Prescription for improving and sustaining creativity

Creativity is normally associated with the arts: including literature and music. However, the business world and the sciences also acknowledge the role of creativity in spawning new ideas and innovating new products. The pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology, and telecommunications could not thrive were it not for human creativity. Therefore, creativity is not segregated to the art world and is an integral feature of human work.

What creativity is from a neurological standpoint is difficult to pinpoint. Creativity has not been pinned down like biological processes have. For example, the way the human heart pumps blood throughout the body is easy to understand but the creative process is not. Too many variables are associated with creativity to make traditional empirical research design feasible in studying what creativity is and how to develop it. No particular part of the brain or brain function is absolutely implicated in creativity, although brain researchers do understand that certain parts of the brain are implemented. Due to the widespread applications of the creative process, though, the nature of creativity is heterogeneous. Creativity can mean an intelligent interpretation of possibilities such as which pitch to make from the mound. Or, creativity can entail drawing something out of seemingly nothing such as what an abstract painter might do on the canvas.

Balzac (2006) claims that creativity is related to "divergent thinking." Therefore, creativity might be related to the ability to think independently and different from the norm. Creativity may also be linked to mental illness: "both creativity and manic depression, also called bipolar disorder, may share some of the same genetic underpinnings," (McCook 2002). Creative thoughts do not depend on mental illness, though, as all human beings are inherently creative or at least have the potential to be so. The small decisions people make in their daily lives reflect creative thinking: such as what to wear or what to make for dinner. Creativity is usually framed in large-scale terms such as how to produce a work of art that lasts several lifetimes, but creativity is much more mundane than Michelangelo.

Creativity may be highly individual, dependent on a person's genetic and psychological makeup. The family and socio-cultural environment might also play a role into how a person's creativity develops. For example, some cultures may actively encourage creativity by valuing individuality. Creative expression could be linked to emotional expression. A person whose parents were artists, musicians, or writers might encourage children to express themselves in similar ways.