can, therefore, understand why for some highly creative people, this mysterious "gate-keeper" may seem supernatural.
Turning this whole issue into a research project, strikes me as boring; all the more so, because, even though I have commented here on highly creative people, I am more than suspiciou of any scientists who claim they have valid criteria to assess creativity.
As a teacher and developmental researcher, I've discovered that the clear cause of the difference between a healthy individual who has gene X and a sick individual who has gene X is environmental conditions. When an individual's environment accepts and supports their biological functions, they will be healthy. If an individual is not accepted and supported in being who they naturally are, they will become ill, mentally and physically (though it may not be obvious) because the individual is literally being forced to choose between prioritizing their internal reality (personal needs) and prioritizing their external reality (others' needs). This is a no-win scenario, obviously. If they choose to take care of their own needs, their environment will further harm them, which will lead to them becoming sick, and if they choose to take care of their environment they will become sick from not meeting their own needs. The only healthy option for them is to change the environment. Which is, especially in children, rarely an option.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, the more extreme the lack of support and acceptance an individual gets from their environment, the more extreme their illness will become. Anyone looking at human behavior and psychology in any depth will see that the relationship between environmental reaction to one's biological programming (genetic/natural functions) and one's health is about as close to one-to-one as anything gets in science.
Luckily, it doesn't take much support and acceptance at all for any individual, with any set of genes, to be reasonably healthy. Any teacher who is motivated to reach out to one of the kids who might be struggling in life and school will tell you that even having just one or two other individuals, in an otherwise neutral environment, who actively appreciate and value an individual for who they inherently are (their unique set of genes) can be enough to allow that individual to thrive and be exceptionally healthy.
Which is why it's crucial, for everyone's sake, for us to promote, fund, and support policies that give every individual of every age, unconditionally, options for getting one to one mentoring in whatever area of work~play they are most joyful about engaging in. And, of course, it's imperative to public health that we ensure that every single human has the freedom to get out of a harmful environment if they feel they need to so that they aren't forced to become schizophrenic, autistic, or otherwise have their natural personalities turn into personality disorders. And that can start with the field of psychology itself, as it lets go of the negative labeling of different types of personalities, and starts to value biological (behavioral) diversity as being a healthy part of the evolution of a species rather than something to be "treated". As soon as psychologists and others working in social fields understand that there is, scientifically, no such thing as a "personality disorder", and is instead only a mismatch between an individual's environment and their basic biological needs, we'll be well on our way to a truly thriving society.
Not much on print based on this theory but if you would like to read more on Aspergers, my favorite is "Look Me In The Eye" by John Elder Robinson
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood reply! I use the analogy this way:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you put a $200,000 sports car on a muddy country road and it is stuck in the mud spinning its wheels, is there something wrong with the car or is it just in the wrong environment? If it were in the proper environment, it could perform to its potential with no modifications!
Many would disagree. Mostly because people who are very smart (like most readers of SciAm) spend a good deal of their time living with the tension of wanting to be accepted versus wanting to be themselves (which is frankly a state of great difference from the majority). As they get older, very intelligent people tend to grow more comfortable with their ability to always see farther than the average folks. So - they don't actually "brag" but are simply no longer concerned with being pointed out as "different."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI had a friend who has an IQ of 145. For a long time, I thought he was more intelligent than I. Then, mainly because of his adherence to an ideology, he became increasingly critical of me because: I could see things his ideology denied as actually being true. Ideology makes anyone "stupid" because the whole reason for ideologies to exist is to "take over" and provide "easy answers" to difficult questions. This former friend started demanding that I "explain" how it was that I could see thing he couldn't. Telling him the truth (that he's now given up his native intelligence to an ideology) was never going to work. But I told him that anyway - just for the record. I also no longer defer to his supposed "superior intelligence." Being more honest about my superior intelligence is not only more comfortable, it's necessary to combat that fellow's arrogant assertions about his superiority over just about everyone.
Having read the entire article, I can now say that I fit the Vulnerability Model almost perfectly. I scored 4 out of 5 on the first section of the test and 4 out of 4 on the second section.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's a strange feeling to read something which describes your life as accurately as this article does mine. Finally, I have a positive explanation and description for "what I do" in my head all day, every day. I also now know why people around me react to me as they do. It's that they have no inkling about their own more "realistic" life and my far more flexible and creative life. This is why I have no trouble being alone (like many famous creative people): I'm simply more entertaining than just about anything or anyone I know. :-)
Also, I'm relieved to be vindicated about my "disorganized" and "chaotic" ways: I do in fact take in much more information than the average person. I have a reputation among those who know me as one who notices "impossible" amounts of detail in my surroundings. The studies showing this is due to "less filtering" make sense, I am comfortable with letting "everything in" to my consciousness and processing it all. Like others with high creativity, I tend to obsess with all the richness of information and working with it to the point of neglecting daily routines. I used to say it was just "great curiosity" but it's more than that: it's believing the significance of an expanded mental universe trumps doing chores and showing up at an arbitrary time for work.
What has stuck me is that intelligent people perceive reality differently than 'normal' people. Having a 'long' memory allow one to perceive relationships that (again) 'normal' people always miss.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you. You said it much more effectively than I did. If someone calls you a name or makes fun of you, they only succeed in what they are trying to do if it actually bothers you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe it is kind of the opposite of some one losing one or more of their seven senses and gaining strength in the senses that are left.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople who have gained strength in certain areas of thought become weaker in other areas of thought making them eccentric.
I have known a lot of people who have advanced math skills. All of them seemed to lack in common sense. Some had poor social skills which may or may not have included poor personal hygiene’s.
Most successful businesses are aware of this. When they have a problem they need to solve they bring in the people who are keen in imagination and let them brainstorm. When brainstorming all ideas are written down and then they are handed down to the engineers and mathematicians to see if any of the ideas are plausible.
