The psychology of creativity

This is a video about some thoughts prompted by the reading of "Churchill's Black Dog, Kafka's Mice, and Other Phenomena of the Human Mind" by Dr. Andrew Storr, a British psychiatrist who took an interest in the psychology of creative imagination.

Storr's essays amount to a kind of long-distance psychoanalysis of famous figures like Isaac Newston, Franz Kafka and Winston Churchill.

He says Churchill’s depression was actually part of what made him so productive.

"To avoid this state of misery is of prime importance; and so the depressive, before his disorder becomes too severe, may recurrently force himself into activity, deny himself rest or relaxation, and accomplish more than most men are capable of, just because he cannot afford to stop."

Churchill's personality fits the description of the personality type known as "extraverted intuitive," in C.G. Jung's "Psychological Types." This is a person who has strong powers of intuition, but is less inclined to think things through carefully.”

This theme of the role of depression and mental illness seems to show up with some regularity in books about creativity.

Storr's main question is this: Why do people devote so much time and energy to creative invention. There may be rewards of fame and money eventually, but "many artists and scientists struggle for years without attaining either, and some win recognition only posthumously," he writes.

Creative work, which he also calls "imaginative activity," is inspired by something beyond material reward. Freud thought that imaginative activity came from dissatisfaction: "A happy person never phantasies, only an unsatisfied one...."

Dr. Johnson called this "the hunger of imagination." From Storr: "It is surely this hunger which accounts for man's supremacy as a species.

"If man, like some insects, was preprogrammed to be more or less perfectly adapted to his environment, he would live ... with neither the need to look for anything better nor the capacity to imagine it.... Because he has only a few inbuilt responses, he is capable of learning, of invention, of assimilating novelty and of creating symbols... We are never content with what is; we must always strive after something better."

It's hard to know what to conclude from Storr's essays - especially for a person who is generally upbeat, hopeful, positive.

I’m afraid I may be just too happy to be very creative by this standard, but maybe these gray, rainy days of winter will spur me into a useful - if gloomy - productivity.

- By John Strauss, jcstrauss@bsu.edu

Palin coverage and the phantom quotes

Sarah Palin and her supporters complain bitterly about her treatment in the news.

And while it's not uncommon for controversial public figures to take issue with their critics, she has a point in one regard.

In her new book, Palin points out that she never uttered the most famous quote attributed to her - the great spoof on SNL in which Tina Fey chirped in wide-eyed excitement: "I can see Russia from my house!"

What Palin actually said was, "They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska."

You can decide for yourself whether that's one of those differences without a distinction. Collections of Palinisms, like Daniel Kurtzman's "The 25 Most Devastating Quotes About Sarah Palin," are part of the landscape.

But Palin's shortcomings aside, any public figure deserves fairness. Deliberate misquotes aren't new, however, as Wisconsin blogger Ann Althouse notes in this post.

When she asked her readers to make up a sniglet for deliberate misquotes, two Althouse followers came up with real gems.

Someday, if they're not already, "malapropaganda" and "substiquote" could describe tactics in the Playbook of Dirty Politics.

- John Strauss

Flight instructor

A former airline pilot who's now a flight instructor at Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport talks about his love of flying. This is a test of video storytelling techniques using inexpensive point-and-shoot cameras, in this case a Panasonic Lumix TZ-5 ($238).

Staying creative for life

People who work in creative fields have to find a way to keep growing as innovators, an author and design executive said Thursday during Ball State’s digital media conference.

Tom Kelley, general manager of IDEO, the design and development firm responsible for the Apple mouse, the Palm V and other products, said he met famed architect Frank Gehry recently and was impressed to see him still active and creative at age 80.

“It’s not hard to be an innovator at your age,” Kelley, keynote speaker at this week’s iDMAa Conference, told students in an informal afternoon talk.

“But what happens is, as you go out into the work force, it’s almost as if circumstances conspire against you, to drive some of that innovation out of you.

“It’s like, ‘No, we do it this way.’ That kind of wide, broad, creative thinking you do now, over time there are pressures that narrow that down.

“I talk to students about how to be innovators for life.”

Kelley is author of “The Ten Faces of Innovation,” and “The Art of Innovation,” which describes IDEO’s "deep dive" approach to brainstorming and teamwork in creating new products. Fast Company ranked IDEO fifth in its 2008 list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.

The International Digital Media and Art Association’s conference, "@ the Digital Edge: Innovations and Challenges," began Thursday and ends Saturday at Ball State.

Thursday afternoon’s meeting with students leaned heavily on advice for people about to enter the workforce. Kelley recommended the Jim Collins book, “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t.

Collins, he noted, said people should think of their abilities and personalities in three circles – the things they are good at, the things others will pay them to do, and the thing they are so passionate about, that they know they were “born to do.”

Kelley said he uses “reverse mentors” - younger colleagues to advise him on trends - to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.

“There are trends - there are new emerging things happening in the world that do not start with 50-year-old bald males,” he laughed.

Kelley said he also has a “regular” mentor, “and I encourage you to find one, someone who is five to 10 years older than you to share their life experiences so you can take advantage of that. “

But he said IDEO relies on its interns to help stimulate fresh thinking, a process he calls, “the eggs teaching the chicken.”

