Seeking the Royal Road

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Purtud, Alpine Scene and Boulders 1904 John Singer Sargent

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
- Albert Einstein

What traits do creative people share? Dean Keith Simonton discusses the science behind creative accomplishment in the Winter 2014 issue of Scientific American Mind magazine.

Although we may never be certain how large a role nature may play in a person’s tendency to be creative or how much hard work and tenacity may expand a person’s abilities, there are some key tendencies that are commonly found in highly creativity individuals.

One of these is cognitive disinhibition. Because humans are inundated with data, we have developed mental filters that allow us to process out that data which is irrelevant or not necessary to us at the time. Cognitive disinhibition is a failure to keep those irrelevant ideas out of our conscious awareness. A positive side to this is that In creative individuals it may …