Environment stimulation

By: Unknown on 13:46

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Creativity occurs in a social context and is a function of the transactional relationships between the individual and his environment—the creating individual is both affected by and affects his environment.  (Morris Stein 1953)

In my previous post, we met Teresa Amabile's theory that creativity needs 3 components:
-the person needs to have learned sufficient skills in his own domain
-the person needs to have developed a passion for his work
-the person needs to be intrinsically motivated

(Intrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is driven by internal rewards. In other words, the motivation to engage in a behavior arises from within the individual because it is intrinsically rewarding.source)

Intrinsic motivation is sensible to environment- the same environmental conditions that increase motivation, also increase creativity. That means, the person needs to work in an environment that is not distracting them from the drive to create.

A personal safe space is key in stimulating creativity. Inspiration and/or motivation can be provided from a perfect environment/ studio space- this is why a lot of people prefer to clean and tidy before starting to work on a project. Tools. Sometimes "tricking" ourselves into inspiration by buying a new tool can help. Visual research - seeing great examples of artworks increases the inspiration and will to create.

I also stumbled upon a very interesting study by CKGSB Professor Juliet Zhu on how environment impacts creative thinking. Basically she conducted a series of lab and semi-field experiments to examine the relationship between environment and creativity.
A lot of the factors influence us on an unconscious level, so we don't really realise how they affect us. The first factor Professor Zhu explored is Noise. The results were that people are most likely to think creatively in a moderate noise environment which I personally did not find surprising as I always prefer it when I work. Next factor is Light- what she found out was that people are actually more creative in a dim- light room. She also conducted a Color test, in which people had to design toys, looking on either red or blue parts. The results were drastically more succesfull for the blue team- the reason is that blue generates associations with ocean or the sky, so people are more likely to reach a more open-minded mindset. And another one of the test was about Clutter. People in an organized room perfomed much better than those set in a disorganized one.