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Creativity as a Function of Personality
Introduction
The level of creativity in human beings is determined by the subsequent levels of personal intelligence and the personality of an individual. Both the personality and intelligence have profound impacts on the levels of creativity. Therefore, the levels of personality and intelligence will greatly influence the level of creativity in humans. At a greater extent, the level of creativity is dependent on the personality and intelligence of individuals. Intelligence involves the ability of a person to understand a situation and later be able to make appropriate judgements about the issue. Personality refers to the characteristics that an individual possess so that he may be able to influence his emotions and other cognitive factors. Creativity involves the use of the personality and intelligence characteristics to develop something that is unique and of great value. In psychology, the extent of creativity is dependent on the levels of personality and intelligence. The distribution of creativity can either be normal or skewed as a result of every day’s judgements or real-life production respectively. Since creativity holds a strategic position between intelligence and personality, then it is paramount to evaluate the role played by each of the two factors. The personality of an individual is claimed to be the most significant factor that enhances and upholds creativity. The various aspects of intelligence have profound effects on the levels of creativity.
The paper is meant to explore the correlation between the levels of creativity and the two independent variables of personality and intelligence. The essay will further examine the extent to which the factors of personality and intelligence will influence and determine the levels of creativity. The psychological levels of intelligence and personality will have profound effects on the levels of creativity hence the need for further scrutiny and assessment. The various empirical evidence that surround the three aspects of creativity, personality and intelligence will be evaluated at length. The essay will examine the role and influence of each of the two independent variables on the levels of creativity. The various psychological aspects and their influence on the creativity issue will be explored too. The aspect of personality and its influence on the extent of creativity will be explored in the essay. Additionally, an evaluation of the influence of personality on the levels of creativity will be evaluated in the essay. Correlation between the three aspects will be given some priority in the paper. A conclusion paragraph will be incorporated in the paper, to summarize, the various undertakings and the main points that influence the levels of creativity in human beings. Despite the existence of other psychological aspects, the influence and the extent to which personality and intelligence issues affect the levels of creativity is worth noting.
Creativity as a Function of Personality
Personality is one of the major determinants of creativity in humans. Personality entails the individual characteristics that help one to influence his environment, emotions and other cognitive purposes. Various empirical evidence have been used to realize the full potential that personality has on the issue of creativity. The process of measuring creativity through the various tests helps to portray the role played by the personality aspect as far as creativity is concerned. The evaluation of remote association tests, consequence tests and instance tasks try to highlight and explore the issue of personality as a factor. The ability to link the three methods of testing and the personality influence will help to quantify the correlation that may exist between the two. Additionally, the ability to link between convergent and divergent thinking and personality characteristics of an individual will help to deduce the kind of relationship that exist between creativity and the personality of people. The personality of an individual is determined by his flexibility, original behaviour and cultural characteristics. For instance, the increased level of flexibility is a personality attribute in humans. Therefore, the ability of individuals to embrace flexibility in their undertakings helps to highlight the relationship between the attributes of personality and creativity. In such a scenario, the flexibility that is an attribute of personality will directly influence the levels of creativity. Therefore, there exist a positive correlation between the personality of individuals and their subsequent creativity levels. The original behaviour of people is a characteristic of the personality. The ability of the person to portray certain behavioural characteristics will help to deduce his personality. Consequently, the virtue of original behaviour has profound effects on the individual’s personality and hence more spill-over effects on the concept of creativity. From the previous two scenarios, it is quite clear that the aspect of personality has a hallmark influence on the creativity of an individual. The flexibility and original behaviour are characteristics of any personality traits hence great impact on the adaptable levels of creativity. The cultural characteristics of an individual help to shape and mould their personality. Cultural characteristics will greatly influence a person’s characteristics and his ability to influence his emotions and other cognitive requirements. The personality of an individual is determined by his cultural characteristics thereby influencing his levels of creativity. The personality of an individual is also dependent on his levels of self-confidence, intrinsic motivation and his potentials. The three factors have profound effects on the ability of the person to make decisions and influence his or her behaviours, emotions and other cognitive aspects. Self-confidence determines and dictates the personality of a person. The availability of personal and intrinsic motivation in individuals results in profound effects on the levels of personality that the individual will portray. Intrinsic motivation will help to mould the personality of an individual and hence influencing his levels of creativity. Higher levels of self-confidence help to facilitate and uphold the personality attributes of an individual. Further on, the increased levels of personal motivation will uphold the individual’s personality and his ability to come up with creative endeavours in their day-to-day living conditions. Low levels of motivation and self-confidence will automatically affect the personality attributes of people hence reduced levels of creativity. Additionally, the levels of individual potentials will tend to affect his personality. Therefore, low potential by individuals tend to lower they personality attributes. Consequently, the low levels of such personality attribute will automatically lead to lower levels of creativity. The levels of attentiveness will affect the personality attributes of individuals. The ability of the individual to deploy some attention on various life aspects is an attribute of personality. Attentiveness fosters the development of a person hence his ability to think critically and make rational judgements. Attention is an attribute of personal development and hence it has direct impacts on the creativity of the individual. Attentiveness is known to reduce anxiety and hence the ability of the individual to think critically. Critical thinking is associated with higher levels of creativity in humans. The personality of individuals can also be dictated the difference in sex between the different genders. For instance, the development of careers in both genders has profound effects on their personalities. With this regard then, the creativity of both genders is developed in the event of securing better opportunities. Since the difference in gender is an attribute of personality, then the aspects of creativity are explored. The socio-economic factors have some indirect impacts on the levels of individual personality. The socioeconomic status of an individual contributes greatly to the individual’s ability to uphold his creativity endeavours. The socio-economic status will shape the individual’s personality and subsequently his creativity.
