This TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson is one of the most popular videos about creativity on the internet. In it, Robinson argues passionately that as children we are all naturally creative, yet by the time we reach adulthood, our creativity has been ‘educated out of us’ by the barriers of school, society and corporate business.
The talk has evidently touched a chord – as well as being enthusiastically received at TED, the video has been been viewed, downloaded re-posted and discussed countless times. As a creativity writer and consultant, hardly a month goes by without someone asking me whether I’ve seen ‘the Ken Robinson video’.
It’s not hard to see why Robinson’s video is so popular – he’s an engaging and very funny presenter, who somehow manages to be both down-to-earth and inspiring at the same time.
And his message is immensely appealing. It presents a vision of humanity as inherently creative, with new ideas and possibilities bubbling up inside us, waiting to be used – if only we would stop blocking ourselves.
But is it true?
Not according to Gordon Torr, a former Creative Director and author of the recent book Managing Creative People:
The truth is that creative people are different from other people – special, for better or worse, in a way that we’re only beginning to understand. And everything we know about them suggests that they’re creative because they’re different, not that they’re different because they’re creative. It’s a vital distinction.
Believing that everyone has the capacity to be just as creative as the next person is as ludicrous as believing that everyone has the capacity to be just as intelligent as the next person, yet it has become almost universally accepted as a truism. It’s also relatively new, taking root in only the last 30 or 40 years, coinciding much too precisely to be accidental with the popularisation of creativity as an essential ingredient of social and business success.
(Gordon Torr, Managing Creative People, 2008)
What makes creative people different? Torr highlights three factors in particular:
- Biology
Torr cites scientific studies that suggest creative people have different brain activity than others – specifically, lower levels of cortical arousal, which means their thinking is less inhibited and they are more likely to come up with ‘more absurd, dreamlike and just plain weird’ ideas than other people. - Motivation
Building on the work of Harvard Business School Professor Theresa Amabile, which demonstrates that creativity is strongly linked to intrinsic motivation, Torr argues that creative people are distinguished by ‘an all-consuming preoccupation’ with creative work, regardless of whether it brings them money or fame. - Personality
We all recognise the classic description of the creative personality as childlike, impulsive, fantasy oriented, emotionally sensitive, anxious and ambitious. Torr cites several personality studies as evidence that ‘creative people conform almost perfectly to their popular stereotype’.
Torr admits that he is swimming against the tide in this view of creativity – but argues that that is what creative people have always done:
for almost the entire duration of human life on earth, the popular conception of creative people was that they were born that way, with unique gifts that obliged them to seek out and fulfil the singular vocations of their destiny…
They were shamans, priests, prophets, storytellers, poets, witches, troubadours, jesters, Giottos, da Vincis, romantics, lunatics, misfits, outsiders, strangers, village idiots, inventors, novelists, artists and, eventually, advertising people. They were vilified as often as they were revered, and reviled as much as they were respected.
(Gordon Torr, Managing Creative People, 2008)
This view may not be universally popular, but it does fit pretty closely with the image of the stereotypical creative person: someone who is different, rebellious, individualistic and resistant to society’s attempts to shoehorn them into conformity.
Are Creative People Different?
Are we all creative, or is there something inherently different and special about creative people?
If you believe creatives are different – what are the differences?
About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a poet and creative coach.
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1 2 3 4 Next »While the idea of us all being capable of bringing out our lost childhood creativity is charming, I just don't see it as meaning everyone is born (roughly) equally creative.
From early on in childhood you can see analytical, organized, follower characteristics showing up in kids - I'm no psychologist, I'm just going from personal observations.
It's not that maybe we all don't have a little of it in us. I think we all have bits of all personality or character types in us, but creativity as a dominant factor, that's not in everyone.
I don't believe it can be learned, released, reborn or instilled in everyone to the extent that it becomes creative genius. But I do believe it can be nurtured in everyone to everyone's benefit, to the point that people could have a better understanding of and respect for those who are truly gifted in this way.