Kelley said some of the best advice he had heard about dealing with creative people came from film director Francis Ford Coppola.

“When you’re working with super-creative people, you don’t tell them what to do – you invite them to the party,” Coppola told him.

- By John Strauss, jcstrauss@bsu.edu

Ford luxury brand targets Gen X

You know that Gen X consumers have finally arrived when they get their own Lincoln commercials.

Sharon Silke Carty reports that new ads for the MKS sedan feature a space-age look with popular songs from the 1980s.

"To my fellow children of the '80s, I'm sure you'll recognize the music, but we've done it in a fresh, new way," Thomais Zaremba, communications manager for Lincoln Mercury, tells Carty.

Zaremba knows her audience. What late-20s-something wouldn't want to be decribed this way as the MKS target audience:

"They are fiercely independent, and they don't care what other people think," Zaremba says.

"We feel like we've found a distinct voice for ourselves."

'Dealing' a novel with index cards

Writers looking for a creative jump-start might take note of the new book from author Vladimir Nabokov, best known as the writer of “Lolita.”

Nabokov died 32 years ago, and there’s a question over whether this new work, “The Original of Laura,” should be published because Nabokov, a perfectionist had not completed it and wanted the manuscript destroyed.

Details are in this story by Robert McCrum of The Guardian.

Whatever the merits of the new book, some writers will be intrigued by Nabokov’s creative technique.

As McCrum describes it:

“Writing on index cards, in pencil, had become Nabokov's preferred method of composition.

“He would fill each card with narrative and dialogue, shuffle the completed pack and then, in the words of his editor, "’deal himself a novel.’"

Others have used the technique and recommend it as a way to get organized and start writing.

Stuart Brown in his article, “How to Use Index Cards to Write a Novel Outline,” points out that the cards are small, easy to carry around and update as new ideas arrive.

Index cards are easy to sort, Brown notes. And because rewriting and revision are so important, “They are easy to discard,” he writes.

“If you change your mind about an idea, you can throw it away without having to throw away the entire paper.”

- By John Strauss, jcstrauss@bsu.edu

The latest on status updates

A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that the use of Twitter and other status-update services has more than doubled since the summer of 2008.

The study, “Twitter and Status Updating, Fall 2009,” shows that nearly 20 percent of people with Internet access use Twitter or another status update service.

Status updates are short messages broadcast to all users of a service. The messages can also be targeted more narrowly – to “friends” on the Facebook service, for example.

Twitter use has exploded in the past year. The Pew report said that besides its data, continuous surveys and real-time network data by comScore show that Twitter logged more than 17 million unique visitors in May, compared with 2 million per month in December 2008.

A sliver of Twitter users is responsible for most updates, according to research from Harvard Business School cited in the Pew report: “A random sample of 300,000 Twitter accounts found that the top 10% of prolific Twitter users accounted for over 90% of tweets,” Pew reported.

The Pew research found that 19 percent of Internet users send or receive updates on Twitter or another status-update service. That is up from 11 percent in December.

Other findings about those who use Facebook, Twitter and other status-update services:

- The median age for Twitter users is 31. For Facebook it is 33, up from 26 in May 2008.

- Women (21 percent) are more likely to tweet than men (17 percent).

- Blacks (26 percent) lead whites (19 percent) and Hispanics (18 percent).

- Ages 18-29 use those services (33 percent) most, followed by 30-49 (22 percent).

- College graduates and those with some college (both 21 percent) are heaviest users.

- Twitter use increased from 6 percent of Internet users in August 2008 to 19 percent last month.

Mobile users are increasingly more likely to send updates. About half of Internet users have wireless connections via laptops, cell phones and other devices. Of those with wireless connections, 25 percent do status updates, up from 14 percent in December 2008.

Pew interviews show that mobile users wish to stay in touch with others and post content online.

The Pew report triggered several news stories, including a report by Associated Press national writer Martha Irvine writing from Chicago with the headline: “Grudgingly, young people finally flock to Twitter.”

“They think it's pointless, narcissistic. Some don't even know what it is,” the AP story begins.

“Even so, more young adults and teens — normally at the cutting edge of technology — are finally coming around to Twitter, using it for class or work, monitoring the minutiae of celebrities' lives.”

The AP story includes comment from David Silver, a media studies professor at the University of San Francisco who teaches a class on how to use Twitter and other services.

"Every semester, Twitter is the one technology that students are most resistant to,” he told AP. "But it's also the one they end up using the most."

- By John Strauss, jcstrauss@bsu.edu

BSU student paper wins national award

The Ball State Daily News has won the prestigious Pacemaker Award for general excellence from among more than 200 entries in a contest sponsored by Associated Collegiate Press.

The Daily News joins student papers from Yale, Michigan State, Minnesota, Kent State and the University of Oregon in the awards, announced Saturday at the 88th Annual National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas, sponsored by ACP and College Media Advisers.

Ball State was the only Indiana winner among the 228 entries from across the country. The contest was judged by the Poynter Institute.

Entries were judged on the basis of coverage, writing and reporting quality, in-depth reporting, layout and design, photography and graphics, and leadership on the opinion page.

More at:
http://www.studentpress.org/acp/winners/npm09.html

- By John Strauss, jcstrauss@bsu.edu