Both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational phenomena have significant effects on the personality as well as the creativity characters in humans. Motivation from both the outside and inside of an individual will tend to influence the ability of a person to influence his behaviours and emotions hence profound effects on their personality. Since the personality of people is a core determinant of creativity, then motivation is a crucial component for any creativity to be realized. The individual experience, self-efficacy and perseverance also have significant effects on the levels of individual personality. For instance, individual experience affects the individual’s personality thereby boosting his creativity. This is because there exist a serious relationship between the levels of personality psychology and creativity. Perseverance and self-efficacy have significant effects on the levels of personality too. Self-efficacy is the ability of a person to perform a particular duty. Increased ability to perform and undertake duties responsibly will help to foster and uphold the personality of an individual. Increased levels of personality will prompt further creativity and uniqueness. Self-efficacy can be realized due to higher levels of resources, inventions and operational skills. With this regard then, creative productivity will be realized as a result (Bandura 1997). Perseverance has a positive impact on the levels of creativity in human beings. With reference to past research findings, the aspect of perseverance is seen as a major contributor and facilitator of creativity. Since perseverance is known to influence the personality of individuals, and then it affects the levels of creativity too. The ability of a person to overcome challenges or perseverance facilitates creativity (Shalley & Gilson, 2004) hence creative people tend to face a challenge with higher levels of perseverance. The intrinsic and extrinsic motivational approaches also have significant effects on the levels of individual creativity and perseverance. Extrinsic motivational aspects such as gifts and training tend to influence an individual’s personality and subsequently his creativity. Intrinsic motivational aspects such as openness and self-efficacy have significant effects on the individual’s personality and creativity (Zhou 1998).
Creativity as a Function of Intelligence
The intelligence level of an individual is one of the major determinants of creativity. A combination of intelligence and personality aspects ought to be put in place in order to realize higher levels of psychological creativity in our day to day activities. Intelligence involves the ability of a person to understand a situation and later be able to make appropriate judgements about the issue. Individual knowledge is crucial in facilitating the aspect of creativity. A blend of intelligence, knowledge and personality is essential for the realization of the goals and objectives of creativity. The threshold theory of creativity and intelligence presupposes that intelligence is necessary for creativity to be realized though it is not sufficient enough. Additionally, the theory emphasizes the need of minimal levels of intelligence in the urge and need for creativity. The Sternberg’s theory of intelligence and creativity highlights various aspects of creativity that ought to be evaluated in order to quantify the relationship between creativity and intelligence. The existence of the various aspects of intelligence is crucial in determining the type of correlation that exists between creativity and intelligence. The notable aspects of intelligence according to Sternberg are synthetic, analytical and practical. Each of the three aspects has profound effects on the creativity aspects in individuals. Analytical intelligence is the ability of an individual to evaluate a problem and later devise the best method to solve it. The ability of an individual to provide a lasting solution to an existing problem characterizes the intelligence potential of the individual in question. Since intelligence is one of the major determinants of creativity, then analytical intelligence has significant effects on the levels of creativity. Creative intelligence refers to a situation whereby an individual can use the already existing knowledge and skills in order to find solutions to new and unusual occurrences. The ability of an individual to come up with a sound creative solution to a problem will help to foster the creativity of the individual in question. Since intelligence is a key determiner of creativity, then the aspect of creative or experimental intelligence is a vital tool for facilitating creativity and its associated effects.
