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What Makes People More Creative Than Others?

By Hannah Grace | Update Date: Feb 20, 2017 08:30 AM EST

Most people are more creative than others, but creativity is not something that everyone is born with. Some genetic variations make some people's brain more open to behaviours, ideas, sensations and thoughts compare to others.

According to Scientific American, there are many attributes why one becomes more creative than others. Jennifer E. Drake and Ellen Winner, authors of the book "Predicting Artistic Brilliance," some children are born with "a rage to master." This character trait is often observed in young artists who excel in visual creativity.

Shelley Carson of "The Unleashed Mind" believes that many highly creative people can sometimes be eccentric due to their genetic variations. Some may even suffer from mental illness.

However, Dean Keith Simonton of "The Science of Genius" thinks that in spite of the genetic contribution, nurture still accounts for the creativity of the individual. Exposure, practice and training still play essential roles in shaping one's creativity.

Meanwhile, Elward Glaeser of "Engines of Innovation" thinks that merely residing in a big city promotes creativity. Living in close proximity with other human beings can breed new ideas and experiences.

On a different perspective, Ravi Mehta of the University of Illinois and Meng Zhu at Johns Hopkins University think that scarcity or abundance influences the creativity of people especially in their use of resources. Researchers asked a group of students to write a brief essay about growing up having scarce resources, while another group is asked to write about having abundant resources.

All participants were then asked to come up with a plan on how to use a bubble wrap. Then, 20 judges, who were blind to which the idea belongs to, evaluated the propositions of the participants. It turned out the ideas from the group who grew up in scarcity have more creative uses for the bubble wrap.

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