I don't believe creativity can be "taught," per se, but I do believe creative people have differing degrees of creativity and that the characteristic can be nurtured. My granddaugter, for instance, loves to ask what she and I call "cosmic questions" (she's 9) and I think it's important we don't encourage those. (Besides, they're fun.)
I agree with Finola that creativity will exist within people to diffeent degrees, just like any other facet of someone's personality. I think it's easy to generalise and say that some people are creative and some aren't but I think there's a spectrum of aptitude.
I don't think you can flat out say that we all are, or are not creative because there are too many variables such as the initial level of creativity, the desire to nurture it and the methods chosen to nurture it.
I think one misleading aspect of being creative is that whatever is created has to be "artsy fartsy" and I don't believe that.
Being creative is more than just creating images, it's more about coming up with an idea and developing the idea - even if it's seen as "wrong" in the eyes of the general society.
Kids are the most imaginative and thought provoking creatures on earth and we as adults do our best to mold them into what we believe is right.
I once read an article about marketing and how to market like a child. Take a look at a playground and how unafraid a child is to walk up to another child and say "Hi, my name is Alex. Wanna play?" Their fear is minimal at best and yet we as adults can easily screw that up because of what we were told as children.
If we were to look at creativity as more than just the creation of images, I think this little world we live in would be better than we could even imagine.
I think this is one of those nature or nurture questions. All of us have a seed of creativity inside us. It is a matter of how that seed is fostered that will determine the breadth of our creativity. For some, the creative seed is watered and fertilized enough for the tree to see fruition. For others it is left in dry soil to whither and die. Some people have seeds of such strength, they can survive an arid desert while others are week and even all the food and water can barely keep them from starving.
I have not encountered many children that were not creative in some way. They are each unique in their creative expressions and outlets but they are all creative.
Remember the old show "Kids Say The Darnedest Things"? It was a very successful program based entirely on children's "Creative Problem Solving." The children were asked questions and given problems while the audience was entertained at how creative they could be in dealing with them. Very rarely did a child ever say, "I don't know" or "I can't." They were still young enough to be unafraid of being "wrong" or "failing."
As far as the "stereotypical" creative person; maybe they are stereotypically "different, rebellious, individualistic and resistant to society’s attempts to shoehorn them into conformity" because these are the ones who have refused to be trained out of their natural creativity.
It seems to me that the difference then would be one of tenacity rather than one of creativity. They have tenaciously held on to that childlike creativity where the less tenacious have conformed.
We all really can become creative. It's just that some of us have to unbecome what we have become. Loose a lot of inhibitions and let go of a lot of bad memories.
Being a reborn artist at age 58, I tend to dismiss the word "creative" as society labels it and I embrace the art of being free from society's grasp. So free allows you to play, to be different because you are, to create things (and we all create) and not get stuck into what the world says "create is" None of society's rules apply to creating and when you break that barrier you find the joy of exploring your creative self in whatever manner you want. There are no rules folks.....
Robinson's premise regarding everyone's creativity is not supported by our present understanding of neurology, but his point about the damage done to creativity by education should be considered.
As someone who has built my life's work on the idea that everyone is creative I have understandably strong feelings about this particular post.
However, I think that there is a difference between what Gordon Torr is calling a "creative type" and the capacity to be creative.
As I said , I believe that we are all creative. It's actually pretty hardwired into us as human beings and is a HUGE part of what makes us human. I don't care if someone grows up to be a bureaucrat. They still have the interest, ability and NEED to create.
I am also defining creativity as something that is not strictly what is considered to be artistic like painting or writing. Someone can be creative with filing systems or cooking or computer code! And I think that people need to have places in their lives where they can exercise their creativity to feel as happy and fulfilled as possible. Everyone does NOT see the world in the same way, even engineers and accountants, and creativity is a way to express that unique view of things.
However...... I do agree with Torr that there is something called a "creative type", someone who makes creativity and self expression the center of their existence. And yes, we are as obsessed, weird, creatively consumed and not quite on the same planet as everyone else, as he describes.
I think of creativity as a continuum and the creative types are just hanging out on the farther ends of the Bell Curve!!