The science world does not use this kind of successful strategy first it relies on the unimaginative mathematicians. I believe if this were a business and I the boss I would fire all of you for not finding a unified theory of everything soon enough. “You are all fired!”
My kingdom for all who are imaginative, mathematicians are merely a tool.
Regarding: "Most successful businesses are aware of this. When they have a problem they need to solve they bring in the people who are keen in imagination and let them brainstorm." ---
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell... sometimes that happens but that's mostly myth. What usually happens in problem solving is that some middle manager "makes a quick decision" to get rid of the problem. He or she then gains points in the race for the next promotion. The problems get hidden in the closet because they are now not "solved" but simply put aside until the conditions they cause become critical. Then - that's a "new problem" for another bright young exec to "solve."
The article says it's more common now days for businesses to accept eccentricities and "rule breakers" - but that's a trend, not an established fact in most businesses. Most businesses are run like hives, with a top entity and numerous subordinate entities whose job it is to work 9-5 on taking care of maintenance details. Corporations are highly dependent on this structure... but creative types hate such structures.
Novelist John Gardener once said: The creative person is an outlaw who has one foot on their own Outlaw Island and the other foot on the Mainland. I think that's true and will remain so for the foreseeable future. But I am grateful for such articles as this because they do promote greater understanding between the Conventional Types and Creative Types.
for ShakaUVM# Indeed there is a whole tool kit for connecting two disparate thoughts. It's called 'figures of speech" at school level, and poetics later on.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
As Shakespeare wrote (Sonnet 18)
Thanks for this interesting paper on creativity.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have studied another source of creativity that corresponds very well to Margaret Boden's creativity definition:
[Creativity is when] “the world has turned out differently not just from the way we thought it would, but even from the way we thought it could” Margaret Boden, "Creativity" (1992)
Such a very different creativity often expressed by some rare autistic individuals, of which Scientific American already spoke sometimes ago: "Autistic Savants" art and creativity are indeed often extremely surprising.
These artists are expressing ideas going beyond non-conformism, they are a-conformist. In a sense non-conformist people are rather predictable as they rule their art and creativity in opposition to socially accepted art forms, while autistic savants often disregard social conventions altogether.
Hans Asperger who discovered the syndrome that bear his name said:
“It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential.”
I presented two papers on "Autism and creativity" one at Autism Europe OSLO International congress, the Other at a seminar on creativity organized by Nicholas Humphrey at the London School of Economics in 2008.
My first paper, that I recently revised is available here:
http://trehinp.dyndns.org/prehistautistic/a_different_view_of_autism.htm
For more information about Savant Syndrome have a look at Darrold Treffert’s Savant Website:
http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome/
Feel free to contact me on this subject (paul(dot)trehin(at) orange(dot) fr
Yours sincerely.
Paul
Paul Trehin
"is there something wrong with the car or is it just in the wrong environment?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat is exactly what I keep trying to tell the schools my children go to. I'll take eccentric over "the norm" any day of the week. I don't care if my child can fill out and keep 150 papers in a binder during the course of a semester. I care that she knows what was on each of those papers and can tell me how it will apply to her later in life, while programming a robot on the dining room table and building a trebuchet on her desk.
This topic touches on so many areas. I love the idea of reality as a perception. I have lived by this for all of my awareness.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe live in a world where only a small element of our "reality" is quantifiable. The rest is largely qualitative, a perception.
In society, this qualitative reality is defined by social norms. Even though one may not perceive the norm, you come to believe in it to fit in.
I accept most norms, but there are many I do not. Those that I do not accept seem to define me in other's eyes. I stand out as a bit odd or eccentric. I do not consider that I have a disability or syndrome, I am just different.
As our world becomes increasingly homogeneous, these dreaded norms become standardised and are taken as the "truth".
Before global communication and mass media saturation, we had much more variation of these norms. They were the indefinable essence of our many different cultures and societies. They gave us our differences, but it is in that very differentiation that we developed so much of our creativity and technology.
Yes, it also led to our wars, and our increasing technologies led to increasingly destructive wars. But with better awareness and thinking we can overcome our warlike nature.
In nature, we see variation and diversity as something sacred. Something to be protected and retained for future generations, yet, we seem to despise and label diversity in humans.
It is my unfiltered intake of information that allows me to see the world differently to most. It is the same unfiltered awareness that allows me to find things within the household and office chaos and clutter and to find things others have lost, not by looking, but by knowing, because I haven't filtered that background "clutter" out of my mind.
I bring that same ability to my work. I solve problems. I am often seen as a radical solution finder, yet I find my solutions to be very simple. They are also very effective, but because the thinking behind them is so alien to most decision makers, they are dismissed.
It is only when I meet a kindred spirit or a person seeking a solution of last resort that I get to prove my talent. It can be very difficult at times to put up with "Normies and Sheeple", two terms I came across today and shall treasure for ever.
There is no reason to try to box naturally creative thinkers and do'ers into a category that is defined by a syndrome or dysfunction. We are part of the essential variety of the human species. If we submit to normal behaviour the species will die out rapidly.
Quote "I would be interested in research concerning photographic memory and IQ as well as the connection between substance abuse in high IQ individuals who are attempting to block out all those extra thoughts."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI completely agree with you. I would be VERY interested in the findings of this type of research. Being someone with High Functioning Autism (with all the characteristics of AS) I have always scored highly academically, although I never had a head for numbers and had to repeat Geometry class due to having failed the first time round. I was always on the honor roll, graduated from university with honors but often come across to people as kind of 'dumb'.
