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Ten paradoxical traits of the creative personality

psychologytoday.com — Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives. Most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the result of creativity. What makes us different from apes--our language, values, artistic expression, scientific understanding, and technology--is the result of individual ingenuity that was recognized and rewarded.

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  • Haecceity, on 08/17/2008, -3/+25This is an old article but it makes for a fascinating anatomy of the creative mind.
    • chaiwalla, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1We have learned so much about the brain since this article came out 12 years ago. A current source would offer a lot more insight.
  • LewP, on 08/17/2008, -4/+16I wonder if I have a creative personality?? Hmmmmmmmm
  • AmyVernon, on 08/17/2008, -4/+19no one could ever understand how in the meyers-briggs tests i always came out with half extrovert and half introvert personality.
    • artsii, on 08/17/2008, -2/+2same here, and i just thought i was weird
    • Freakwit, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2because in all the true/false questions, you just answered true for every single one
    • chispito, on 08/17/2008, -0/+3That's not really that uncommon, especially for E/I.
  • koonchu, on 08/17/2008, -3/+12An article by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (no less!) on Digg? Made my morning!
  • DeskFlyer, on 08/17/2008, -4/+8The part about the extrovert/introvert thing is very interesting because it hits home; I never thought about it like that.
    • SpacePoet, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1Same here. And how do you describe it? Do you say you are a shy outgoing person or a humble enthusiast?
  • narcofiche, on 08/17/2008, -9/+3A true creative person would have been able to say all of this on one page instead of four.
    • simplistics06, on 08/17/2008, -3/+2True a lot of fluff talk to fill up pages.
    • cesig, on 08/17/2008, -1/+6A true creative person would have come up with something more constructive than your lame comment.
      • narcofiche, on 08/17/2008, -0/+1It was a joke.
      • SpacePoet, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1Really, you think you can describe all the nuances of a gifted or creative person in a few paragraphs? Human beings are complicated animals and i have a hard time trying to figure out why the lesser of the species behave the way they do let alone the geniuses. Not a very funny joke if you ask me... Now if you went ahead and made some kind of guess of how you would have shortened it it might have been funnier.
  • simplistics06, on 08/17/2008, -7/+1The article kinda sucks he can only observe creativity he doesn't seem to know what it is :/
  • Wilsontristan, on 08/17/2008, -6/+36Its an interesting article, but everyone who reads it, including me, are going to think to themselves "man he's describing me. I must be so creative."

    Admit it.
    • blackfox026, on 08/17/2008, -0/+12- admitted
    • GoatMonkey2112, on 08/17/2008, -0/+8I was thinking something much more creative than THAT!

      If you want to know what it was, you'll have to use your imagination.
    • tehcobra, on 08/17/2008, -0/+4You caught me man.
    • darwinwins, on 08/17/2008, -0/+11my thoughts were, "wow this reads like the daily horoscope in the newspaper"-- all generalities as it applies to as many people as possible."

      it's a piece of ***** article meant to appeal to everyone's egos.
    • chispito, on 08/17/2008, -0/+3I think that's the problem with a lot of personality profiling. You immediately key in on the positives points and want to believe it about yourself.
    • dstz, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2" [I am] going to think to [myself] "man he's describing me. I must be so creative."

      Well, it's simple: what is your creative craft? how many hours a day, days a week, weeks a year do you spend on it? since how many years? how many satisfying artworks can you produce a week (or a day on good periods?) how often and how many people (who don't otherwise know you) praise your productions as very creative?

      If you're in the clear for all of that, there are chances that every bit of this article apply to you in a way that you close ones will recognize as specific traits of your personality.

      Everyone has a chance to let creativity rule their agenda. But most people get to have a chance at normal life, and they usually seize it.
  • chubbybubba, on 08/17/2008, -9/+1A true creative person would write their comment as a rhyme.
    I can't think of anything, so I guess I'm not.


    (I wish I had more time.)
  • eggballs, on 08/17/2008, -4/+1Rewarded and recognized was that ingenuity individual of result the is--technology and, understanding scientific, expression, artistic, values, language our--apes from different us makes what. Creativity of result the are human, and, important, interesting are that things the of most. Lives our in meaning of source central a is creativity.
    • eggballs, on 08/17/2008, -2/+1Hmm, no creative responses, only diggs down. You guys aren't exactly a creative bunch, I see. Thanks for playing!

