Complementary virtues¶
Contrasting vices¶
- conventionality
- unoriginality
Virtues possibly in tension¶
TBD
How to acquire or strengthen it¶
- Something of a dilemma, in that if you notice “Creative people do X” and then think “I’ll do X; then I’ll be creative too” you’re not being creative but imitative. You have to go up a level from X.
- Some correlates of creativity suggest possible avenues: independence, non-conformity, unconventionality, open-mindedness, boldness, curiosity. But also: “Highly creative individuals are often inclined to exhibit above-normal levels of symptoms that are often associated with clinical diagnosis” (e.g. depression, mania, anti-social behavior, extreme introversion). Peterson & Seligman Character Strengths and Virtues p. 118.
- Creativity sometimes comes from combining things in novel ways, so maybe think of two things in your life at which you are already proficient, but that don’t seem to make any sense together and try to figure out how you would merge them: How would I cook dinner in a minor key? How would I repair my car if I wanted it to grow larger every day until it ripens? What would several YouTube videos look like if they were knitted together into a scarf?
- Lots of ideas about how to boost creativity (e.g. brainstorming, mind maps, stream-of-consciousness writing, sleeping on it) or ideas based on trying to replicate the idiosyncrasies of particular creative people.
Notes and links¶
- Creativity tools
- Skills You Need: Creative Thinking
- Skills You Need: Enhance Creativity
- Skills You Need: Improve Creativity and Brainpower
- Skills You Need: Understand Creative Thinking
- Skills You Need: Find Your Creative Genius
- A creative person produces ideas/behaviors/artifacts that are novel, unusual… but also useful in some way. This to distinguish the creative person from the lunatic who produces word salad for example. The eccentric / outsider-artist blurs this distinction.
- Creativity is sometimes characterized as being distinct and external (the muses, one’s genius, a creative spark)
- The 1950 speech that started creativity research
- Creativity Research Journal, Journal of Creative Behavior, Encyclopedia of Creativity
- LessWrong: Creativity
- Something might not be objectively creative, but might be creative-for-you; creative in the way you produced it. You were exercising creative muscles in doing it, even though from the perspective of human history it wasn’t particularly novel. Some domains have had so many creative people operating in them for so long that it can be difficult to reach the frontier from which new creative avenues can be taken.
- “malevolent creativity” (creativity deployed to unethical ends) e.g. Cropley et al. (2014) “Layperson perceptions of malevolent creativity…”
- ostensibly, encouraging someone to “be creative” works. (E.C. Nusbaum et al 2014 “ready, set, create”)
- G. Scott, L.E. Leritz, M.D. Mumford “The effectiveness of creativity training” Creativity Research Journal (2004)
Mentioned elsewhere¶
- One of The VIA Institute’s "Character Strengths" (see their page)
- One of the virtues discussed in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, in the context of art/craft
Inspirational quotes¶
- “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” ―Albert Einstein
- “A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” ―Ayn Rand
- “As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” ―Martin Luther King Jr.
- “A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” ―Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince
