Creativity is usually attributed to those that have original ideas or produce artistic pieces of work. When I think about creativity, I apply it to authors and artists of all types and never give a second thought that it also applies to a much wider range of activitiesYou can agree that when a mechanic or an engineer develops a new way to make things work more efficiently, it's considered an original idea. If a scientist finds a way to produce a room temperature superconductor, they have essentially manipulated known elements to create new structures that display enhanced properties. is. By the same token, an engineer can be creative in finding new ways to fix a broken device in a way that is not specified by the user manual provided from the factory. These people, alongside many others involved in manual activities can be seen as creative thinkers.
When a physicist is pondering how a celestial object was formed, he has to be creative in his thinking, which means sometimes, “thinking outside the box”, coming up with a hypothesis never heard of before that would make sense as to why and how this object was formed. One major difference between the artistic creativity and the creativity displayed in exact sciences, can be found in the degree of subjectivity. While artistic expression is by definition subjective and does not need external validation and verification, the creativity in engineering and science leads to verifiable and falsifiable outcomes. There is a bias when it comes to creativity because we’ve all accepted the definition in Webster's dictionary, and didn't look further.
We can also see creativity as an act of bringing novelty into this world. This may come in the form of fine arts or abstract ideas, but also in practical ways of doing things differently. For instance, arranging our daily activities to be more efficient in some way is a form of creativity.
In an article published in the National Library of Medicine, titled, “The neural underpinnings of cross-cultural differences in creativity”, the neuroscientists conducted a study with Israelis and South Koreans. Among their findings was also that the Israelis expressed more original ideas than those from South Korea. With this information, it seemed that South Koreans lacked creativity and had no original ideas but that is not the case. In our prefrontal cortex, there is a region where we store our Inhibitory control. This is what helps us ignore distractions, helps us from blurting out unnecessary words, controlling a habitual response. An example of controlling a habitual response might be stopping from eating all of the chips out of the bag when you’re on a diet. The reason why South Koreans were not scoring high in original ideas is because in South Korea their society is traditional. So ideas and actions are more aligned with the traditional ways they live. When asked for a new idea, their response is more societal than an original. This is not always the case when viewing all of the new technology produced in South Korea like Keemi, the infection control robot. Keemi has facial recognition and can tell if someone is not wearing a mask, and can sanitise surfaces for up to twenty-four hours with ultraviolet light. Also, a thermal camera to monitor body temperatures. You could say they are like the mechanics who created a way to maximize their values in their society.
Creativity is tightly linked to our cultural background and society in which we live. The people and things we interact with on a daily basis influence us more than we know.
Creativity comes in many
forms, and it’s not just witnessed in an art museum or sitting on a best sellers list in a bookstore. It’s in the form of ingenuity. Taking an old idea and creating a way for it to be more efficient. Humanity has an existential need to be able to express the complexities that go on in our conscious and subconscious.
There are also a few articles about patients who suffer from dementia or have suffered a form of trauma to their left hemisphere or frontal lobe that they then become more creative or expressive freely. In a way, I want to say their art has become a form of communication. Like the cave paintings left on the walls of caves for thousands of years. They tell a story, or show how the people at the time experienced life. Creativity is complex and beautiful and expressive of a moment in time that is forever immortalised.
My goal throughout all of this rambling is that every single one of us is a creative soul and the art you create doesn't have to be the Monalisa. It is something that you can freely express without holding back.
Don’t let anyone be the judge of your art.
Only you know you.