Everything Worth Knowing About ... Creativity

Igniting the spark.

By Lacy Schley
Jul 5, 2016 8:31 PMNov 12, 2019 5:01 AM
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(The solutions to the creativity tests from p. 51 in the print edition can be found at the bottom of this article.)

Original, useful, surprising — some of the main criteria for what it takes to consider something creative. However, creativity is an enormously complex subject full of seeming contradictions, and the person doing the actual creating is just as important as the process and outcome. We offer up an overview of what science says about creative people, as well as a chance to test your chops.

What Do You ‘Need’ to Be Creative?

There’s no single source of creativity; instead, research suggests that it stems from a complex system of traits. Here are just some of the overarching characteristics creative people seem to share.

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