In the last IQ test they gave us in middle school, I Aced it, purely because I have a photographic memory. They gave us an IQ test the year before and they decided to give us the exact same paper the next time. As I had really enjoyed taking the test I remembered the questions and did not have to finish reading some questions before answering them. When asked by a class mate how the test went my exact response was, "They put the questions in the same place".
I get bored very easily, and find many activities people find exciting or enjoyable to be quite boring.
I have very little time for authority and find being an employee of any organisation doing most types of work to be arduous and boring, due to my non comformist nature. Due to my condition, I go through periods where I either have a million and one thoughts going through my head or am completely blank and have no sort of thought or feeling. Because of this, I go through periods where I smoke marijuana to calm me down. Unfortunately, the downside of smoking this drug is that the Autistic side of me, or characteristics, become more apparent or emphasised.
It would be great if there was a study on this, as it might help me cope better with my idiosyncrasies, as lately I am finding it harder to cope with the outside world (as a result I have increased playing the lottery in hope that I win a decent amount of money to enable me to retire to a small island where I can live alone and not put myself through the stress of dealing with confusing humans lol).
Just wanted to say that I agree with you and your exact words are exactly what I was thinking when I read the above article.
I personally don't believe that anyone knows the true nature of our world. Maybe we have spirits, or maybe we are just so trapped in an illusion that we have no comprehension of the real reality. I don't think you could really explain the whys of anything without knowing why we're conscious in the first place. Trying to describe what your eyes see doesn't explain that. And you can't separate what you see from something that is experienced; you essentially have no way to tell if it can even exist if it isn't experienced. That's just an assumption. Like it or not. And assumption does not equal science.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHa! Bought this issue a month ago, so got to read the whole thing. The venemous blog Creative Police touches on this exact subject, but very unscientifically. I must say I agree with the Creative Police post:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://creativepolice.tumblr.com/post/7728392017/people-who-dress-wildly-several-previous-posts
No correlation between visual eccentricity and creativity, but there IS a correlation between inner eccentricity and creativity.
It is sad that SciAm Mind used Bjork as an example, because she is such a non-creative nobody and does not represent the original side of modern music, but so be it.
The reverse is definitely NOT true. An eccentric person may not always be creative. Or is it that their creativity has not yet blossomed?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI found myself portrayed again & again, in the story as well as in most of the comments above. Square peg made round to fit in the round hole by most society standards; However I end up knowing that is just not me: Try to wear snickers everyday, full beard, longish hair, cannot wear a tie -ever- & forget 9 to 5! That is, until my boss tells me to 'have it done the right way' (Anyone know which way is the right way anyway?).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBeen fired a few times because my 'out of the box' ideas which were afterall, THE solution, making evident the shortfalls of the boss. Most times I was just outright bored out of my scull anyway.
When I have my creative outbursts, or as previously stated 'euphoric eurekas', I end up flying SO high, most people just tell me (or not even) to chill, or worse. All other times, in the down stage, bored, I fall into one of many obsessive behaviors, including obsessive curiosity, usually with an infinite chain of unhinged thoughts. Only the TV and a glass of scotch quiets my brain down.
Fortunately my current boss does listen to me, most times: it just took me 10 years of pushing my ideas in; out from being the crazy guy at the corner with nothing good to say or do, to now having the boss' and the teams ear. I have the ability to listen to a problem, 9.9 out of 10 times, I have a solution. Maybe not the best at first but as with any puzzle, the pieces just find their place, sometimes with just a couple of tryouts.
I am a 39 year old engineer with average school grades, even if I kept staring out the classroom window & having drawn something on virtually every page of every notebook I ever had. I remembered almost everything ever said in the classroom anyway. I define my memory as 'black & white photographic memory' because I remember everything, with just a small loss of detail.
Most People kind of likes me at first, but then the Huge social awkwardness kicks in. I'm really bad in every sport; I get bored in most social events unless I turn my brain off anyway. Even my smart wife does not get me most times. I am not religious, but I do believe in magic even though I am a scientist.
After many years of constant criticism as a ‘mediocre guy’ even from my parents, I found out I have 135IQ score. I tried out for Mensa with no luck but invited to retry. It has taken me my whole life to prove to myself and others with a few nice results, that even my parents finally said: 'you are not so dumb after all'. And it seems that my current boss has found something, apparently a good eccentric creative puzzle solver in me.
News flash:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisConnection made between the ability to think of things not every one is already thinking and doing things not everyone is already doing. Whats the difference between creative and eccentric?
I married a square who tried to improve me. Her mother did the same to the squares father. He stuck it out but falls into depression because he is not 'allowed' to be creative. After they spent their 50th anniversary with us I realised that I have no choice but to get a divorce. I'm much happier now and back to being creative. Until I got married I never had a day of depression in my life.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks. It is amazing to see the difference between creative children and 'normal' ones in a class room. The normal ones tend to do little or be hyper active and the parents of the hyper active ones tend to describe them as creative.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile the real creative ones are happily and quietly working away without any need for guidance. They simply require information and encouragement. They tend to think of themselves as being odd because the 'normal' ones are so different.
