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Creative And Crazy

Famed psychologist Hans Eysenck asserted that creative genius correlates with a high level of what he called psychoticism.  Psychoticism, as he defined it, is a dimension of personality that suggests a susceptibility to psychotic behavior. 

Challenges notwithstanding, these psychotic tendencies translate well in creative endeavors through what Eysenck refers to as over-inclusiveness. 

If creativity is the process of coming up with novel and meaningful solutions to perplexing problems, then over-inclusiveness is the ability to see more and more ideas as relevant to a possible solution.

Over-inclusiveness is a cognitive trait that forms a foundation for divergent thinking, the method used to explore many possible solutions based on unexpected connections.

Divergent thinking is the hallmark of creative generalists.


Five behaviors of creative generalists:
  1. Wander and wonder
  2. Synthesize and summarize
  3. Link and leap
  4. Mix and match
  5. Experience and empathize

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