Creativity, Theories of

A Linguistic Link to Insanity

Man has long been fascinated with creativity and the contribution this ability makes to our survival and comfort. The bicameral mind, a phrase coined by Julian Jaynes, posited that creativity came from the gods, for they controlled the chamber of the mind in which new thoughts occurred. When the muse was present, madness ensued.

In Latin, the language of choice at the time, madness was not distinguished from inspiration. Because of this linguistic deficiency, the uneasy alliance of insanity with creativity began. Although empirical research is inconclusive, the characteristics of creative people, their intense focus, eccentricity, acknowledgment of a muse, and fantasies, continue to reinforce this linguistic myth. Carl Jung's theory contributes as well. He posits that creativity, with its archetypal sources, wells up and cannot be denied in that Jungian process of opposing forces.

Aristotle departed from the bicameral perspective and speculated that thoughts were involved with the creative process. He believed that insight began through associationism, in other words, ideas associated with other ideas and led to creativity.

During the Golden Age (500–200 BC) creativity reigned. When Roman emperors proclaimed themselves gods, the decline of creativity began. The medieval period lost its grip when the Black Death wiped out one third of the population, and from the Renaissance came the Age of Enlightenment and humanism, the ability of humans to solve problems from their own mental efforts. In that period, the term genius came to be associated with creativity, as did intelligence.

Sir Francis Galton coined the term genius and believed that ideas in the conscious mind were linked to ideas in the unconscious. He also believed genius, and thus creativity, was inherited. Gestalt theory opposed this. Developed by Germans, Gestaltists believe that being creative is more complicated than what Galton proposed. Gestalt is German for mental patterns or forms, and it was theorized that the whole of a creative idea cannot be reduced to a sum of its parts. Cognitive psychology continues to struggle with these two ideas: genius and the workings of the brain itself.

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