The Benefit Of Seeing With Child-Like Eyes (M)
How thinking like a child can help you see new solutions.
Category: Creativity
Creativity: Why We Have So Many Ideas While Walking Or Showering (M)
Taking a break from a problem often brings an insight later on, but what should we do in the meantime?
This Harsh Form Of Humour Stimulates Creativity (M)
Despite being considered one of the lowest forms of wit, it requires considerable mental powers to produce.
2 Rules For Generating Really Creative Ideas (M)
Do not settle for an idea that is the result of analytical thinking.
A Creative Pursuit That Lowers Cortisol And Relieves Stress (M)
For 75 percent of participants, cortisol levels were lower after 45 minutes of this activity.
Dyslexics May Have A Cognitive Advantage That Is Vital To Humanity (M)
Dyslexia is thought to affect 20 percent of the population, although many people are undiagnosed.
These Activities Promote An Upward Spiral Of Joy (M)
People reported more positive emotions, including more enthusiasm and joy.
Neurotic People Have This Surprising Mental Advantage (M)
Over-thinking and worriers enjoy this unexpected psychological advantage.
How To Be As Unbelievably Creative As Darwin And Newton
Darwin and Wallace came up with the theory of natural selection at the same time. Why?
Darwin and Wallace came up with the theory of natural selection at the same time. Why?
New technologies and ideas emerge from our collected brains — not individual geniuses, research finds.
Innovations emerge, the paper argues, by small improvements, the mixing of ideas, situations and pure luck.
While Darwin, Newton and the rest were clearly talented and driven individuals, they were “standing on the shoulders of giants”.
The best thing you can do to be more creative, one of the paper’s authors argues, is to talk to people who disagree with you.
Dr Michael Muthukrishna, the study’s lead author, said:
“The processes of cumulative cultural evolution allow technologies and techniques to emerge, which no single individual could create on their own – because human brains, in isolation, aren’t actually all that smart.
We can see this process at work when two people have the same apparently innovative idea at the same time – such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace with the theory of natural selection.
Rather than being heroic geniuses, Darwin and Wallace were in the same ‘cultural milieu’, both reading the same books and both travelling to biologically diverse island environments.”
Societal innovation is affected by three factors, the researchers found:
- Larger more interconnected societies where ideas can mix.
- Easy transmission of useful knowledge between people so that it can be built upon.
- Tolerance for deviation: trying new things is hard and the rate of failure is high. This has to be allowed for.
Dr Muthukrishna said:
“To be an innovator, it’s better to be social rather than smart.
There’s no doubt that there are variations in people’s raw skills, but what predicts the difference between a Steve Jobs and a Joe Bloggs is actually their exposure to new ideas that are wonderful and different.
If you want to be more creative the best thing you can do is to talk to people who disagree with you.”
The study was published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Muthukrishna & Henrich, 2016).
7 Weird Signs You Are A Really Creative Person (M)
Being sarcastic, ignoring deadlines and these five other unusual things are all linked to higher creativity.