      Btw, I agree that this article is a nice, concise, accurate summary of research on creativity. Then again, Dr. Flow would know!
    • Wilsontristan, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2Pffft "eggballs'?
    • chispito, on 08/17/2008, -0/+2Is that you, Master Yoda?
  • ScottMitchell, on 08/17/2008, -7/+3#11) Creative people love navel-gazing articles.
  • irishjays, on 08/17/2008, -6/+2I'm I wasn't so humble I would think this was written about me and be proud of myself.
  • thallium205, on 08/17/2008, -8/+4Lame...
  • thegrantman, on 08/17/2008, -7/+6This is the best article I've read on this site so far.It is insightful,concise and accurate.Yes,I'm prejudiced;I am one. This helps explain why the creative never really fit into any categories.They see things differently;it's difficult to label them.I remember trying to fill out standard personality tests and just not being able to commit to any one answer.One more paradox I'd like to see the author address is communication.We can speak eloquently on many subjects and have a chameleon-like ability to interact with any type of person.The other side of this coin is a difficulty engaging in "normal"conversation.We're much better with ideas and abstracts than idle chit-chat.
    • Kyoushu, on 08/17/2008, -1/+4He probably has in one of his books. Check out
      http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-al ...
    • Wilsontristan, on 08/17/2008, -1/+3You must be soooooo creative. I mean damn.
      • thegrantman, on 08/17/2008, -2/+1And you must be suuuuuch an *****.
      • Metasquares, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2Ah ha! Creative people have properties of both jerks and non-jerks!
    • shinyplastic, on 08/18/2008, -1/+2Have you tried the "which Harry Potter character are you?" tests? That might help you define yourself.

      You realize this article has the same depth as those myspace quizzes? It's stroking your ego, and you're falling for it. Get over yourself.
    • SpacePoet, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2Ihatewhenpeopledon'tknowwhowtousespaces..
  • dafragsta, on 08/17/2008, -4/+9Really ***** good article. I totally agree with the part about the extacy of creativity. It's like a drug when it's flowing, especially while making music. It's like adrenaline with an opiate blast.
  • guybrush58, on 08/17/2008, -5/+2Why does every bullet point have to be a new page? I want to just scroll down. Its getting really stupid how many sites are now designed like this.
  • mattmollysdad, on 08/17/2008, -5/+4I'm creative and so are my children. I can't turn it off and it makes me crazy. I'm still doing college essay topics years after they have graduated. I write, draw, compose, design and invent continuously, even in my sleep. The article was way too long but interesting. The only word I would use to describe myself or my children is that we are "self-contained". We create for ourselves. Now it's time to crash.
  • yeghia, on 08/17/2008, -7/+2This is a great article, because it relates to me! ;)
  • fuelcell, on 08/17/2008, -2/+3Why are so many of the comments getting downgraded? Most of the comments getting downgraded were on-point and interesting enough. My guess is there is an immature element at work. Wish there was some way to get rid of these types of morons on digg. Annoying to see people getting "shouted down".

    Summary of creative personality traits was fairly accurate . . . but seemed to be biased towards successful and productive creative types. There are just as many that have a mixed-bag of successes and failures in part because of lazy indolence and procrastination. I know I'm not the only creative-type to sometimes relax into fantasy while the world passes by outside.
  • Samiyam, on 08/17/2008, -2/+18Is it just me, or does this article read like an astrology column?
  • KingHarvest00, on 08/17/2008, -1/+13let me guess, her last job was writing horoscopes.
  • seanof, on 08/17/2008, -1/+15Look at quotes like this "Creative people are humble and proud at the same time." so if your humble then you fit the model, but if your proud you still do. Every point is 'creative people are x but also the inverse of x'. As an earlier poster pointed out anyone of reads this will come away think that they fit this profile.
    • GoatMonkey2112, on 08/17/2008, -4/+2Of course it does. Nobody lacks creativity entirely.
      • Wilsontristan, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2Whooosh
      • GoatMonkey2112, on 08/17/2008, -1/+1There's no whooosh. I was pretty much agreeing with him.

        I understand that the author make vague statements that fit anyone, and everyone also has at least a little creativity.
      • Technopundit, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2I'm proud of my humility.
  • Shrubber, on 08/17/2008, -1/+2I don't think very many creative people exhibit all of these traits, but I think most people who have at least a bit of a creative side demonstrate at least one of these paradoxical traits. I know I related to several of the article's points, particularly the imaginative/pragmatic, introverted/extroverted, and rebellious/conservative points.

