1. CREATIVITY - is a phenomenon whereby
something new and valuable is created (such as
an idea, a joke, an artistic or literary work, a
painting or musical composition, a solution, an
invention etc.). The ideas and concepts so
conceived can then manifest themselves in any
number of ways, but most often, they become
something we can see, hear, smell, touch, or
taste. The range of scholarly interest in creativity
includes a multitude of definitions and approaches
involving several
disciplines; psychology, cognitive
science,education, philosophy (particularly philoso
phy of
science), technology, theology, sociology, linguisti
cs, business studies, songwriting and economics,
taking in the relationship between creativity and
general intelligence, mental and neurological
processes associated with creativity, the
relationships between personality type and
creative ability and between creativity and mental
health, the potential for fostering creativity through
education and training, especially as augmented

2. by technology, and the application of creative
resources to improve the effectiveness of learning
and teaching processes.
CREATIVENESS - having or showing an ability to make new
things or think of new ideas
: using the ability to make or think of new things : involving the process by
which new ideas, stories, etc., are created
: done in an unusual and often dishonest way.
1
marked by the ability or power to create :
given tocreating <the creative impulse>
2
: having the quality of
something created rather than
imitated : IMAGINATIVE <the creative arts>
3
: managed so as to get around legal or
conventional limits<creative financing>; also :
deceptively arranged so as to conceal or
defraud <creative accounting>

3. — cre·a·tive·ly adverb
— cre·a·tive·ness noun
Creativity works in mysterious and often
paradoxical ways. Creative thinking is a stable,
defining characteristic in some personalities,
but it may also change based on situation and
context. Inspiration and ideas often arise
seemingly out of nowhere and then fail to show
up when we most need them, and creative
thinking requires complex cognition yet is
completely distinct from the thinking process.
Neuroscience paints a complicated picture of
creativity. As scientists now understand it,
creativity is far more complex than the right-
left brain distinction would have us think (the
theory being that left brain = rational and
analytical, right brain = creative and
emotional). In fact, creativity is thought to
involve a number of cognitive processes,

4. neural pathways and emotions, and we still
don't have the full picture of how the
imaginative mind works.
And psychologically speaking, creative
personality types are difficult to pin down,
largely because they're complex, paradoxical
and tend to avoid habit or routine. And it's not
just a stereotype of the "tortured artist" --
artists really may be more complicated people.
Research has suggested that creativity involves
the coming together of a multitude of traits,
behaviors and social influences in a single
person.
"It's actually hard for creative people to know
themselves because the creative self is more
complex than the non-creative self," Scott
Barry Kaufman, a psychologist at New York
University who has spent years researching
creativity, told The Huffington Post. "The
things that stand out the most are the

5. paradoxes of the creative self ... Imaginative
people have messier minds."
There are a surprising number of blog posts
about the characteristics of creative people.
However, most of these seem to focus
either on an idealized vision of an artist or
the blog-writer’s idealized self-image! Here
is my take on the characteristics of highly
creative people. However, what I have done
is looked at how creative people think --
based on my understanding of the latest
research -- and applied it to behavior.
It is also worth bearing in mind that
creativity is not all positive. There are good
and bad creative people. Moreover, there

6. seem to be some characteristics of creative
people, such as dishonesty, that are not
very nice. More controversially, some
research has shown a correlation between
creativity and mental illness. (The validity of
this is contested, though.)
The characteristics of highly creative people
are, I believe, the result of two specific
behaviors of such people. Let's look at
those behaviors and how they affect
broader behavior.
Behavior One: Make More Use of Their
Mental Raw Material
It seems that when highly creative people
try to solve a problem or achieve a goal,

7. particularly when the goal is related to their
area of creative strength, they use much
more of their brains than do ordinary people
or, indeed, than even themselves when
they are not focused on a creative task. If
the average person is asked to draw a
picture of a cat, she will most likely think
about the physical appearance of a cat and
replicate it as best she can with pen and
paper. The creative artist, on the other
hand, will think in much more depth. She'll
think not only about the cat, but the
placement of the cat; what the cat is doing;
the lighting; the kind of lines to use and
much more. She may decide to humanize
the cat and give it emotions. Perhaps she'll

