Children's creativity is decreasing in the US and in Europe?

(Photo: Psychology Today)

 

Americans prize themselves, and rightly so, for being great innovators, capable of figuring out new ways of doing things and new things to do.

Quoting from Peter Gray of Psychology Today:

"Perhaps this derives from our frontier beginnings, or from our unique form of democracy with its emphasis on individual freedom and respect for nonconformity. In the business world as well as in academia and the arts and elsewhere, creativity is our number one asset".

It seems things are changing for the worse. According to new reasearch, "the scores on these tests [Torrance tests of creative thinking apllied to schoolchildren] at all grade levels began to decline somewhere between 1984 and 1990 and have continued to decline ever since".

The explanation? Maybe the following, according to Peter Gray: "more and more we are subjecting children to an educational system that assumes one right answer to every question and one correct solution to every problem, a system that punishes children (and their teachers too) for daring to try different routes. We are also (...) increasingly depriving children of free time outside of school to play, explore, be bored, overcome boredom, fail, overcome failure—that is, to do all that they must do in order to develop their full creative potential".

Are we over-protecting our children and getting the results of this? I'm quite sure this is not a problem exclusive to Americans. Although I don't know of any research in Europe, I believe conclusions would point in the same direction.

If the subject interests you, you may want to have a look at the following link in Psychology Today:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201209/children-s-freedom-has-declined-so-has-their-creativity?utm_source=swissmiss&utm_campaign=cd24a79f4c-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2660ad4d17-cd24a79f4c-393315113

 

Give your mind a break

You may want to read an article by Matthew E. May in Harvard Business Review about the more recent discoveries neuro-science has made on the benefits of meditation.

It seems that meditation, pulsing and day dreaming are powerful tools to boost creativity. They also keep your brain younger helping prevent dementia and slowIng the aging process.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/12/quick_and_easy_ways_to_quiet_y.html?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date

 

 

OUR OTHER HALF

Another interesting study on creativity and insight on Big Think:

http://bigthink.com/humanizing-technology/undisciplined-the-creative-insight-of-the-outsider?utm_source=Big+Think+Weekly+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=695f3944b5-The_Creative_Insight_of_the_Outsider5_4_2012&utm_medium=email

I quote:
"Numerous studies (...) are honing in on inspiration as a function of the right hemisphere of the brain – the less literal half that exceeds at making associations between things that don't obviously go together.
(...)
It turns out that sitting around waiting is definitively the wrong way to trigger right-brain creative activity. What gets the alpha waves flowing, facilitating the semi-dream-state in which we're best able to connect those unlikely dots, is a change of scenery"

PHOTO

Talking about creativity, I've been struggling with the lack of subjects to take photos of where I stay the weekends. Then I decided to take what I have at hand and make the most of it. This was the result, a BW photo with a weird light coming in.

WHY DO WE LOOSE CREATIVITY?

Picasso once famously said that every child is an artist. This article in BigThink explores the reasons you loose creativity when you grow up.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/killing-creativity-why-kids-draw-pictures-of-monsters-and-adults-dont?page=2

'Alone time'

Some people like to spend time alone, some people don't...it appears to be very healthy though!
Gregory Feist (San Jose State University, California) found out that when being alone, our brains get some space to organize and settle our thoughts. This brings us solutions or new ideas. This relates to the fact that people are more creative when they are alone. As Picasso once said: “Without great solitude, no serious work is possible”.

DAYDREAMING AND CREATIVITY

As play is important for children's psychic growth, so is daydreaming for the mentally healthy adult. Between reality and fantasy, that's the space for creativity. At whatever age.

PLAY AND CREATIVITY: DRAWASTICKMAN

Melanie Klein was a child psychoanalyst who showed the crucial importance of the play in the psychic growth of the child. Playing and its interpretation was also the basis of her therapeutic method.
The following animation allows us to experiment the joys of drawing as a child. At least that's what I felt. Have a try.
http://www.drawastickman.com/episode1

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Many people would like to start their own business. This wish may be specially useful in the present (and I believe future) situation when jobs for life are part of the past.
We have to come to terms with the fact than the golden years that followed the II World War are past and gone. They lasted for almost sixty years (I'm speaking of course of Europe and the USA) and corresponded in a general way to the so-called baby boomers generation.
Nowadays young people have to be specially resortful in a global and competitive world where jobs are scarce. Entrepreneurship is something than can also be learnt although there are certain born with traits that may help. I already dealt with these issues in a previous post.
Creativity is no doubt a most important trait.
Someone recently told me about this site which is very helpful:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219709