    However, I do agree with the above comments; the article does seem a bit too 'self help-ish.'
  • RUGERSP101, on 08/17/2008, -1/+199% of the world believes they are creative. Its because its a lauded trait that is subjectively defined. Its easy to disprove someone who mistakenly believes themselves to be extremely intelligent, its hard to bust someone's claim to creativity. For example I catalog insurance forms all day everyday, but you should see how creatively fulfilled I am on my blog.
    • Metasquares, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2I think true creativity is very often mistaken for intelligence, actually. The trail of accomplishments can become pretty long.
  • irishjays, on 08/17/2008, -1/+1I must be creative I used "I'm" instead of "If," and I didn't even do it on purpose!
  • LAngeDuFoyeur, on 08/17/2008, -3/+2I attend art school and I've noticed that the most innovative of peers and professors tend to have two separate personalities for work and play. A great deal of the training we receive is in programming the way our mind perceives things like color, value and significance in real life narratives. The most successful people tend to have a very strong grasp on their uninhibited selves, they're able to allow their uniqueness to appear when they need it. While uniqueness is often the goal when someone is expressing themselves, some sort of assimiliation is useful when living in practical society.

    Needless to say I know alot of people who are bi-polar.
  • MrSkills, on 08/17/2008, -2/+9Is it me, or are most of the comments by people who are agreeing with some aspect of the article just to demonstrate that it applies to them?
    • thegrantman, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1If you mean they are trying to brag about being creative....no. Most of the comments are simply acknowledging some aspect of these traits in themselves.
  • semiown, on 08/17/2008, -3/+1"People just have no clue about their genuine nature. I have countless friends who describe themselves as 'cynical,' and they're all wrong. True cynics would never classify themselves as such, because it would mean that they know their view of the world is unjustly negative; despite their best efforts at being grumpy, a self-described cynic is secretly optimistic about normal human nature. Individuals who are truly cynical will always insist they're pragmatic. The same goes for anyone who claims to be "creative." If you define your personality as creative, it only means you understand what is perceived to be creative by the world at large, so you're really just following a rote creative template. That's the opposite of creativity. Everybody is wrong about everything, just about all the time."
    -Chuck Klosterman
  • denebgarza, on 08/17/2008, -2/+1Lol... I don't see how someone can just go ahead and write an article about how to know if someone's creative.

    Here's my version:

    To know if someone's creative, look at their work or get to know them personally. THE END.
    • michael43, on 08/17/2008, -0/+3well I guess we all know you're not.
    • Haecceity, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2The author didn't just "go ahead and write an article about how to know if someone's creative." He's done years of research in this field and is very famous. He's studied people who are creative and looked for common characteristics.
  • rasde, on 08/17/2008, -1/+4tl;dr
  • SymbioticSounds, on 08/17/2008, -0/+2Yet when a person is working in the area of his of her expertise, worries and cares fall away, replaced by a sense of bliss. Perhaps the most important quality, the one that is most consistently present in all creative individuals, is the ability to enjoy the process of creation for its own sake. Without this trait, poets would give up striving for perfection and would write commercial jingles, economists would work for banks where they would earn at least twice as much as they do at universities, and physicists would stop doing basic research and join industrial laboratories where the conditions are better and the expectations more predictable.

    -----

    Best paragraph in the whole article. Whores might get paid, but they don't get satisfaction.
  • thebrinkman, on 08/17/2008, -2/+3Describing these paradoxical personalities in no way panders to the masses like astrology often does. Some of you are saying that anyone could choose one quality or another and feel they fit the profile, but such an act voids the entire premise of this article: paradox. As a musician, writer, and visual artist I can say with no (and perhaps an abundance of) ego that all ten of these qualities describe me spot on.
  • skyz, on 08/17/2008, -2/+3my music biz professor could not understand why i would never license my music for muzak or advertising (he did not understand that for me it is about the art more than the $)

    one thing about creative (right brain) types is we are never bored but sometimes frustrated

    left brain people usually have less frustration and more of a tendency to be bored

    i'm never bored i have never been in my life because i can entertain myself using only my mind

    everyone has at least some creativity but are often unaware or it has been discouraged early in life (trees aren't purple little johnny)

    • Neuronyx, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2I always tell my gf that only average minds get "bored". She could never understand that how until I explained using as an example a low budget B series tv action movie, actually it's was somehow like the "jail method" only to go beyond the roles and pretty much into the real life of every actor. It was kind of .. fun.

      As for the $, I think you are a perfectionist like me and you consider your "plays" only sketches still to be improved, not worthing enough to be exposed or sold to everyone at that time.

      Kind of my situation too, not "selling" my ideas for the real money (like others do with theirs - despite the less value of their work) only to gain mysefl enough expertise to "fly over" others with almoust no effort.

      I know it maybe sounds strange, but ideas are like music, logic is rythm, experience is like an orchestra. You have to repeat/fail/try a lot to get it right when you have the first public audition.