8. decide to draw a sexy cat with a human
body wearing an evening gown. Maybe
she'll simply draw a blur representing a cat
in motion.
By using much more of her brain to achieve
her goal, the highly creative person, in
effect, provides herself with more raw
material from which to construct ideas than
the average person. The average person
thinks only about drawings of cats and the
basic characteristics of cats. This limits the
level of creativity she can achieve. The
highly creative person thinks about much
more -- all the while retaining some
connection to cats. It is not surprising that,

9. with so much raw material, she is able to be
more creative in the realization of her ideas.
They Think Before They Act
It takes time to run through all that raw
material in the brain. This is why creative
people tend to think before they act. They
play with the issue in their minds for a time,
looking at a range of possibilities before
choosing a direction. I see this when I work
with creative people. When you give an
average person a creative challenge, she
tends immediately to try and come up with
ideas. But because her mind is too focused
on the issues of the challenge, her ideas
are limited in scope as well. They are

10. conventional, obvious ideas. The highly
creative person, on the other hand, tends to
turn the problem around in her head. She
asks questions, thinks about it in various
scenarios and brings seemingly unrelated
information into her problem solving.
For example, if you ask an averagely
creative person to come up with ideas for
things you could do with a big box (for
example, the kind of box a new washing
machine might be packaged in), she will
immediately think of boxes and their usual
uses: storage, children's toys, perhaps
protection against the elements.

11. A highly creative person would go further.
She might think about using a box as a
children's toy (as would most people), but
she would also think about the kind of
games children might play in a box. She
might imagine climbing into the box and
then wonder what it would be like. She
might think about tearing apart the box and
what to do with the pieces - perhaps use
them for kindling for a fire or raw material
for a sculpture. She might invert the box in
her mind and climb on top of it. What would
happen if she did that, she might wonder.
All of these thoughts enable her to come up
with many more ideas than the averagely
creative person. But these thoughts all

12. come from her mind. She is simply using
more of her mind and its memories,
thoughts and notions in order to construct
ideas.
Incidentally, the highly creative person does
not focus on her left brain or right brain for a
simple reason: it's a myth. Creative people
use a lot of their brains, not one
hemisphere or the other!
Curiosity Is Creative Play
Highly creative people are often cited as
being very curious. This fits with the way
their brains work. Rather than simply collect
information, their brains play with it. One
person might see a horse standing in a field
and think it is a magnificent looking animal.

13. Another more curiously creative person
might wonder what the horse thinks about
all day in the field. She might wonder how
the horse can cope for long hours of
inactivity without a book to read. Or she
might notice that the horse tends to hang
out by the fence that borders another field
where another horse resides. The creative
person might wonder how two animals that
do not have spoken or written language
might bond and what kinds of friendships
horses might have.
Spontaneous Ideas
It is by often asking these questions,
wondering and being curious that creative

14. people come up with spontaneous ideas.
For instance, it is by asking what use could
be made of not-very-sticky glue that some
people discovered Post-Its. Pablo Picasso
wondered how he could depict three-
dimensional reality, as viewed from different
perspectives, and came up with surrealism.
Behavior Two: Less Intellectual Regulation
The dorsolateral prefrontal region of the
brain is responsible for, among other
things,intellectual regulation. It includes the
brain's censorship bureau: the bit of the
brain that prevents us from saying or doing
inappropriate things. It allows us to control
impulses and to choose appropriate

15. courses of behavior according to our
circumstances. It seems that in highly
creative people, this part of the brain
becomes much less active during times of
creation. This makes sense. If you can
reduce the level of thought regulation when
generating creative work (whether ideas,
music, or artwork), then fewer ideas will be
filtered out as inappropriate and more will
be developed and shared.
In averagely creative people, on the other
hand, the dorsolateral prefrontal region
remains more active all the time. It filters
out crazy thoughts; it prevents the person
from saying, doing or even thinking too
much about outrageous ideas. It ensures

16. that averagely creative people think and
behave conventionally. And for many
people, this is preferred. Most people desire
to fit into society and succeed according to
existing rules. It is only creative misfits who
want to succeed by doing things their own
way—by ignoring convention, by having the
audacity to believe they know better than
convention.
For many people, this is a good thing.
Sharing stupid ideas is embarrassing.
People might laugh at the individual who
shares seemingly stupid ideas. People
might question her competence. Moreover,
the averagely creative individual may

