All of us creative people have a good chance of going insane

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031001061055.htm

The study in the September issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says the brains of creative people appear to be more open to incoming stimuli from the surrounding environment. Other people's brains might shut out this same information through a process called "latent inhibition" - defined as an animal's unconscious capacity to ignore stimuli that experience has shown are irrelevant to its needs. Through psychological testing, the researchers showed that creative individuals are much more likely to have low levels of latent inhibition.

"This means that creative individuals remain in contact with the extra information constantly streaming in from the environment," says co-author and U of T psychology professor Jordan Peterson. "The normal person classifies an object, and then forgets about it, even though that object is much more complex and interesting than he or she thinks. The creative person, by contrast, is always open to new possibilities."

Previously, scientists have associated failure to screen out stimuli with psychosis. However, Peterson and his co-researchers - lead author and psychology lecturer Shelley Carson of Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard PhD candidate Daniel Higgins - hypothesized that it might also contribute to original thinking, especially when combined with high IQ. They administered tests of latent inhibition to Harvard undergraduates. Those classified as eminent creative achievers - participants under age 21 who reported unusually high scores in a single area of creative achievement - were seven times more likely to have low latent inhibition scores.

The authors hypothesize that latent inhibition may be positive when combined with high intelligence and good working memory - the capacity to think about many things at once - but negative otherwise. Peterson states: "If you are open to new information, new ideas, you better be able to intelligently and carefully edit and choose. If you have 50 ideas, only two or three are likely to be good. You have to be able to discriminate or you'll get swamped."

"Scientists have wondered for a long time why madness and creativity seem linked," says Carson. "It appears likely that low levels of latent inhibition and exceptional flexibility in thought might predispose to mental illness under some conditions and to creative accomplishment under others."

For example, during the early stages of diseases such as schizophrenia, which are often accompanied by feelings of deep insight, mystical knowledge and religious experience, chemical changes take place in which latent inhibition disappears.

"We are very excited by the results of these studies," says Peterson. "It appears that we have not only identified one of the biological bases of creativity but have moved towards cracking an age-old mystery: the relationship between genius, madness and the doors of perception."

This research was funded by the Stimson Fund and the Clark Fund at Harvard University and by the Connaught Fund at U of T.



I thought this was cool...
I am a very observent person.. I just laughed at it. not in a mockery kinda way, though.

Thoughts?

 

makes sense i guess, some of the most creative people have/had mental illness

 

O HAY THERE YOU ARE
I wouldn't be surprised if I went nuts... or developed a psychological problem hahaha

 

If the knowlege is balanced with spiritual understanding, then it is an asset.

Knowledge without this kind of wisdom produces a brute. Selfish in nature. Power and wealth oriented. They have thirsts within them that can never be satisfied. They will often self destruct in the effort however.

People who are intelligent but also spiritually strong see the silliness of chasing after something you are already. You can belong to any religion and still have this point of view.

The term "crazy" is pretty broad. Einstein was known for his absentmindedness.

We need to be very liberal in a definition.

It's society that determines who's crazy or not. If you think society is crazy, what are your chances of getting the short end of the stick in this appraisal?


x

 

creativity is sort of the same as pleasurable or harmless psychosis. imagination. its creating worlds in our minds. these worlds can be compatible with other peoples' or not

 

This is very true.

I look at the lives of Dave Mustaine and Ozzy Osbourne and they both had a point in their their lives where they were confused and had a difficult time coming to gripes with their own sensitivity.

The most sensitive people have bouts of depression and confusion, but often times they come out of it learning a lot about themselves and learn how to redirect their energy to something constructive and positive.

For example, both Dave Mustaine and Ozzy sang the song paranoid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqmNKERNf5o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ISjWmkUnI

Another very good example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRJ99wuV1ng

I went through the same phase as they went through and their songs really helped me to conceptualize what was going on with me.

http://www.creativeintelligence.org/introduction.htm

 

That is interesting. I am very creative always using my imagination making up shit in my head. But reality is dreaming...or not. lol

 

well I'm creative and absolutely bonkers . .

 

I've done research on this subject and there is definately a strong connection there... basically how I see it is artists and creative people are much more open to the emotions and stimuli around them. Insane or mentally ill people have amazing, twisted, weird, different minds that translate into beautiful, thought provoking works of art.

 

Some would say that insanity is the true state of reality and that sanity is just our way to protect ourselves from the chaos of it all. Sanity just acts as a filter.

Some people are more sensitive to stimuli than others. The 'God Helmet' pretty much proves this.

 

Most creative people are already considered insane by the narrow-minded standards of the non creative people in society, who seem to make up the popular majority these days.

 

I don't suffer from insanity....I enjoy it .....creativity comes from with-in one's own perception of reality....the ability to create comes from out of the gift of being able to see past the self-imposed boundries society wishes to adhere to

 

would paranoia be linked with this aswell?
if so... well that explains mine.

van gough could also be a great example of that article

 

I think to be an artist, you have to be a little crazy... be a little more perceptive and sensitive to the world than most. As an artist you see and feel a lot more than most folks do, and that can drive you nuts!

 

I contently feel insane.