What's up doc? You jealous? :)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat's up doc? You jealous? :)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIndeed it is a great study. i will send in my comments after a few minutes
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAh, you guys got it all wrong. Normalcy...now THAT's what excitement is all about...of course you probably haven't noticed the newest extreme sport, like extreme normal..of course it's really boring, worse than golf, really. Seriously boring. Normalcy, it's so demanding most people can't even watch by it for long really...oh sure, they try, but really boring? Ha...you don't have the kind of attention span it requires to really play extreme boring. Did I mention golf? How about cribbage...normalcy makes those things look like a cake walk..a vanilla cake with beige frosting. Oh, and don't get me started on ..oh, wait, I can't think of anything...nothing....really, it's hard...d'oh...there I just thought of something...now I have to start over...you need to be normal quite a while before it can be thought of as worth measuring at all...hours? Ha! More..like 'lots of hours' or even 'what seems like days'...full contact, ultimate unlimited, stark fisted, naked raw normal so it'll be...like, boring. Bored yet? Thank you, I'll be here all week, and please be nice to your waitress..g'night, now get outta here.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"such as Schumann’s belief that Beethoven channeled music to him from the grave"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAbsolutely untrue. You should take more care with what you put forward as fact.
i do not think it is insanity. i was doing my studies in 1960s, came across two girls; we do not meet each other as we are far away from each other. Yet we are in touch the early morning hours converse,share.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne is not happy and another is not in tune with her living.i met a girl in 1973. we were working together in an international projects. she is a doctor. she shares her experiences of her life as her hubby is a banker. there are some links and these links again.
i quote here from Mahabharata. Dhirutharashtra father of Duryodhana in Kurushetra war sees thru Sanjaya. He describes the war. Sanjaya has the power to visualize the happenings in the war
In the 11.12 chapter - 'divi zsurya -sahasrasya bhaved yugapad uttita yadi bhah sadrsi sa syad bhasas tasya mahatmanah' meaning 'if hundreds of suns were to rise at once into the sky, their radiance m ight resemble the effulgence of the supreme person in that universal form' - the purport is, What Arjuna saw was indescribable, yet Sanjaya is trying to give a mental picture as revelation to Dhrutharashtra. but Sanjaya , could see what happened.
Thus he compares the situation, as far as it can be understood, to an imaginable phenomenon...'
Emperor Drutharashtra was a blind person.
Here we observe a phenomenon how one can see what is happening like a radar identifying objects and today we have instruments to know what is happening at the farthest place by doplar
Similarly we can see with the help of telescope we can see celestial phenomenon.
When that could happen this man equally and meticulously wired by veins and nervous systems in the frame of body may also see with his power of mind and brain is the principle.
That way the author says when certain density in cognitive mechanisms makes such visions are possible and interestingly enough a mathematical genius Nash also bears out.
So fact remains that human brain and mind can visualize things by some kind of invisible connections. You may call this for any reason one attributes.
so we cannot brush aside.
I used to think some phenomenon i explained in my own case now i try to connect. Earlier i thought some hallucinations, but i try to believe thanks to the observations in the article by the researcher. So we have to rely the science of mind to know more.
Now i try to figure out by my own experiments on myself whatever it is worth.
i fully appreciate your rational comment and yet there are further rationalizations that is all what i want to say. I do not mean anything ill for anyone by my comment please.
Any way your article is indeed backed by pains taking experiments.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen we apply physics Quantum theory of Max Plank we see while applying on applied economics we find interesting new results.
i will go into your own several experiments as i also observe managers in companies and their performance while they work with workers.
Many a time i find these managers are highly disconnected with workers though they all put a facade of broad smile. They are not able to connect with people close by and if they connect with that may be really great. That way they can contribute to new innovations more sensible and perhaps they can sensibly contribute to meaningful development but what we see as company directors these managers are more concerned with mass production instead of making the products really designer ones, after all, mankind requires sensible contributions for human development with spiritual growth of man. That is not taking place.
I rather think better directly take shizos like some one else wrote in HBR that to take failed managers is useful.
Anyway we are waiting for research results. We at our company levels conduct our own experiments instead of totally depending on universities which mostly do hypothetical research, though they call it experiential. How just a university background alone can help experiential work, as experiential is possible in industrial setting.
Anyway your study is really helpful to remotely connect with far off perceptions and issues.
Truly most of managers produced are invariably pass through the problem like square peg and round hole.I do not very much consider it worth the while to leave things at these peoples hands just because painstakingly built businesses are getting wound up unless we do some thing unethical which as company independent directors we want to avoid.
Recently we heard about Sri Lankan Rajaratnam with the help of former Mckinsey man Rajat Gupta traded on insider information of Goldman Sacks.
Companies are generally founded to continue for long but now situations are indeed threatening. Can we call Rajat Gupta a great schizo innovator, sorry i cannot consider him so.
Problems are snowballing. Will really psychology departments set right is indeed a trillions of $ question in the present scenerio of things.
This 5 page article reads like a college term paper. It states over and over again how creativity is inherited, but then lists top universities that are adding classes to "teach creativity". You cannot teach creativity. Either you are creative or you aren't. However, it is nice that it notes that creativity is valued more and in demand. Unfortunately, in the "regular" job marketplace, it will probably never be because those businesses are run by non-creative people who will be forever threatened by creative types.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have been closely studying my very creative friends and mostly agree with the author's article. Some of the author's theories, though, seem to have the wrong conclusions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor example: "...cognitive filters relax momentarily and allow ideas that are on the brain’s back burners to leap forward into conscious awareness". Hogwash. I think the author is too presumptuous in thinking she too "has the potential" to be as creative when, from what I've seen, people are either creative or their not. Some people just can't sing or draw or do math no matter how long you try to teach them. Nothing so far has led me to believe that "everyone has the potential but their brain filters it". I believe that very creative people have an extra ability to see more detail, thus having more information to process in order to reach more creative conclusions which, often, might be more aptly described as more researched conclusions due to having had much more initial information. I think the creative person's radar dial is on 10 while the average person's is on 5 or less. The average person, I believe, is born with a smaller radar as opposed to a big radar they haven't learned how to use, as the author suggests. Hence the futility of creative thinking classes.
Following this theory, I believe this statement by the author to be wrongly theorized as well: "Reduced cognitive filtering could explain the tendency of highly creative people to focus intensely on the content of their inner world at the expense of social or even self-care needs." I believe creative people are much more highly aware of their outer world, not inner world, then everyone else but are taking in much more information and need more data space (brain space) to process it. Thus tasks that are mundane and, in their mind, low on a scale of importance in the scheme of things, go undone.
