WHY CREATIVE PEOPLE ARE SO STRANGE?
This month’s Scientific American has a great article on the psychological roots of creativity.
A growing body of research indicates that creative thinking arises from “cognitive disinhibition,” a phenomenon where the brain lets in much of the external stimuli that most people’s brains automatically filter out. This same phenomenon is found in people who have a schizotypal personality, and there is a high correlation between the two traits.
While those who experience cognitive disinhibition get to experience “more” of the world than those who filter much of it out, the danger is that a mind can be overwhelmed by that much stimuli, as is the case in people diagnosed with full-blown schizophrenia. The key difference between the homeless eccentric and the successful innovator is that the latter is able to channel creative thinking into productive work, rather than allowing themselves to be consumed by it. (Albert Einstein and Salvador Dali are two prime examples of successful yet highly eccentric people.)
