When I sat down with my group for our creative group
project, I was struck by the overwhelming challenge that lay before us. Not
only did we have to discuss arguably one of the most creative and influential
individuals in psychology, we had to do it for a class centered on creativity,
and therefore inevitably, the presentation itself had to be creative. Sitting
around the table we all murmured some variation of the same statement: “ I am really
not creative enough to come up with something like this.” To this point, much
of the lectures, readings, and other materials in class have focused on what
makes individuals creative. Through examining things such as the interaction of
intelligence, creativity, and various personality characteristics we try to
quantify “big C” creativity. Ultimately we are attempting to determine what
makes these individuals different from ourselves.
In searching for the next creative thing to discuss on the
blog I cam across a TED talk by David Kelley, which centered on how to build
your own creative confidence. Instead of putting creativity on a pedestal,
treated as an unachievable ideal, Kelley suggests that the only thing that keeps
people from being creative is the lacking confidence to create.
Through the discussion of a childhood friend’s art project
that another student criticized, Kelley invokes a scenario to which we are all
exposed. Through the criticism of others, whether it be intentional or not, we
as individuals opt out of being creative, determining that creativity is for really unique and intelligent
individuals. He discusses how everyone from students to CEOs of major companies
claim to lack this supposedly innate ability to be creative.
Inspired by Bandura’s incredibly successful model of overcoming
phobias centered on self-efficacy, Kelley realized that these ideas could be
applied to creativity. Through a series of small steps and training, people can
be instilled with the confidence that they are creative individuals. This
example is exemplified through the story of a GE employee who realized that
almost 80% of children needed to be sedated to be able to cope with having an
MRI done in the GE scanner. After going through Kelley’s training in creative
confidence, the GE employee re-designed the MRI machine. He painted the machine
so that the kids were not scared and also had the operators of the scanner trained
by people who had extensive experience with kids. Following these changes only
10% of children needed to be sedated in order to be scanned by the MRI machine.
Kelley even quotes one of the children who, following an MRI scan, asked if she
could come back again the following day.
Driven by the goal of helping as many people as possible
regain their creative confidence that people so often loose. Kelley believes
that when people find this confidence, people often change their lives
direction toward something that truly makes them happy and ultimately produces
more influential and unique ideas. Ultimately, Kelley boils his teachings down
to one thing that I think is incredibly important and empowering as we finish
the semester looking at eminent creative. It is essential to stop looking at
creativity as a god given right and realize your own natural creativity.
Through self-efficacy we can all reach a level of creative confidence that,
although may not result in us formulating the next big C idea, can provide us
with quality ideas while also serving to help us realize and attain our own creative
potential.
It's interesting that, as Kelley says, a person's confidence in their creativity can be enhanced similarly to how a person's phobia can be reduced. I think it's quite common for a child's creativity to be put down at a young age, whether it's by a parent, teacher, sibling, or friend. In class we've discussed how each eminent creative's childhood might have influenced their creativity, but we haven't discussed a typical person's childhood influences quite as much. It seems many people believe that they are not creative, and it is easy to see their point when creativity is often associated with such famous characters such as Einstein, Gandhi, etc. It's important for "therapies" like Kelley's to be used more frequently, so that students, parents, teachers, and anybody else can begin to see their creative potential. This might allow the general population to be more productive, confident, and happy with others and themselves.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I have to agree that I was on the same boat as you; that first day when we stepped into class and were asked to talk about something creative I felt completely out of my element. Thinking back to the beginning of the semester, I definitely put creativity on a pedestal, as was mentioned in your post.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when I found out that I was assigned Martha Graham as the creative to do a presentation on, I did not even know where to begin. Now, after doing the Martha Graham presentation this evening, I have to say what at first seemed impossible, was in fact a great experience. I loved bouncing ideas around with my group members, not to mention the presentation was a fun experience in itself.
In class we talked about whether we were given the opportunity to be creative in classes outside of the one we are in now, and as far as I am concerned I have not. My classes thus far have consisted of hard deadlines, without leaving much room for creativity. I believe this is what was the dominating factor in my belief that I lacked creativity.
I hope Kelley’s talk to build creative confidence helps people break out of their shell, and show the world what they are truly capable of.