Having a radar switched to 10 is a blessing and a curse, though. Creative folks don't sleep well because their mind is always racing. And their radars take in EVERYTHING at 10, including social and emotional stimuli. Which is overwhelming to them and why they tend to shy away from social situations. They have no built in B.S. filters and see right through the lies and political posturing of the average social interchange.
...to be continued...
... continued...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWith their mind racing and overwhelmed by emotions it's no surprise that creative people tend to go overboard on diversional stimuli such as dangerous activities or reliance on addictive or rewarding stimuli. Or take drugs to numb the brain in order to "turn it off or, at least, lower the volume". Think of all the great writers who were heavy drinkers, artists who were sexoholics or chronically depressed, musicians who are drug addicts. The gift of a strong radar made them seem like visionaries to us but was a huge curse to those who couldn't control the volume knob.
Hope I'm not posting this comment twice; it somehow magically "went away" a moment ago.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat is truly odd to me is the need by those in the "mental health" and/or the scientific community to try to quantify this type of thing. Not saying unimportant or unnecessary (to them), just saying odd. I don't get it.
What drives "you people" to continuously try to quantify and categorize human beings? Is THAT "normal" behavior?? :) Why the need to make a rigid-sense-grid of it all? And most importantly, why the need to LABEL everyone and everything in your path??
And who is quantifying "normal"????
I'm an artist and I just don't get this need on the part of the "round pegs" to do this.
I have to agree 100% with the comments of timotato above regarding "radar".
SIde note, and this is not in response to any one commenter, but to what I see as the superior-feeling self congratulatory audience of SA, NPR, etc: … IQ numbers. That's so freaking pathetic, anyone who brags about their "score". Please. This in no way makes a person more intelligent or superior to anyone else—true intelligence is waaaaay outside of those parameters. Being a functioning human who does NOT feel the need to tell everyone his or her IQ score makes for a "better" human being in my book.
For all of you "genius-types" showing relief, creativity and eccentric behavior is not limited to MENSA qualifiers. I found this article comforting (being a visual artist and someone who has been considered unconventional and, yes, weirder than most of society. Yet, my IQ is at 118 - 120 (depending on my mood)--clearly not at genius range.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThen again, I am a believer in multiple intelligence theory. Someone can have no concept of math, but can excel in language. Some of my best art students have been considered "low" in scholastic pursuits.
There are more types of "filering" other than "importance".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne can process input and data a singular way, when one becomes temporaly autist,
and the other mind can process that in paralel way, less cognitive, and when the sum of paths finishes comes the insight.
The ability may be strenghtened genetically, but mainly comes from a different way to learn to think.
Let's do a human experiment on you - I say I am creative, so get me a good job. What do you think? (:
"I would be interested in research concerning photographic memory and IQ as well as the connection between substance abuse in high IQ individuals who are attempting to block out all those extra thoughts."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJust guessing what in you are interested, and mixing some info for you to process, if it links.
A way to remember instead of memory when you go back in your mind's eye to the situation you must remember, and make a feeling guess what you would have done.
It works almost perfectly.
Using outside help to block out information can be replaced by learned reflexes or feelings when you realize instantly that you do not need to process that cluster of information.
A more cognitive way when you precede the decision by following each case of possibble reality, and if the results almost are, or are the same, there is no need to decide, just do.
Some of the humans from this group even saying they need a montly "reset" to be able to exist.
I enjoyed to read your opinions because meaning and form too.
I know that this is silly but it seems to me that the saying should be "round peg in a square hole"...sorry.☺ Very interesting article. Also, the low dopamine thing in creative people, does this also provide some type of link as to why creative people are more prone to alcohol & drug use/addiction? Have a great day.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI find this article really insulting. I'm a "creative person," an artist, teacher and performer. I've worked in major corporations for 20 years with other artists and "creative types." Sure, we have a broader vision than a lot of people we work with. This isn't some kind of divine madness, it's simply an ability toward greater lateral thinking than average people. But successful creative people aren't eccentrics, prima-donnas, or bipolar, though they may use that affectation to impress people who can't otherwise tell the difference. n the other hand, Plenty of eccentrics, prima-donnas, or bipolars might use the excuse of being creative to justify their poor behavior to people too dense to tell the difference.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe idea that dull, unimaginative people are normal, and every body else is somehow an exception is ridiculous.
Everyone has the potential to be creative in some capacity. People who lack creativity simply have not exercised it, and that's from from fear, poor upbringing, or lack of intelligence
@Doctor- you are right 90/100 times! There are genuine ones too (like me for example)...:-)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnless they are in the creative fields themselves, employers seem to have a terrible time with creative people. They want us to think differently, but not if we don't agree with them.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't think anyone has included office support staff in this type of study. In my experience, creativity and individualism is NOT supported by business.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCreative people are simply free. So-called normal people are not, hence their judgement of eccentricity. www.2b-One.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe with genius, genius.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI once read that people with ADHD have trouble filtering information, and also that they are often creative - has this link ever been studied?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRe "People who SAY they are smart, are almost always quite stupid."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo they aren't. Smart people may not often get the opportunity to SAY they are smart in so many words, but in the context of an article like this they aren't going to deny it either. There is nothing egotistical--and definitely NOT stupid--about having a right-sized or realistic assessment of your assets and liabilities. After all, how smart would these people be if they didn't at least know they were smart?
It should come as no big surprise that this article would attract the attention of people who fit the profile.
