Constraints and Creativity
One of the basic concepts about the creative process is that it involves generation of many ideas, followed by analytic selection, then implementation.
Idea generation may be very “loose” and unrestrained – even fantastical and not necessarily tied to normal reality.
In my earlier post Creative Thinking and Schizophrenia, I wrote a little about the link between schizotypy and creative achievement, and included a quote by Susan K. Perry from her book “Writing in Flow” that “looseness and the ability to cross mental boundaries are aspects of both schizophrenic thinking and creative thinking.”
But in contrast to “looseness,” the constraint of ideas and work can enhance creativity.
In his article How Constraints Force Us to Be More Creative, Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D. notes that creativity “involves variability — different ways of doing things” but also “involves constraints, which can either promote or preclude creativity.”
Continued in More Constraints, More Creativity.
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