Opportunities for creative inspiration are all around us, but do you consider yourself a creative person? And we’re not just talking about having the impulse to take up watercoloring or the sudden urge to DIY some tie-dye shirts. Creativity can manifest itself in a variety of ways, from the way you put together a presentation at work, to the artful way you cook yourself dinner.
Hungarian psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identifies the innumerable ways that creatively inclined people’s personalities differ from others, but the key is complexity. “They show tendencies of thought and action that in most people are segregated,” Csikszentmihalyi says. “They contain contradictory extremes; instead of being an ‘individual,’ each of them is a ‘multitude.'”
So, what other traits might you possess as a self-identified “creative type”? Csikszentmihalyi says that highly creative people tend to be more energetic and enthusiastic, intelligent (if somewhat naive), playful, both extroverted and introverted, humble, and passionate. He also describes creative people as being able to escape “rigid gender role stereotyping.”
Of course, Csikszentmihalyi’s list of creative qualities doesn’t apply to everyone (and also doesn’t take into account things like socioeconomic status), but we’re thinking self-proclaimed “creative genius” Kanye West most definitely fits Csikszentmihalyi’s bill….
Source: Psychology Today