Knowledge is an important aspect of the creativity process. Additionally, knowledge is a key component in the pursuit of creative cognitive. As a component of intelligence, knowledge plays a great role in the realization of the creativity aspect. Both factual and declarative knowledge have significant effects on the issues of intelligence and subsequently on creativity. Creativity is a function of intelligence and hence the level of individual intelligence quotient is vital in the realization of higher levels of creativity. Knowledge may involve the incorporation of tactics to solve an impending problem. Through the use of such tactics, the actual problem is easily identified and subsequently solved. Flexibility in the use of such tactics is emphasized in order to realize the best out of the process. Procedural knowledge may also be incorporated to give rise to efficient decisions. The use of factual and procedural knowledge in intelligence is vital to the realization of the ultimate goal. In this case, the ultimate goal is to achieve higher levels of creativity that is a function of intelligence. Intelligence may also be portrayed by the levels of innovation and divergent thinking. Innovation involves the formation of a new product or idea that was previously non-existing. The ability of an individual to come up with a new thought concerning the various psychological situations is a clear depiction of the level of innovation that exists. With this regard then, new ideas are invented that help to foster the intelligence and creativity. The new ideas will further have significant effects on the levels of creativity. This is possible because the new ideas that have been invented are very crucial in the realization of the anticipated goals. The ability of an individual to come up with divergent thinking concerning the existing psychological aspects depicts the levels of integration in the creativity issue. Divergent thinking entails the act of an individual to come up with a rational decision after being able to evaluate all other possible solutions. An individual can critically evaluate all the possible solutions to a problem and later deduce on of the best for use. This case shows the higher levels of intelligence that the individual possesses. Critical analysis of the possible solutions to a problem is a subset of intelligence and hence a vital tool in facilitating creativity among the people. Since creativity is essential for human progress, then the aspects of divergent thinking ought to be prioritized. Creativity in the workplace ought to be realized in order to foster workplace diversity and convergent thinking. Workplace diversity is a critical intelligence issue to the management of the organization in order to realize its goals and objectives. The creativity of a product is dependent on the characteristics of the product, persons assessing the creativity among other factors. Product creativity is, therefore, a multifactorial aspect. The various aspects of intelligence are crucial in evaluating the nature of the existing correlation between it and the different levels of creativity.
Conclusion
Description of Christmas.
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Description of Christmas.Christmas is a time or period of great celebration and pomp, a time when most Christians shelf their denominational differences and come together to celebrate the greatest feast in the Christian calendar. This is done on December 25th, a day during which working cease, in a similar fashion to other Christian feasts such as Easter and Christians go into a festive mood to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Many celebrations, especially those in the more traditional set up, involve the consumption of copious quantities of food and drink. Many slaughter animals and invite both friends and family in jubilation. Metropolitan families and city dwellers travel into the country side to meet and join their extended families and celebrate together. This is the African way of doing it, whereby there is a belief that Christmas celebrations should have the whole family, if possible. African Christmas feasts reflect that firm belief in the importance of a family unit and its unity both during good times and bad. Some Western societies are more reserved in the role of family in celebrating Christmas, preferring to keep family gathering optional.
Christmas being a Christian festival is never complete without a church gathering or mass conducted by a priest or religious leader. This has been the tradition for centuries, whereby come December 25th, all else is shelved and people gather in church for sermons and mass before going about their celebratory activities. But contention lies in the true meaning of Christmas and its declaration as Christ’s birthday. Some scholars’ belief its roots lie in pagan myth and idolatry. Steiner explored this extensively in his research into the roots of Christmas (1
Definition of Christmas.
Christmas can be extensively defined based on two perspectives that have been thoroughly researched and written about. These two fronts from which to look at this festival’s true meaning both contradict and fight each other but still remain relevant based on the amount of evidence they present.
From a Christian point of view, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, also known as the messiah or savior of man. Ancient text foretold of the coming of a savior who would deliver man from sin. The Bible itself, the basis of all these facts points to prophets like John the Baptist telling followers of this. His predecessors, all the way to the early days of God’s creation all revolve around the coming of Emmanuel, or ‘the chosen one’. This clearly points to that day, December 25th according to current practice, when Mary ‘the virgin’ gave birth to Jesus under very humble circumstances. This is the basis of Christians all around the world celebrating this birth, as Jesus Christ’s birthday.
