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The Creative Personality

"The emotional state which leads to such achievements resembles that of a worshipper or the lover. The daily struggle does not arise from a purpose or a programme, but from an immediate need" Einstein

If emotion is an integral part of creativity, it makes sense to take a look at the personality involved in the creative process.

Personality tests abound. In assessing their value, one has to become aware of the personality of the tester, even more so than the testee. As teachers and minders of other people's creative environments, we have to face the fact that our own personalities and actions have a huge influence on the creativity equation in our classrooms and ultimately in our professional disciplines. Studies have shown the creative (or not) personality of the grade one teacher to have immediate and possibly lasting effects on the creativity (or not!) of her charges.

Over forty decades of scrutinising, Harvard University Psychologist David Perkins has developed the 'snowflake model of creativity' - a number of common personality traits that are shared by scientists and artists alike, indeed, by all creative people:

• A strong commitment to a personal aesthetic (The drive to wrest order, simplicity, meaning, or powerful expression from what is seemingly chaos.) As part of this personal aesthetic, they also have a high tolerance for complexity / ambiguity, disorganisation, asymmetry ~ often the core challenge is to deal with the maze of ambiguities and forge a new identity.
• The ability to excel in finding problems, redefining the question/s.
• Mental mobility - a strong tendency to think in terms of opposites and contradictions. They often think in analogies and metaphors and, as a matter of course, challenge assumptions.
• Willingness to take risks. Creators, daredevils and criminals share this need for stimulation, excitement and thrill mental, physical, or both. Along with risk taking, moreover, come the acceptance of failure as part of the creative quest and the ability to learn from such failures. The odds on creative success depend on the number of attempts. Picasso produced some 20000 works of art. By working at the edge of their competence, where the possibility of failure lurks, mental risk takers are also more likely to produce creative results.
• Creative people scrutinise and judge their own work objectively and seek criticism - according to Perkins. (Personally, I think it is more the other side of a personality trait that 1 will call "a need for recognition, a need to be heard / mirrored. Most very successful creators tend to collaborate and discuss their work within a trusted and respected circle.")
• The driving force behind creative efforts, however, is inner motivation. Creators are involved in an activity for its own sake, not for school grades or pay checks.

So what is 'inner motivation'? How does one achieve it? We do know from some studies on the effect of training on creativity that external motivations (threat of punishment or reward, grading, judging) diminishes inner motivation. However, accessing and understanding this 'inner motivation' seems to be so closely related to the personality's self image, confidence and entire personal history and circumstance, that external stimulation or even assessment of such a so-called 'personality trait' seems to lead us even deeper into the woods. Clearly, analysis of the conscious mind and personality of the creator can only bring us half the picture. To understand more, we have to go behind the curtain, and face the riddle of the subconscious.

Posted 04 August 2006, www.annisnyman.co.za, author: Anni Snyman

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