PCfree: I'm a creative person (serial entrepreneur, and self-taught musician in my free time) but I've taken the AQ test and scored very low on the autism spectrum. I also have all the traits of estrogen dominance, which is sort of the opposite of autism. (See the studies regarding digit ratio and testosterone in the womb -- I have an unusually high index finger to ring finger ratio, which is associated with literary skill rather than skill in maths. A very low ratio is associated with autism and math skills). It seems to me that people on either end of the spectrum tend to be creative. My sisters are all creative as well, and have similar lacks of testosterone. But perhaps we are creative in different ways? I feel that I'm creative in a holistic way. I always know where I want to end up when I start something, but I don't "sweat the small stuff," which tends to drive "type A" personalities around me crazy. I manage to get things done, I just do them in a way that may seem haphazardous to people who are more disciplined. I'm more outcome oriented and I work backwards. Anyways, it's interesting to read everyone's comments and experiences on here. Thanks for sharing!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI really enjoyed reading your comment. I agree with you and am intrigued by this subject matter in general. :)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Reduced cognitive filtering could explain the tendency of highly creative people to focus intensely on the content of their inner world at the expense of social or eve ...n self-care needs. (Beethoven, for example, had difficulty tending to his own cleanliness.) When conscious awareness is overpopulated with unusual and unfiltered stimuli, it is difficult not to focus attention on that inner universe."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is not the "overpopulation" -- it is the intensity and the coherence and the imaginative insight that is so compelling you ignore extraneous matters. When you are seized with an "idea" you forego sleep, food, personal hygiene, everything. It is a total and exigent focus on an experience that, like sex, annihilates the self, takes you out of your self.
Madness by the way is a form of coherence. My crazy brother's ravings always had a superb, even imaginative, inner logic. What makes it "mad" rather than creative is that one is cut off from the world, it is solipsistic, that world has no connection to other people, whereas art allows for a reconnection to the world . . .
When I was a teenager, I got in a bit of trouble with the law and ended up spending a month in the local juvenile hall. It was there I saw how many people who were a bit "off" socially were creative. Just about EVERYONE in the place, including myself, had creative abilities such as music, painting, writing and so on. There was even a researcher doing a study on the subject at the time. I never had seen her study but would like to I think it was her doctoral dissertation. But the point is I've wondered about that connection for a long time and I'm also glad to see some serious research on the topic. It could make the lives of some of these people a lot more comfortable knowing that others understand them better. I'm personally a free lance photojournalist and a musician, and now in film school. I've seen confirmations of this all around me as I've studied among creative types. VERY interesting ...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLets get specific. It seems the author's hypothesis is based on a faulty generalization:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"There are individual differences in how much information we block out, however; both schizotypal and schizophrenic individuals have been shown to have reduced functioning of one of these cognitive filters, called latent inhibition (LI)."
There's a presupposition that there's a "normal" standard for these cognitive filters. This is not so. There may be an acceptable normal RANGE for these filters, and schizophrenics are clearly outside of that normal range, but you absolutely cannot say there is clearly defined "normal."
Some people are excellent problem solvers. They would necessarily have a much broader LI filter than non-problem solvers. This is not to say it's as widely open as a schizophrenic. It might not even be as broad as a "creative person", and that broadness may not be an inherent trait, but rather one that has evolved through experience. This is the process of learning, literally, broadening one's awareness.
I remember art class in school,a little side class not given half the relevance of all the other classes in my curriculum. Even the art teacher was seen as a goof. Creativity was not any aspect of my report card which was sent home to define me. In other words, creativity was not valued. It was an eccentric side camp I had to fight to remain a part of it to devote my life to. (To 'throw your life away on something not real' was how it was mocked.) Recently a friend of mine was diagnosed by a state mental health care counselor who told her she was "living dangerously if she continued to associate herself with artists because they have higher rates of suicide". !!! Better to numb it out? Better to curb any potential eccentricity and 'be normal' like a good girl? This was a state-funded authority advising her to dis-associate herself from artists and the arts because, in her opinion speaking from a healthier position, these 'types' were suspicious and dangerous to one's health. Creativity often is under attack. To think outside the box does by definition question authority and all current gatekeepers. Creativity is revolutionary. A creative person, or worse a lot of creative people, makes for a kind of messy scene. How to deal with that? A lot of the encouragement for the arts is really just lip service.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe idea that creativity needs to be justified on any level is maddening. We were created in our Creator's image, thus first and foremost we are all creators...each and every one of us. If our Creator is unlimited, and the creation process our birthright to manifest without limit, it's infuriating when anyone (any organization, religion, institution, or political camp) tries to curb something as basic and individual as our eccentricity. Next comes book burning, witch hunts, mind control, etc. Creativity needs to be MORE championed in our culture. It is not just entertainment and the arts, it threads through everything. Creativity empowers. Eccentricity is just what it looks like, often, as new brilliance and interesting new ingredients emerge and dance in the mix.
I enjoyed this article, and it's title:'The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People are Eccentric.' Perhaps the next study from SA, instead of a justification, could take things a step further and offer something even more close to home for artists, like a needed revolt. You could call it: 'The Leashed Mind: Why Non-Creative People Don't Look Eccentric and How Their Addiction to Mediocrity and Damning of Magical Thinking Makes for a Duller Culture for the Rest Of Us'.