17. wonder why she should bother with creative
ideas when more conventional solutions
work well enough. No one is going to be
laughed at or reprimanded for coming up
with a conventional idea that is in keeping
with the norms of the local culture (whether
it is society, a school or a workplace). On
the other hand, sharing a radical idea that
might be stupid could well result in ridicule.
Acting on an idea that could fail miserably
could get you in trouble.
In short, it is safer to be conventional and
incremental in your creativity than it is to be
unconventional and radical in your creativity
–for most people. Highly creative people

18. are different. Their brains are programmed
to worry less about fitting in with
conventions and staying within norms. It is
not that highly creative people are not afraid
of ridicule or criticism (indeed, many artists
are highly sensitive). Rather, it never occurs
to them that others might ridicule their
ideas.
Creative People Are Not as Rebellious
as You Think
This leads to the myth that creative people
are rebellious. I do not believe this is
entirely true. But whereas most people,
thanks to their active dorsolateral prefrontal
cortexes, regulate their thinking and

19. behavior to fit with conventional behavior,
creative people are not so handicapped.
Instead, they follow their own rules or
systems for evaluating ideas and deciding
whether to move forward with those ideas.
These rule systems are often logical, at
least to the creative thinker. But, because
they are not about conforming to social
norms, it makes the creative thinker seem
rebellious. An artist, for example, will not
make a name for herself by studiously
copying current trends. Rather, she will
become famous by being unique. So, if she
makes decisions based on what is
commonplace, ordinary and conforming in
the art world, she will never make a name

20. for herself. However, if she purposely veers
from what is popular in order to carve out
her own, unique style –she may become
famous. She may make a name for herself.
Creative People Are Logical
Another common fallacy about creative
people is that they are not logical, that they
are driven purely by feeling and emotion. I
do not believe this is true. Rather, as noted,
creative people are not handicapped by a
need to conform to social norms. They are
not compelled to be a part of popular
culture. Rather, they are driven by a logic
that suits their needs and is logical to them.
That logic may be based in part on

21. emotions and feelings -- especially in some
artists. But it is a form of logic nevertheless.
All people need to make decisions and
decisions are based on some kind of logic.
The creative artist is no exception. If
anything, by not feeling compelled to fit the
demands of popular culture, the creative
artist needs to be even more logical than
the average person who assumes that if
everyone wears and buys a particular style
jacket, then it is safe to buy and wear such
a jacket.
Creative People Tend to Be Less Honest
Another apparent consequence of having a
relaxed dorsolateral prefrontal region,

22. combined with a brain that is adept at
building ideas, appears to be a reduced
need to be honest. Research by Francesca
Gino and Dan Ariely confirms that, in
general, highly creative people are less
honest than averagely creative people. The
reason for this seems to be that creative
people can use their creativity to justify their
actions in ways that less creative people
cannot do. A lot of people, highly creative
people as well as self-proclaimed creative
people, will balk at this and claim that they
are very honest. And it is true that they
believe that. That is because their creativity
is successful in convincing them that their
behavior is justified.

23. Creative People Are Introverts,
Extroverts, Collaborators, Independent,
Big, Small, Fat, Skinny...
I have seen some bloggers claim that
creative people are introverts; others that
creative people are extroverts. I have heard
that creative work better in groups and that
they work better individually. However, I
have never seen these assumptions
supported in any way. The truth is,
creativity seems to have little to do with how
well one functions socially, one's weight
(though I would assume that being in good
health would help the brain function better)
or other personal characteristics. The truth
is, creative people come in all kinds of

24. shapes, sizes, colors and personalities.
What truly distinguishes them from others is
that they use more of their brains to
generate ideas -- which provides them with
more raw material for building unique ideas
-- and less of their brains to regulate the
development and sharing of those unusual
ideas.
What Do You Think?
What do you think? Is this a fair portrayal of
the characteristics of creative people? If
not, why not? Have I missed anything? I'd
love for you to share your thoughts!