Special Focus

Myths, Legends, and Creativity

Volume 1 / Issue 4 / Summer 2001

The concept of creativity is fraught with myths and negative stereotypes that prevent people from being creative. Enhancing creativity often involves dispelling these beliefs.

Myth: The stereotype of the creative person includes the following traits: seeks sensations, is open to the irrational, is impulsive and uninhibited, and disrespects authority.

Reality: A more pragmatic profile can be drawn from the same traits: can concentrate, strives for distant goals, asks questions, does more than is assigned, is well organized, and shows flexibility of thought. Many of these characteristics have been identified in studies of successful professionals—individuals far from the negative stereotype.

Myth: People are born creative or uncreative; only a blessed few possess creativity.

Reality: Everyone has the capacity to be creative. Studies have suggested a variety of methods for enhancing creativity, but they all conclude that there is no reason to believe that some people have creativity and others do not.

Myth: Creativity is limited to the arts and music.

Reality: People who believe “I’m a scientist; I’m not creative,” for example, limit their understanding of creativity and their ability to produce creative work. Scientists use their creativity on a daily basis to solve problems and to generate new ideas. Research in medicine, physics, computer science, and chemistry—to name just a few—leads us to conclude that creativity extends to all professions.

Myth: Creativity is linked to deviance and insanity.

Reality: The stereotype of the creative loner with a dark side is surprisingly widespread; indeed, case studies have been published on the relationship between creativity and drug use, criminality, and mental illness. But carefully designed studies provide no conclusive evidence of this relationship.

There is no clear evidence to suggest that to be creative, a person must also be neurotic or psychologically disturbed.
—Scott G. Isaksen

Myth: Creativity tends to occur in the young- to middle-adult years. Young children and older adults are not likely to be creative.

Reality: According to this belief, the length of time that one is actively engaged in a creative domain, rather than chronological age, should determine one’s creativity. But young children can exhibit remarkable degrees of real-world creative productivity, especially if they have practiced intensively for an extended period.

Myth: Creativity is enhanced in a group.

Reality: This myth is particularly evident in the business world, where group activities are assumed to be more productive than individual ones. Many schools also place a premium on group work. As with the other myths, research provides a more balanced picture. For example, research on brainstorming has found that groups produce a less creative store of ideas than people allowed to brainstorm on their own and to pool their ideas later.

Discuss these myths with your child. You will be surprised how many of them even a young child already believes. Provide models of real creativity. Encourage your child to be creative in different settings, not just in areas where he or she has considerable strengths or in the stereotypical areas.
—Jonathan A. Plucker, Ph.D.

Jonathan A. Plucker is associate professor at Indiana University School of Education.