I remember art class in school,a little side class not given half the relevance of all the other classes in my curriculum. Even the art teacher was seen as a goof. Creativity was not any aspect of my report card which was sent home to define me. In other words, creativity was not valued. It was an eccentric side camp I had to fight to remain a part of it to devote my life to. (To 'throw your life away on something not real' was how it was mocked.) Recently a friend of mine was diagnosed by a state mental health care counselor who told her she was "living dangerously if she continued to associate herself with artists because they have higher rates of suicide". !!! Better to numb it out? Better to curb any potential eccentricity and 'be normal' like a good girl? This was a state-funded authority advising her to dis-associate herself from artists and the arts because, in her opinion speaking from a healthier position, these 'types' were suspicious and dangerous to one's health. Creativity often is under attack. To think outside the box does by definition question authority and all current gatekeepers. Creativity is revolutionary. A creative person, or worse a lot of creative people, makes for a kind of messy scene. How to deal with that? A lot of the encouragement for the arts is really just lip service.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe idea that creativity needs to be justified on any level is maddening. We were created in our Creator's image, thus first and foremost we are all creators...each and every one of us. If our Creator is unlimited, and the creation process our birthright to manifest without limit, it's infuriating when anyone (any organization, religion, institution, or political camp) tries to curb something as basic and individual as our eccentricity. Next comes book burning, witch hunts, mind control, etc. Creativity needs to be MORE championed in our culture. It is not just entertainment and the arts, it threads through everything. Creativity empowers. Eccentricity is just what it looks like, often, as new brilliance and interesting new ingredients emerge and dance in the mix.
I enjoyed this article, and it's title:'The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People are Eccentric.' Perhaps the next study from SA, instead of a justification, could take things a step further and offer something even more close to home for artists, like a needed revolt. You could call it: 'The Leashed Mind: Why Non-Creative People Don't Look Eccentric and How Their Addiction to Mediocrity and Damning of Magical Thinking Makes for a Duller Culture for the Rest Of Us'.
Yes, I was immediately concerned that I don't rate as eccentric.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is much to agree with in here about the threat creativity poses to power.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTotally true.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLove it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy reply to the person who said there are many who masquerade as eccentric merely said, "Totally true." I hit Cancel on the line in the box after Reply to... I see that means that you are not doing a reply. Live and learn.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnyway, there are lots of fakers out there, who act eccentric and do crummy "art." They help to give creative geniuses a bad name yet, ironically, the uncreative majority often lionizes them as precious and special. They are shrewdly manipulating their fellow normals to elevate the bogus above the real, which helps to marginalize the real genius and allows normals to keep their comfort level intact. It is a functional social practice in the interests of the prevailing dullards. If the real genius produces, he eventually prevails, but recall that Steve Jobs was fired from the company he created.
I think if you look closely at anyone you will find eccentricities when compared to any chosen standard.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou are all unique and weird as fuck.
Even though from a distance humans are for all practical reasons, identical.
Speculation is a ripe fuckin void from which the elongated emu gets it's head sucked through it's anus ;)
Pet peeves, they dont eat much but boy do they piss off the neighbors! xo love/love
Thank you so much for this information. While I do not believe I have any psychotic illnesses, I have often felt like a round peg trying to fit into square holes :-0!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy grandmother was misdiagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic for most of her life. In the last few years, they changed her diagnosis to bipolar...but now I am wondering cause I remember hearing stories about how she heard voices and even thought she was different people. My grandmother had 3 daughters...my mom being the most creative of the bunch I think. She passed away when I was 9, so I really never go to know her.
As a child, I acclimated to the math and science world for I liked the predictability and "right" answers. I went on to graduate college with a business degree...and tried to make it in that world but never found my niche. Now in my 30s and going thru a major life transition, I took some personality/value tests and have been shocked to learn that my creative side scored higher than any other area...and that my desire for flexibility is higher than for schedules and routines. It's like this last year I have been coming out of my cocoon, my creative side flourishing to life making it really difficult to focus on which direction to now move forward. I now realize that I was "killing" myself trying to suppress my true nature - trying to be some one every one else wanted me to be instead of being what I truly am. I've always been a daydreamer, always coming up with lots of ideas and always trying to improve methods for more efficiency and time-savings. I've had people get frustrated that I can't seem to focus on one idea and stay on track - but now am realizing that is the beauty of my personality: that I can generate ideas and options for myself and others.
Any who, I am just wondering where I can get some of the tests that you mention in this article? And if you have seen people with these traits like me who have either suppressed them during their younger years...or is it possibly just a change in the personality? Lastly, do you all suggest any tools or methods to help learn to do a better job of blocking or at least filtering the information coming in so one doesn't get so distracted or off course?
Thank you! ~ Real Mama www.realmamareallife.com
For years I have wondered why people who have been institutionalized for mental illness seem to be quite bright, not dull. I wonder if we haven't placed too many highly creative people in these institutions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo when I was playing with an imaginary trapeze in 3rd grade while in class, I wan't crazy like my teachers though I was just creative. Yes I think there is such a thing as past lives, those are the dreams that are like memories when you wake up. To the group who contacted me years ago just after I moved and no one knew my new address, I would like to be considered again...the same way as before when I had no computer. To finish, I used to write very good poetry until I realized that I was feeling depressed for no apparent reason. I stopped writing and am now not depressed. A final note, one can get used to filtering quite a bit more when one has offspring.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo, either you're smart and never say it or you say you are and are truly dumb...I bet you say you're smart.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you for saying what many of us were thinking!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAre you fucking serious???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFully in agreement with Shelly Carson. Moses in 13 BCE, Lao-Tzu c600 BCE Aesop in c620 -50 BCE Thales in 6 and 7 century BCE, General Sun Tzu c.500 BCE, Pythogoras in 582-500 BCE, Pheidippdes inc 530 - 490 BCE...Buddha c.563 -483 BCE, Confucius 551 - 479 BCE... Heraclites c 535 - 475 BCE... and a lot many more were considered during their period as eccentrics. Truth is 'Nothing endures but change...'Doubt everything. Find your own light' is the view and that way ' We have won' is like 'Declining from the public ways, walk in unfrequented path' is indeed considered eccentricity. And Such men were the most creative and were in fact much beyond their times. Such men may appear to be eccentric at given period of time but such men only chartered the course of world and in that order is also Jesus and many more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn fact Life itself an all warfare and is based on deception by a given thought prevailing at a particular period and yet civilizations would not have surfaced from Mayan down as on today, if adventure is not there. Adventurism as a word itself full of eccentricity but without that Columbus got Americas so too Vasco-da-Gama India and East but for such civilization may not have progressed.
