March 18, 2008
Question of the Day
In General | 23 comments | permalink
Ok, I have a question that I would like you all to answer via the comments section. Please answer honestly, and give reasoning if you wish:
Question of the day
In your opinion, is creativity something that we are born with? Or can it be taught/learnt?
Dean
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23 COMMENTS
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Before I answer, I want to know the differences between Creativity and talent. Are both of them the same or totally different?
never mind, I share my experience anyway
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I was born with talent to draw or sketch. You want proof? head over to my blog. I draw the cartoon myself. Maybe its not as good as the professional cartoonist but I think its acceptable..
When I was in my secondary school, I took the technical drawing subject. For me it is very easy to imagine any object and then draw it on the paper. I always score full mark.
However I was not good with math. I always failed that subject. But I answer math questions everyday and I work hard. Finally I score “A” for that paper.
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My classmate, Eric (not his real name), is very good at math. He can answer any math question even the killer ones.
However in the Technical drawing class, he always failed. I remember there was one time he told me that he is very sad as he can not imagine any object in the technical drawing class.
But everyday he consulted me, and I teach him everyday. In return, he tried to explain to me how to answer math questions. Finally, Eric got an “A” for his technical Drawing paper.
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From my experience, I personally believe that we are born with our own strength and weaknesses. But that doesn’t mean that we can not improve our weakness. And We also have to remember that our strength might be lost one day..
-Raimi
TheSleepySurfer.com
I think you are born with creativity. You can learn things such as web design etc but you have to have that inbuilt creativity to come up with something original.
hi there
in my opinion, you are born with creativity. however, if you do not cultivate it, if it isn’t encouraged by your family, friends, your creativity will not grow. it can’t be taught.. you are either creative or not. however, a talent, such as drawing etc… can improve with lessons and practice.
guylaine
Like anything, anyone can improve with practice. but some people are just naturally creative, and don’t need to try. IMHO
Hi,
Some people are definitely born more creative than others … but you can improve your own creativity by learning from others … for example, I believe my recent blog posts have been “more creative” since I found your blog … I’ve tried to put more creativity into the pictures, contents and titles to make them more viral in nature …
I’d love some feedback on my blog posts to see whether others agree that they’re more creative, any comments on my blog would be appreciated …
http://www.essentialseotools.com/seoblog
Creativity is about not doing the obvious but thinking about alternatives …
Richard
It cannot be taught if it doesn’t already exist. It can be honed or improved if someone has it inside of them.
As the first woman to respond, I think that creativity is in everyone. Creativity is passion and inspiration about art, writing, work, family or anything else you can think of.
A business man can be amazing at his job and has incredible ideas on how he can make millions but completely ignore art. Why? He was born with passion and creativity in business and that is what he focuses his life around.
I do think that creativity for anything specific can be honed or matured if given the chance but not taught to someone who is not interested in it. You can’t get someone to do something they don’t want to do, they have to want to do it themselves.
Both. Creativity, if not inborn, can be taught. For example, here’s a learned way to spark creativity: combine two existing items into a new item, ie chocolate and peanut butter. Creativity is just a matter of degree.
Everyone is born with creativity. It is used and developed further by some and not by others. People who claim they were not born creative and cannot learn to be creative are living a self-fulfilling prophesy. It’s just like Henry Ford said: “No matter whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” If you don’t think you can develop creativity then you’re right but if that’s what you think, the reality is that you’ve made the choice not to develop the creativity you were born with.
I’m pretty sure you can learn it even if it looks like you weren’t born with it. Creativity is an inate human quality. It’s how we learnt to catch food, make fire, and rise to the top of the food chain (until the bunnies get us!)
=D Doesn’t the answers turn you on Dean? Now you can blame it on your parents.
=D Don’t the answers turn you on Dean? Now you can blame it on your parents.
Note: I really need to work on my abcs…
IMHO : Creativity we’re born with. The ability to use it we learn to a greater or lesser degree.
It’s both, creativity or getting new ideas are often a combination of existing ideas, that you may have seen or learnt from others. But the way you use it depends on your own imagination, or creativity.
Hi,
my opinion is we do not born with creativity. It can be learn from parents, teachers, environment, etc..
It is how we use it..
I reckon it’s learnt, as when you’re born, you start out with instinct and not much else. I think creativity is learnt from your peers and your parents.
I also agree with Carrie, though, that it’s strongly linked to passion. When I was at school, I always used to have difficulty with those creative writing assignments they used to give you in english lessons, (you know the sort of stuff - write 500 words on what you did over the summer holidays etc.)- I used to sit there not knowing what on earth what to write - not very creative. But if you give me something interesting to write about, (like your post!), and I can waffle on all day long. If it’s something I want to stand on my soapbox about, I could carry on writing for days on end - very creative.
Anyway, to summarise, based on the above, I reckon it’s a learnt talent!
I think we are born with it. But how it develops depends on environmental factors and how we grow up. Whether the talent is nurtured or not. However, you’ll notice some people where creativity is shunned still have very vivid imaginations as a way of escaping.
Going back to your left brain/right brain spinning woman test, you’ll see people that scored either side are still creative. Engineers are very logical but still very creative in their own way. They may not paint, but they dream up space shuttles, etc.
So I think we are born with it but it can be nurtured and to a certain extent, taught to others.
I think it’s something that is learned and can be developed by anyone (except those with some types of mental illness), although some find it easier than others.
I think creativity is when we take something we have learned in one area and apply it to another area. People who have a broad range of experience and knowledge will be more ‘creative’ than those with a narrow field of experience as they have more sources to draw from. It’s then a case of linking two or more sources together to come up with something different.
I don’t think that anybody is born creative - it must be something that is learned as they grow and the brain develops. Having said that, some people do find it easier to link different ideas and areas whilst others have very rigid ways of thinking and aren’t comfortable outside of their set ideas.
Hello
I think creativity develops by itself and it can develop in many aspects. As a child grows creativity develops. The first time a child shows creativity, generally it is taken as to be inborn. But in my opinion, creativity is not inborn and can be learnt/taught.
Environment, inspiration, guidance and motivation do a lot to enhance creativity.
We are all born with a certain genetic make up. Combined with the enviroment you grow up in, this establishs how creative you are when you are older.
However, creativity can be taught. I have done it with up tight corporate types. Once they crack open , they are often more creative than artists. I believe that is because they have an ability to appreciate the need for structure in making use of creativity.
Creativity can be learned… actually it is a process of unlearning what you are taught in school, which is how to obey and not how to think.
Newborn babies are very creative. They figure out how to get attention, how to signal when they are hungry, and more.
Remember what Einstein said…
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited , wheras imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.
When you think about how revolutionary his theories of relativity were, I mean really step back and look at the simplicity of the model combines with it’s mathematical complexity, he’s certainly got a point.
The ability to be creative is essentially being a free thinker and not following the status quo. Since day one the family, the schools, work and society all teach conformity. To be creative you have to think and act outside the box. You have it in you, just forget what you’ve been taught.