Tag Archives: Jonah Lehrer

Disciplined Mindwandering, or The Benefits of Daydreaming

Jonathan Schooler, the psychologist who helped pioneer the study of insight, has recently begun studying the benefits of daydreams.  His lab has demonstrated that people who consistently engage in more daydreaming score significantly higher on measures of creativity.  To evaluate … Continue reading

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How Criticism Encourages Creativity

We’re taught to think that brainstorming is an effective way to generate ideas and spur creative thought.  The key to successful brainstorming, it was thought, was lack of a lack of criticism.  This makes sense: if people aren’t afraid that … Continue reading

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Your Team Is More Important Than Your Idea

The modern Hollywood approach was to put together a team for one project and then disband the team when production was finished.  We thought that was dumb.  When it comes down to it, the only way to make a good … Continue reading

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Color and Creativity

What color should you paint that room?  It depends on what you want to do there.  If you need to pay close attention to detail oriented work, paint it red.  If you want to maximize the chance for creative insight, … Continue reading

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Constraints Breed Creativity

Why would anyone constrain themselves to writing poetry in Haiku? Why would Shakespeare force himself to write entire plays in iambic pentameter?  This makes no sense.  Think about how much harder it would be to write a play where each … Continue reading

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Creativity and the Importance of Disappointment

I’m just diving into Jonah Lehrer’s new book on creativity, Imagine: How Creativity Works.  We’ve discussed creativity here extensively, and even addressed how to be creative, but I hope to share some new insights from this book soon.  In the … Continue reading

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