Do you ever feel grumpy, occasionally behave like a loudmouth and sometimes feel paranoid?
Well, I’ve got some good news for you....You may be highly creative.
And this is particularly good news right now as we are currently living through a time when creativity is being identified as the number one ‘must have’ skill by those who profess to know.
For instance a recent, global study by IBM cited creativity as the most important leadership quality for success in business. Surprisingly scoring higher than integrity. And the creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson advises that we should be educating ourselves and our children to meet the future challenges of living and working in the 21st century.
But where do we start to ignite and develop the creative spark?
What type of characteristics do creative people have?
According to a growing body of research many of us may already have the potential to be creative. There is some strong data to suggest that personality types and creativity may be linked.
Apparently if you’re the type of person who regularly throws your slippers at the TV while moaning about the state of the world and young people today you may be an innovative problem solver. If you also regularly surf the net for information on symptoms of horrible diseases you fear you may have, or find yourself trawling through conspiracy theory websites followed by a frantic search for hidden microphones behind your sofa, you could be the next Leonardo Da Vinci.
A group of psychologists believe they have identified certain personality traits that positively correlate with creative thinking. Their research is based on a personality profiler known as ‘The Big Five’. First introduced by psychologists Ernest Tupes and Raymond Cristal in 1961 this model describes five dimensions of human personality traits.
Let’s take a quick look at the five items in the model
Extraversion: If you are a sociable, gregarious, highly expressive and confident person you would probably fit into this category.
Agreeableness: This would include personal qualities such as being kind, co-operative, approachable, friendly, and trustworthy.
Conscientiousness: People who tend to be organized, self disciplined, efficient, reliable and able to focus on details would be described as expressing this trait.
Neuroticism: The extreme behaviours associated with this dimension are nervousness, vulnerability, irritability, paranoia and emotional instability.
Openness: People who fit into this category are considered to be curious, adventurous, have a wide range of interests, good imagination, and a spontaneous and flexible approach to life.
Of course each dimension has it’s opposite and we can display all or just some of these characteristics in different situations and at different times and stages during our lives.
Researchers looking at creativity with this model include G J Feist - 1998, Batey - 2009 and Furnham & Bachtiar - 2008. This group have published various papers that document findings showing the dimensions of Neuroticism, Extraversion and Openness positively relating to creativity and Agreeableness and Conscientiousness relating negatively.
It seems like being kind, co-operative, self disciplined and organised doesn’t yield as many creative ideas as being moody, slack and paranoid. Although thinking about it the latter could be used to accurately describe the personalities of most celebrity pop, rock and movie stars.
The behaviourist Hans J Eysenck identified Psychoticism as a trait also closely linked to creativity. People displaying psychotic tendencies will behave recklessly with a disregard for common sense and often express inappropriate emotions. It’s no surprise then that higher scores for psychoticism are mostly found amongst psychopaths and criminals.
And celebrities... Apparently results from an earlier study by K. O. Götz and K. Götz (1979) found that creative artists had significantly higher psychoticism scores than non-artists.
Numerous other researchers using the ‘Big Five’ have consistently found a link with creativity and low Agreeableness, low Conscientiousness and high Neuroticism (Batey - 2007).
So next time you’re feeling a little tetchy or overcome by a neurosis, with an urge to kick over a waste paper bin and dance up and down the High Street looking for adventure...tell everyone to leave you alone because you’re just expressing your creativity.
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