The second perspective from which to look at Christmas is the more controversial of the two. It is rooted in ancient pagan rituals practiced in Egypt, parts of Asia and northern Europe where gods of the sun and other idols were celebrated during days set like Christmas. A lot of religious lobbying has gone into the hiding and exclusion of such facts from normal foundation learning in religion, especially in British-based curriculums and American systems, but it is common knowledge that Dec 25th is indeed a celebration of ‘saturnalia’, a Roman festival of idolatry and lawlessness occurring between Dec 17th and 25th. The British are exceptionally proud of Christmas, something which tends to raise a lot of eyebrows especially in light of the fact that Romans celebrated ‘saturnalia’. This is exemplified by the numerous literature praising the ‘Englishness of Christmas’, where the meaning of order itself was married in definition to Christmas since “by 1931 the fact that Christmas was recognized as a key part of an Englishman’s concept of the natural order of things was of supreme importance in understanding that order” (Connelly 10). Certain Christmas customs support the pagan perspective in understanding the meaning or definition of Christmas. These include; mistletoe, originating from Norse mythology recounting the death of god Balder, the Christmas tree, originating from Asheira cultic practices and Christmas presents: a tradition of Roman festivals of ‘saturnalia’ (December) and ‘kalends’ (January).
The history of Christmas.
It is now obvious that Christmas day was indeed a day of celebration for the Romans, during which ‘saturnalia’ – the festival of lawlessness and unaccountability would be celebrated. Courts would be closed and no one would be held accountable for damage to property or life. Widespread nudity, intoxication and sexual irresponsibility were marked characteristics of this ritualistic celebration, as observed in Greek poetry by the historian Lucian. These pagan rituals moved from these heathens into Christian culture after many of them were promised they would continue practicing their rituals as long as they converted to Christianity. The fact that ‘saturnalia’ had no connection or relationship whatsoever with Christianity was remedied by its naming Christmas day by church leaders. This however presented a problem when Christmas day, as ‘saturnalia’ came to be known as, continued to be celebrated in the traditional way. Drinking, nudity and sex in publicity were still observed.
The most interesting facts about this changes and assimilation of pagan rites into Christian culture were the development of carols and presents, especially those famous German and English cookies. In ancient Rome, the masses would be seen eating human-shaped biscuits while singing naked in the streets. These are considered by many scholars to be the precursors of modern day cookies and carols. Slowly but surely, ‘saturnalia’ rites were included and fused with Christian ones, partly by religious leaders and partly by worshipers themselves. A good example of the former was demonstrated in 1466, when for the amusement purposes, Pope Paul the second forced naked Jews to run in the street, much to the delight of Romans. These development has continued, mixed with innocence and ignorance into what most people look forward to; Christmas day on December 25th.
Conclusion.
If opinions were to be freely formed about Christmas, its relevance and importance, many would do so in a hugely biased manner. Commercial, religious as well as social interests would be at the forefront of these processes. Colonial rule and global supremacy have influenced Christianity a lot. They introduced ignorance and the watered down truths with which the now independent former colonies operate. As earlier pointed out, British and American-based curriculum often chooses to exclude the real truths while teaching religious studies.
Current political situation will also influence opinion making concerning Christianity. The existence of peace and tranquility is of prime importance especially during these tense times, and the propagation of pagan rites in Christian festival is slightly less prioritized in favor of peaceful Christmas celebrations. All in all, it is obvious the festive is of prime importance, regardless of the origins or customs.
Works cited.
Connelly, Mark. Chistmas: A History. I.B. Turis, 2012. Print.
Steiner, Rudolf. The festivals and their meaning: Christmas, Easter Ascension and Pentecost. New York City: Rudolf Steiner Press, 2008. Print.
Ratsch, Christian. Muller-Ebeling, Claudia. Pagan Christmas: The plants, Spirits and Rituals at the origins of Yuletide. Hamburg: Inner Traditions/ Bear, 2006. Print.
Kelly, Joseph. The Origins of Christmas. Ohio: Liturgical Press, 2004. Print.
Creativity and Human Evolution
Creativity and Human Evolution
Creativity is the sole heart of modernization, technology and the arts. Without creativity, humanity would still thrive in caves. There is no argument against creativity being an important aspect of our society, there is, however, a question whether creativity is spawned by mental disorder. Albert Einstein came up with ideas that seemed impossible or eccentric. Froyd’s psychology theorems were laughed at, but now widely used and accepted. Both men were highly successful with their work. Einstein was considered a slow person and mentally incapable by his teachers. Froyd was an excellent student and was considered above average in all his school work. Both men were labeled as geniuses, and both men suffered from some kind of depression.
