The secrets of creativity

Have you ever come up with something out of the ordinary? Do you have patents for inventions, are you not an artist or a creative producer? God be with them! It turns out that the myth of a special “creative mindset” is just a myth, says John Lehrer, an American scientific journalist in his article in The Wall Street Journal. In fact, the article is a revised excerpt from his book “Imagine: How Creativity Works.” “Creativity is not an inherited trait in our genes, nor is it a divine gift given by angels. Creativity is a skill. Anyone can learn to think creatively and improve this ability, says the author, based on the latest research of scientists.
Some tips: repaint the walls - in 2009, scientists by experiment found that in a room with blue walls, the subjects solved twice as many "tasks for ingenuity" as in other environments. “Blue stimulates associative thinking and acts calmingly,” says Lehrer. But analytical tasks are better solved in the red room, since red increases alertness and attention.

"Pick your nose." A study published in February found that owls who were forced to solve puzzles early in the morning were much better at solving them than at a more favorable time of day.

Don't be afraid to dream with your eyes open - as tests have shown, dreamy people are more creative.

Think back to childhood – subjects who were asked to imagine themselves as seven-year-olds performed much better on tests of divergent thinking – for example, the task of figuring out how to use a tire.

Laugh out loud - after watching the comedian's performance, the subjects solved more tasks for wit (by 20%).

“May your thoughts take you to faraway lands.” Indiana researchers have found that if you tell subjects that a problem was written in Greece or California, they do a much better job than if you tell them that the task was invented right here in the lab.

Choose the right expressions – One way to improve your ability to solve problems is to state their conditions in other words. When specific verbs with narrow meanings are used, people think narrowly. On the contrary, the use of verbs with broad meanings – for example, “move” instead of “drive” – can significantly increase the number of problems solved.

Don’t work in caged rooms – Researchers have found that a standard creativity test scores much better when the subject is not sitting in a five-square-foot office booth, but outside it. Perhaps thinking was subconsciously influenced by the metaphor inherent in the phraseology of thinking outside the box. - Ed.

Scientist Adam Galinsky concluded that students who have lived abroad are much more likely to cope with the classic task of savvy.

Physicists from the Santa Fe Institute have discovered that moving from a small town to a city twice as much encourages inventors to patent an average of 15% more inventions.
Lehrer also gives an example of a practical problem, which was solved on a whim. In 1974, engineer Arthur Fry got acquainted with a new invention by Sheldon Silver - an extremely weak-acting glue. Can you think of a useful use for this glue? Everyone was confused.
Fry sang in the church choir and used to put paper in the prayer book instead of bookmarks. But the papers often fell out, and Fry had to rush through the book in search of the right anthem. And then one day it dawned on him: a piece of paper smeared with weak glue will become a reusable bookmark! “In the end, this revelation under the dome of the church gave rise to one of the most popular office stationery – sticky paper for notes,” explains the author.

Modern scientists have also found out which parts of the brain are triggered when solving problems for ingenuity: “a few seconds before illumination, the upper preceding gyrus of the temporal lobe sharply animates”, the head of the unification of little related information.
As mentioned above, the researchers found that some factors increase the frequency of insights: “People are more receptive to responses coming from the brain.” What are these factors?
For example, watching humorous videos or alcohol (according to a recent study by scientists at the University of Illinois). Both humor and alcohol encourage us to relax, and in a relaxed state, a person is more susceptible to the game of arbitrary associations that prompt the answer to difficult tasks. By the way, that is why Archimedes brilliant idea dawned in the bath, and physicist Richard Feynman was engaged in calculations, sitting in a strip club. “Creativity is a useful residue from time wasted,” Einstein said.

Look at the problem through the eyes of a beginner - But Lehrer immediately warns: sometimes it takes creativity of another type, when success is achieved with sweat and blood, when you need to go through a lot of options until you get to the successful one. “All great artists and thinkers are great workers,” Nietzsche wrote.
But how do you determine what kind of creativity is required of you in this particular case? Which better solution is a beer or a sleepless night at the office? Lehrer believes that the human mind is naturally able to choose the right type of creative work.

It is also important to remember that creativity needs raw materials. “It is very valuable to increase the volume and variety of information you come into contact with,” the author advises. Steve Jobs once said, “Creativity is just the ability to combine things.” The key to creative thinking is the ability to look at a problem through the eyes of a beginner, to reject all preconceived thoughts, not to be afraid to fail.