Psychology of creativity

In the Authors at Google series, Rick Hanson, author of Buddha's Brain, talks about brain plasticity, i.e. how consistent thought patterns restructure brain's connections. Among other things, he links creativity (a generative state of mind) to core psychological systems, Avoidance, Approach, Attachment (see below).

Maybe that's why having an attitude, either justified or unjustified, that you can solve any problem often helps to develop breakthrough ideas. In addition to that, this attitude allows to overcome fear and generate a lot of problems during reverse brainstorming sessions.

A related dilemma:

On one hand you don't want to be aware of a lot problems because it activates the threat response and inhibits creativity; on the other hand, you want to be aware of as many problems as possible, so that you don't miss the one or two that represent the greatest opportunities.

tags: creativity, method, psychology, control, mind, brain, reverse brainstorm, stress, dilemma