      Btw, forgot to say: I'm a consultant in energy now, I play guitar, started as a DTP/ Art Director. Wanted to learn piano better.
      • skyz, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1film noir is like that i really like film noir

        yes you are right i want it to be beautiful that's my motivation i'd rather have less $ and great satisfaction

        i live simply anyway because i don't want to fritter my time and mind away on as a yogi said 'objects of the world'

        and yes ideas are like music / poetry they need to be carefully crafted and perfected in the perfection is the joy not the $

        there was a 20th century minimalist com poser webern he has a very limited amount of work but it is diamond perfect in structure

        i have everything he did on six cds

        i sing i can sing opera arias it is very satisfying when your instrument is you kind of like being a dance of an athlete

        i tried piano and understand it completely as a theory tool put i never practiced enough i liked composition and voice best

        i used to study ballet seriously
  • darwinwins, on 08/17/2008, -2/+11the article is a piece of *****. it's the worst kind - it appeals to the ego of the reader - no matter who's reading it. this is also true of the daily horoscope you find in the paper.
    • neutronlaser, on 08/17/2008, -1/+4I agree, it is worse than your mom at BJ's
      • darwinwins, on 08/18/2008, -1/+2i thought the same about your dad.
  • Technopundit, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3It ain't easy bein' green.
  • sdipaola, on 08/18/2008, -0/+0For those interested in using human creativity research for the area computation, you might be interested in the paper about combining creativity research with genetic programming to attempt to make a computer algorithm be creative on its own. Written by a psychologist and a computer scientist (myself) with artistic portraiture as it's test case. There are other examples on the research site.

    http://ivizlab.sfu.ca/publications.php and download the gecco paper ( first pdf)
  • SubjectiveC, on 08/18/2008, -0/+5By reading the responses so far, I think it's missing one bit of trivia: All creative people concentrate a majority of their time and energy posting replies on Digg.
    • darwinwins, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1i am pulling the shenanigans card on the article. everyone here seems to think they're creative or "different" from the rest of society. sure this site is a microcosm of society but we're still representative of various aspects of society. we are all normal. no one here is probably more creative than the schmuck in the next building over reading the same article. the article elicits a "oh my god that's me!" complex. the article is *****.
  • Meowbiusfox, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3Poppycock!Balderdash!

    I'm not referring to the article.I just like saying those words.
  • bluesman3535, on 08/18/2008, -0/+2Good article, but scientific and mechanical creativity are more like 'running down the bases' to see what works in theory vs practice. Artistic and musical creativity is more abstract. Overall this article seems to describe the latter two creative types. Then you have a nearly God-like person like Da Vinci or Aristotle to analyze, geniuses in many areas.
    • Metasquares, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1Polymaths use the same creative methods in both areas of endeavor. A system of knowledge is a system of knowledge, capable of being grasped by the human intuition. The boundary between art and science is very much a socially constructed one.
      • bluesman3535, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1Meta, no. I disagree. Knowledge is not synonymous with creativity, but can merely aid the process. Polymaths can produce pleasant chord changes in a pre-fab organ or synth, not a Beethoven-level musical creation.Sure you can analyze in 20/20 hindsight to make Beethoven's works fit with polymaths, but not at the actual conception stage within the composer's mind. But now we edge toward another musical argument, technicality vs 'feel'.
  • TheMachine1, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3http://www.bio.psy.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/papers/abrah ...

    That study showed people with ADHD were more creative than healthy controls in some tests. In one experiment the ADHD group produced more inventions than the controls but they were more likely to be non-functional. That suggest to me that noise and creativity are related. The paradox in this situation is more creativity starts to look like a random number generator or a static filled tv channel.
  • Metasquares, on 08/18/2008, -0/+9Here's a paradox for you:

    "Without this trait, poets would give up striving for perfection and would write commercial jingles, economists would work for banks where they would earn at least twice as much as they do at universities, and physicists would stop doing basic research and join industrial laboratories where the conditions are better and the expectations more predictable."

    You will notice that the creative individuals, who arguably make the greatest contributions to society, are the ones profiting the least, even as they contribute the most. The fact that this paragraph is true should irritate you; the fact that it is so nonchalantly stated should outrage you.

    We've constructed a society of inverted values, in which those who contribute the least are given the greatest rewards, and somehow we have accepted this to the extent that it seems no less natural a rule than 2+2=4.
  • Peter88, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1hmmm....
  • Gloogle, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1KAKA PUPU!
  • M724, on 08/18/2008, -1/+2That explains a lot, actually.
  • shinyplastic, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3Diggers, you're all very special but so is everyone else.
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