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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

One primary characteristic of all creative people

Only one characteristic of personality and orientation to life and work is absolutely, across the board, present in all creative people: motivation. - Albert Rothenberg, MD, from 35 years of research as the principal investigator for the project, "Studies on the Creative Process."

8 comments:

  1. No. This is too broad. How do you define motivation, and how do you define a creative person? Maybe its all fleshed out in the work, "Studies on the Creative Process," but even then, should you take one person's view on the subject as definitive? No. Both creativity and motivation are fascinating and complicated phenomena. Both have been researched by psychologists, and "experts" hold very different views. For starters there is a difference between the ideas of whether humans are passive animals that are motivation by manipulation involving the use of punishment or reward, versus the view of humans as being free-willed creatures, capable of being motivated only when their self-autonomy is present. The view of behavior as being motivated by external phenomena is called Behaviorism, it was pioneered by studies (many of them done on animals) performed by psychologist B.F. Skinner. A very different view of motivation was developed by psychologist Carl Rogers. Rogers developed a humanistic view of motivation. He believed that each person had a biological urge to fulfill his or her potential, or 'self-actualize.' Being manipulated through the use of reward or punishment makes people feel controlled. When people feel controlled they lose touch with the strongest form of motivation, which can only come from within, and which is hindered when individuals are deprived of their autonomy, or their control over their behavior. Rogers believes that ultimately the use of rewards or punishments are short-term methods of motivation, which may induce compliance behavior in individuals, but do not in the end produce lasting or true motivation. Read: "From Skinner to Rogers; contrasting approaches to education" by Milhollan and Forisha. Also: "Why We Do What We Do: the dynamics of personal autonomy" by Edward Deci. On Creativity, I have researched less, but please start with the book "Creativity 101" by James C. Kaufman. It is part of a series of introductory books on psychological topics. It is a great,intriguing and easy read.

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  2. The creative people we know about anyway. Maybe the most creative people have no motivation and therefore we don't know who they are.

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  3. I have to agree that we need motivation to create, but what does that look like? My grandson has an amazing mind and great skill at drawing, but his motivation is spotty. I, on the other hand, am highly motivated to write and do so daily, but the creativity is not guaranteed.

    I just found this blog and like it very much.

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  4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dSzKnf5WWg&feature=related

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  5. Motivation is a very straight path. Creativity often meanders.

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  6. Creativity IS THE MOTIVATION ,for the real cteativ people around us .... we talking here about a very special kind of HUMANS .There is no place for them ,in psycholocical topics !

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  7. I like it. Creativity doesn't get one too far if they don't have the motivation to create. Even if it's a hobby such as gardening, if you don't have the motivation to create a beautiful garden, you're creativity is a failure at the least.

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