In this article we will explore the traits of creativity, the functioning of the brain during creativity and the deeper meaning of being a creative.
Creativity
From skyscrapers, to rockets, to computers, we are constantly pushing the limits of what we can achieve as a human race. Through art, music, and film we begin to make ourselves aware of just how connected we all are. What enables us as humans to push these limits is our creativity.
Many students may think that because they aren’t performers they are not creative. But as mentioned above creativity shows up in many different ways in the world around us.
Creativity can be described as the ability to create or express a new idea or an existing idea in a unique way. It is therefore built from our existing knowledge, our unique experiences and the possibilities we can imagine.
Traits of Creativity
Some of the traits of creative individuals include Intelligence, Imagination, Knowledge, Foresight, Risk Taking and Discipline.
Three creative individuals we can examine to see these traits play out in their lives are Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Beethoven.
Steve Jobs
Some of the most salient traits of creativity in the life of Steve Jobs was his ability to have imagination and foresight. He believed in the vision he had and was willing to take the risk to achieve it. When Steve started in the technology industry, the idea of having a personal computer was foreign to the majority. What has made Apple one of the biggest brands today is Job’s constant push to have a computer designed specifically for humans.
This was an era where no one saw the fonts on a computer being of any significance. No one cared about whether the keyboard, mouse or screen of a computer looked attractive. No one cared about how small a device was or its colour. Steve began to chart a new territory, one in which many would begin to follow into the future.
Albert Einstein
Some of the most salient traits of creativity in the life of Albert Einstein was his knowledge, intelligence and imagination. Einstein is known as one of the most influential physicists of all time. The quote displayed in this blog, “The more I learn, the less I know”, was a phrase said by Einstein. In addition to his knowledge, he possessed humility and the awareness that as he began to discover answers, there came more questions.
He was willing to risk being wrong and going into the unknown to form theories of why the world works the way it does. He used imagination to think of possibilities that others would have thought to be illogical or impossible at the time. At the age of 16 Einstein asked himself a question that would propel him towards his future studies. The question was, “What would a light beam look like if you could run alongside it?”. This was a question that was far beyond our comprehension at the time and would have required quite a bit of imagination on Einstein’s part.
Beethoven
Some of the most salient traits of creativity in the life of Beethoven was his imagination and discipline. From an early age Beethoven began to develop discipline when he began taking piano lessons. He eventually began performing and was best known for his improvisations. This involved creating pieces of music in the moment and playing them on the piano without any prior rehearsal. These spontaneous moments would have helped him develop his imagination, essential for creating his future compositions.
As Beethoven began to lose his hearing as he got older, he did not let his creativity dwindle. Even though he could no longer play as he once did, he continued to compose in his books. A process that would have been quite difficult at times and time consuming.
Does Creativity in the Brain Operate On The Right Side ?
Humanistic Psychologist, Scott Barry Kaufman states that creativity comes from networks that rely on both sides of the brain. These 3 main networks are, the Executive Attention Network, the Default Mode Network and the Salience Network.
The Executive Attention Network and Its Relation to the Traits of Creativity
The Executive Attention (EA) Network is part of your working memory that enables you to perform tasks through cognitive processing. A person’s working memory has two components, the Executive Attention Network and Short-term memory.
Short-term memory stores information in a limited capacity. This information is what a person can keep in their mind at a given time. Given this limited capacity, your mind needs a filter to only allow information that is relevant to the task at hand to be stored. This is where the EA network functions as that filter. It regulates the quantity and type of information by accepting or blocking it from entering your short term memory.
The EA network is important in creativity as it helps us to regulate our thoughts, emotions and responses. Cognitive functions such as problem solving and switching between multiple pieces of information is also an important part of the creative process.
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The Default Mode Network and Its Relation to the Traits of Creativity
The Default Mode Network (DMN) is made up of interacting regions of the brain which become active when a person is focused inward and not on the external environment. It activates during goal oriented tasks, during resting states and social activity.
When our mind is in a resting state, we allow ourselves to daydream and imagine. This could involve thinking about something that happened in our past or something we would like to do in the future. The understanding of ourselves and others allow us to reflect in this resting state. As such the DMN is sometimes referred to as the “Imagination Network”.
The DMN is also important in empathy, compassion and inferring what another person in a particular situation may be thinking or feeling. This understanding of ourselves and others is important for creativity. Particularly the arts such as music and film.
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The Salient Network and Its Relation to the Traits of Creativity
In order to understand the Salient Network, let’s review the two brain networks discussed above. The Executive Attention Network has to do with processing information when you are engaging in a specific task. In contrast, the Default Mode Network processes information when you are not engaging in a specific task but rather passive tasks, reflecting internally.
The Salient Network refers to parts of the brain that activate when identifying the salient features in your environment. In other words it is a subconscious process where you choose what is most interesting or what stands out to you. This information is then sent to either the Central Executive Network which supports the EA function or the DMN to be processed. In other words the Salient Network is responsible for the switching between these two networks.
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The Deeper Meaning of Being a Creative
When Does Creativity Become Sustenance?
There are moments in our life when we experience loss and heartache or love and joy. There are feelings we experience in our lifetime that we sometimes can’t describe with words. We don’t know how to articulate it but somehow when we hear a song, see a dance or read a poem, we feel understood. It’s in these moments that art becomes something that sustains us and it’s not just a luxury or a form of entertainment.
American actor, Ethan Hawke describes art as being vital, as being the way that we heal one another. When we create art, he describes it as starting a dialogue where we tell our stories and listen to each other. This allows us to understand our common humanity and help each other. Through this dialogue healing happens.
Creativity is A Gift From God
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
Genesis:1:26
Our very source of life and existence stems from God, the most creative begin in our universe. He made us to be like Him. Being creative is one of the many qualities as a human race we have received from Him. It’s one of the qualities that differentiates us from all other species.
We should not waste the gift of creativity God has given us. Allow yourself to express and find your passion. The traits of creativity would manifest itself in unique ways in the personalities and lives of each individual. It is something that should help us not just connect with each other but also connect us to our creator.
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