So, it is clear there is a high potency creativity only can make things possible that cannot be done by every one. Therefore most adventurism is indeed a square peg or octogonal peg or Conical appendage. They cannot fit on round holes. Creativity is a great psychological activity of all sorts. That way creativity only innovates.
Creativity of 6th century Americans could get for America most needed independence at great sacrifice. People would have thought what an eccentric activity to fight British then but for such eccentricity today America would not have born at all. Similarly if Gen. Eisenhower had not been as Allied commander fought world War against Hitler along with Field Marshall Montgomery, possibly we would still be in 'dark ages' as Sir Winston Churchill mused.
So your study has indeed opened the vision of modern people too as there is a definite need for creativity than any other thing.
So creativity studies is definitely needed, may be called as Schizophrenia or by any other name in cognitive studies or any but that way you need creative studies which are helping the man to explore planets to get new colonies once earth becomes unlivable for one cause or other.
thanks you did a good study madam!
The true sign of intelligence is not giving it a second thought...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI was just conveying information about this article to my spouse and saying that whether I fit the criteria to be part of this creative and eccentric group, it still gives me insight into what I consider some of my eccentric behaviors. The response I got was 'but those explanations cannot be used as an excuse for undisciplined behavior'. And that struck a chord with me in sympathy to all those who truly are creative, eccentric, and cannot conform to the standard rules of society. We will never be understood by the masses who think logically, rationally, and live by the rules. There is a struggle for those of us on the edge of this murky subject--'what is wrong with me that I can't seem to be on time for anything?' 'What is wrong with me that constantly say inappropriate things in social situations?' 'Why don't they understand how simple this solution would be?' 'Why don't they understand that the end result is the objective--not how that is accomplished?' When you live with that for so many years, it can be debilitating to creativity, because we get so worn down by trying to fit in. I call myself a creative idea person. But throughout my entire life my ideas are scoffed at and so many times the only response I got was 'that will never work' or 'it can't be done that way', that I finally gave up. I have been fired on more than one occasion for not being able to meet the standards of 'normalcy', and was told I just needed to 'learn some discipline'. I appreciate the writing of this article very much, and maybe, just maybe, it has renewed some of my strength to return to my 'natural and normal' state of being.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo kimberanne and various posters - intelligence is not the same thing as creativity. They can exist together - or separately. And ditto/ditto for non-conformity. A society that, for the most part, cannot tell the difference between these things, and more importantly, cannot tell the difference between fancy and imagination, needs to study creativity incessantly (after determining that it is stamped out in grade school) yet will never understand it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI hereby declare my readiness to accept a grant in order to further these studies.
there's enough pretentious holier-than-thou-for-i-have-a-high-iq people here to make me have flashbacks to my exboyfriend. particularly kimberanne.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisnever mind that an intelligent person realises that iq means all of jack shit and can screw up the score for various reasons.
i have schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorder, and i usually let loose by drawing. my iq, though, is an 89. intelligence does not affect creativity; it creates the kind of pretentious commentators who post here, who think this article makes them 'special' enough to board the special train of high iq. depression might be linked with a high iq, but it's not the CAUSE of depression, obviously.
that said, i can draw, but all other subjects in school, i nearly failed. chemistry, i was good at. the rest i was awful. i am a failure at the fast food industry, because of short-term memory.
i'm perplexed though that so many people here are flipping out that you MUST be intelligent to not be 'boring'. some of the most intelligent people i know are bland, boring, pretentious people boarding the high iq train. the most interesting, creative people i've met dropped out of high school, and are mentally dull. intelligence is not the precursor to creativity, and it is also not the reason people 'match their socks' and 'act boring'. no, that's a boring personality, or, you know, being able to see colour, or social anxiety.
doctorrichard is pretty much spot on though. 'I AM SU SMART LET ME TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT', and yet, they're so intelligent, but, they don't realise iq means jack shit? haaaaa, yeah, okay, you fooled me!
and what is intelligence anyhow? book smarts, street smarts, what? because i have street smarts, and i guarantee most of you with a super high iq have book smarts only. hm. seems to be the case, every time. never know when to shut up, never know when to play some common sense, you don't wear torn jeans and a t-shirt to a job interview. common sense. you all are so proud of high iq, and turn around and say it is your creativity that makes you not match your socks, or whatever, and it's more the fact you have the common sense of a tack on the floor.
hi, hello, maybe if you're so smart, you would know that iq means all of jack shit and is not the basis of why you are such a pretentious asshat)))
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"remember the average iq is only 100~!"
what a rude thing to say. fortunately, i'm not average; i have an 89. why? because i have schizophrenia, and iq test is for normal people with mental soundness. not so special after all, are you? you can recite the entire iliad, and i'm proud of you for it, but can you use common sense? i highly doubt it. okay. nice bragging, though, makes you seem so intelligent)) i bow to you for i have such a low iq, i must wallow at your feet for praise, like a persistent dog.
right, right.
sometimes, i get frustrated with people, then i remember, the smarter they think they are, the more of a pretentious asshole they'll be, and it makes me feel okay))
Oh blah, blah, blah. What a waste of my time. Thought that maybe I was going to read something new.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthe conclusion to this article takes a little leap. He assumes that creative/eccentric people WANT to fit in. But WHY? would i want to fit in?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnyone who hasn't should check out the book "A First-Rate Madness." Great read concerning the link between "depressive realism" and top-rate leadership.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this