Dr. Arnold M. Ludwig informs us that “. . . creativity must go beyond the bounds of what already is known or deductible by reason . . . “(American Journal of Psychotherapy). It is creativity that is the soul of the inventor, painter or poet. Creativity is not equal among most people and in fact is hindered by ” . . . self-censorship, that inner voice of judgment that confines our creative spirit within the boundaries of what we deem acceptable.”(Psych Today).
Dr. Torrence, in his studies, concluded that intelligence does not have any effect on creativity and it is the thinking style that actually stimulates creativity (Journal of Personality). His tests focused on the hemispheres of the brain in which he stated that ” . . . left – hemisphere style is related to less creativity than right – hemisphere and interhemisphere styles.” (Journal of Personality). Results of Torrance’s study prompted others to reject his conclusion by maintaining that “. . . intellectual superiority is the primary determining factor in creative performance.” (Kirk & Gallager 1983).
Intelligence might not be a major factor in innovations but according to William F. Allmen of U.S. News and World Report, ” . . . history’s most creative minds clearly operate on a different plane.” It is this millennium long mindset that prompted psychologist Howard Gardner to examine, or build, a profile of a genius. In his book, Creating Minds, Gardner relates five similarities that he found while examining Sigmund Froyd, Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Igor Stravinsky, T.S. Elliot, Martha Graham and Mahatma Gandhi. According to Gardner, a creative mind grows up in social seclusion. The upbringing of such an individual is usually middle class, where focus of life is based on hard work and high moral values. Such an individual is also known to push away friends and relatives. His work absorbs him and total focus of attention is dedicated to the ongoing project. The ‘genius’ is known to follow a ’10 year rule’, where this person is known to have”. . . two bursts of creativity.”(U.S. News and World Report). First one is very extreme, and the second is usually more socially accepted. According to Gardner a ‘genius’ is also known to have childlike perceptions on things. Taking a totally different route to solving a problem was one of the major ways Albert Einstein came up with his time and space theories.
In the 4th century B.C. Aristotle was quoted as saying, “Why is it that all men who are outstanding in philosophy, poetry or the arts are melancholic?”(New York Times, c1). Ever since then a famous anonymous quote was formed, “There is a thin line between genius and madness.” (New York Times). It is not uncommon for a creative person to suffer from different types of depressions. According to a study performed by Dr. Arnold M. Ludwig at the University of Kentucky Medical Center that “. . . looked at the incidence of psychiatric illness among 1004 eminent men and women . . . Ludwig discovered that psychiatric disturbances were far more common among the artists than among the others.” (New York Times. C8). Dr. Ludwig does not conclude that all creative people suffer from mental illness, however he does suggest that a certain correlation does exist and it cannot be ignored.
Another study performed by University of Stanford suggested an opposite conclusion to Dr. Ludwigs. The study allegedly examined over a thousand ‘geniuses’ and “. . . suggest[ed] a connection between creativity and mental health rather than mental illness”(American Journal of Psychotherapy). The same study insists that a general problem exists with the difficulty in determining the nature of creativity. Dr. Ludwing implied that creative individuals are usually more troubled than their ‘nonreactive’ counterparts but have more resources to deal with their problems (American Journal of Psychotherapy).
Reading previous studies, one could conclude two separate theories. One is that depression stimulates creativity, and the other that creativity stimulates depression. According to some current tests performed at the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Post and Dr. Terence Ketter used a PET, brain scanning device, to examine brain activity during mental depressions. As the volunteers were injected with a drug that stimulated mania, brain’s limbic activity increased. The limbic activity is part of the brain that is responsible for the creative side of a person. When another drug was injected that stimulated anxiety and euphoria, the limbic activity ceased. (New York Times)
Depression is known to cause sleeping disorders. There are times where an individual is overcome by sleep. It is during these times where the mind is somehow set free to ‘roam’ and new ideas form. Thomas Edison would use this hypnagogic state to think through his problems and come up with solutions. He would place two metal ball in his hands, lay back in his chair and fall asleep. As soon as he drifted into the first phase of sleep, his hand muscles gave way and the balls dropped on metal plates below. The noise would wake Thomas Edison, and instantly he would jot down the ideas that came to him (Psychology Today). Sleep is not the only way ideas come to us. Whenever we are involved in a relaxing activity such as a walk or while taking a shower, our minds envoce our limbic part of the brain. Human mind is still a mystery to us all. It is hard to conclude on what spawns creativity. Depression and intelligence seem very far apart, yet scientists have found that both could be linked together.