Is It Creativity Or Imagination?

 

Am I creative? While revising my resume recently, I used the word creative, but it just didn’t sound right. “Creative” wasn’t what I really wanted to say…

I stumbled across the following description of “creativity” and “imagination” in Helen Fisher’s book, Why Him? Why Her?: Finding Real Love By Understanding Your Personality Type. I think she accurately describes the difference I perceived in the definitions of the words creativity and imagination. I was trying to describe myself as having the ability to take known data and facts from the past and present and use them to come up with solutions for projects or problems at work. The word I was looking for was imaginative, not creative.

I’ve come to believe imagination is a slightly different brain activity than creativity. People with powerful imaginations combine existing data and ideas, while those who are especially creative generate new data or ideas. We often do both, of course. But I suspect that imagination stems from web thinking. For what is imagination, but the ability to reach into the breadth of one’s stored knowledge, mentally assemble reams of information in new ways and “suppose” how these combinations of variable connect and interact?
(From The Philosopher King – The Negotiator – Imagination)

As I’ve mentioned, I don’t think creativity and imagination are exactly the same thing, although they are often complementary. Creativity often requires some imagination, and imagination is often creative. But you can create a piece of music or develop a theory of natural selection and never daydream about tomorrow or reflect on yesterday. And you can daydream endlessly without creating a song, poem, hypothesis, or gaget.
(From The One – How We Love)

I highly recommend any Helen Fisher book. I was lucky enough to find Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love by chance at a Half Price Books store in Highland Park, Minnesota years ago and I’ve read everything she’s written ever since. She often contributes to news stories as on of the world’s leading experts on the nature of romantic love and attachment. She recently became the scientific advisor for Chemistry.com.

Sources
Helen Fisher. Why Him? Why Her? New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2009.

Filed under interests | Tags: anthropology, attachment, chemistry, chemistry.com, creativity, Helen Fisher, imagination, love, romantic, Why Her?, Why Him?, Why We Love | Comment (0)
 

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