Episode 2 | Types of Creativity
Friday, May 10, 2024
Welcome to The Everyday Creative, a podcast that encourages creation over consumption. In this episode, we are discussing different types of creativity.
Episode Goals:
- Review of our definition of creativity
- Identify various types of creativity
- Discover the type of creativity that resonates with you
Our Definition of Creativity:
An infinite internal process of bringing into existence something new in order to solve problems, communicate, make connections, or add value.
Creativity in Academia:
Arne Dietrich: Professor of cognitive neuroscience at the American University of Beirut, in Lebanon. His research: 2004 - to determine different types of creativity based on neural pathways in the brain.
Citation: Dietrich, A. (2004). The cognitive neuroscience of creativity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 11, 1011–1026. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196731
The Spectrum of Intelligence
Two Spectrums:
- Processing mode: Deliberate - Spontaneous (approach to creativity)
- Knowledge domain: Cognitive - Emotional (where the source of creativity from)
Types:
Deliberate/Cognitive (Thomas Edison): Creativity that requires a lot of knowledge of one area. It is purposeful and also requires a lot of time. (Examples: Invention, Scientific research, songwriting)
Deliberate/Emotional (A-Ha Moment): Does not require a lot of knowledge but rather is influenced by emotions and intuition. You need quiet time to reflect. It is intentional and requires brain power, but creative spark arrives spontaneously. (Examples: Journal writing, scientific discoveries, eureka moments, Jazz)
Spontaneous/Cognitive (Isaac Newton): Creativity that still requires knowledge but is spontaneous. This domain is named Isaac Newton because he had the foundational knowledge of science; however, his discovery of gravity came to him suddenly. (Examples: Scientific discoveries)
Spontaneous/Emotional (Artists/Musicians): Creativity that requires skill but is intuitive.
Deitrich updated the research in 2019, and ultimately landed on 3 different types of creativity:
- Deliberate mode: Creative ideas are generated by trial and error.
- Spontaneous mode: Creativity that is unintentional.
- Flow mode: Creative ideas generated by fluid and effortless motion. It bypasses your conscious thought altogether.
Deitrich points out that a creative act won’t necessarily use one mode exclusively and may incorporate all three. For example - writing a song. Part of a verse may come in a flash, while trying out different chord progressions may take trial and error. And at other times, when in a state of flow, the song may come together.
Citation: Dietrich, A. (2019). Types of creativity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-018-1517-7
Creativity and Intelligence:
Howard Gardner, a psychologist at Harvard University, created a framework describing 8 different types of intelligence.
- Visual/Spatial - can think abstractly and in multiple dimensions (Examples: Photographer, pilot, surgeon, personal trainer)
- Bodily/Kinesthetic - ability to use your body that demonstrates physical and athletic prowess (Examples: Dancer, athlete, builder, actor)
- Musical - sensitivity to rhythm, pitch, and tone (Examples: Singer, conductor, DJ, composer)
- Interpersonal - ability to interact effectively with others; sensitivity to others' moods, feelings, and motivations (Examples: Good manager, politician, mental health professionals, salesperson)
- Intrapersonal - sensitive to one’s own feelings, goals, and capacity to act on those (this should be a goal for everyone; Examples: mental health field, entrepreneur)
- Linguistic - sensitivity to the meaning and order of words, good at writing stories, memorizing, and reading (Examples: novelist, editor, lawyer)
- Logical/Mathematical - ability to analyze problems logically and investigate issues mathematically (Examples: computer programmer, accountant, engineer)
- Naturalistic - ability to understand nuances in nature, including the distinction between plants, animals, and other elements in nature in life (farmer, florist, biologist, conservationist)
Creativity and Types of Genius:
In his book Limitless, Jim Quick talks all about learning how to learn, and specifically how you learn to optimize and reach your full potential. He describes this by identifying four types of genius as the key to discovering your strengths and leaning into these.
So, understanding types of genius can help us understand ourselves better, such as how to approach projects in all areas of life. This can help us understand how we work best and improve relationships with ourselves and others, which can also help us reduce stress.
"The Dynamo"
Strengths:
- Big-picture creatives, sees possibilities
- Thrive in developing new ideas.
- Examples: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
Needs Help With:
- Details, difficulty attending to details
- Head in the clouds, difficulty focusing
Learning:
- Need help with details and keeping them focused on the task
"The Blaze"
Strengths:
- Leadership skills
- Charismatic personality, likable
- Social connections, work well with people
- Good at bringing teams together
- Can identify strengths of others, allowing them to work really well with a team
- Examples: Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton
Needs Help With:
- Benefit: Our products are delivered immediately
- Feature: Explain the benefit of your products
- Icon: Change the icons in the settings
Learning:
- Tedious tasks
- Limited space, obstructions
"The Tempo"
Strengths:
- Grounded and focused on the task at hand
- Able to meet deadlines no matter what
- Ensure that the entire team stays focused
- Focus on goals - taking logical methodical approach to success
- Examples: Michael Phelps and Warren Buffett
Needs Help With:
- Needs to fully understand what they're doing before making a decision
- Open-ended creative tasks
Learning:
- Prefers a step-by-step approach, taking one step at a time from an already constructed plan to solve problems, instead of envisioning how to come up with a plan itself.
- These are the workers and students who want the assignment and the due date so they can get to work.
"The Tempo"
Strengths:
- Detail-oriented and meticulous
- Loves to learn
- Driven by understanding mechanics
Needs Help With:
- Time management
- Working within a team
Learning:
- Prefers to work alone
- They learn through reading and love absorbing as much information as possible
- Provide work they can accomplish on their own within their own timeframes
Genius does not define how smart we are; rather, learning our genius type tells us how smart we are.
The Four Q's
During this show segment, we introduce four ways to interact with the material presented: A question to answer, a quest to complete, an aspect of creativity we've noticed this week, and a quote to ponder.
Question
Do you think you can be more than one type of creative?
Quest
Think through the different types of creativity and decide which one resonates with you. Do one thing to develop your creativity in the area you resonate most with.
Take the Creative Type Quiz: https://mycreativetype.com/
Quality Creativity
Baking Impossible (Netflix show)
Quote
"Creativity is intelligence having fun."
- Albert Einstein
Have a Creative Week!
Additional References:
Dietrich, A. Types of creativity. Psychon Bull Rev 26, 1–12 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-018-1517-7
Dietrich, A. (2004). The cognitive neuroscience of creativity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 11, 1011–1026. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196731
Mehta, K. A Harvard psychologist says humans have 8 types of intelligence. Which ones do you score the highest? March 12, 2021. Make It. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/10/harvard-psychologist-types-of-intelligence-where-do-you-score-highest-in.html
Episode Credits:
The Everyday Creative is hosted by Evie Soape and Emily Soape. It is produced by Emily Soape.
Please drop us a comment or question at theeverydaycreativepodcast@gmail.com.
Theme Music:
“Living Life” by Scott Holmes Music. Available for use under the CC BY 3.0 license at
Free Music Archive.
Break Background Music:
"Alive In It" by Ketsa. Available for use under the CC BY 3.0 license at Free Music Archive.
Hi, we're Evie & Emily
Co-founders of The Everyday Creative Collective
We believe that everyone is creative. Creativity can be used to enrich everyday life. Click here to learn more.
