The Personality Trait Linked To Creativity – And How To Grow It

The useful part

Recent research found a "striking and unexpected result" among over-60s who'd completed tasks to help them change parts of their personality – they saw about as much transformation as their younger peers. Well, if you're hoping to become more creative, psychologist Dr Gosia Goclowska said: "Creativity is not limited to geniuses or prodigies. In the right circumstances and with the right mindset, most people can be very creative regardless of what personality they have".

How it works

• Here's the trait her research linked to greater creativity, as well as how to foster it.
• "Novelty seeking" could boost creativity In a paper published in the Journal of Personality, Dr Goclowska's research tasked 798 participants with completing "brick tests".
• In the first two studies, the researchers noted a consistent, and pretty considerable, link between creativity and "novelty seeking", or openness to new exp...
• These involved asking people to think of as many imaginative uses for a brick as possible in three minutes.
• Participants were also tested on traits like extraversion, openness to experience, novelty seeking, and divergent thinking.

Details worth keeping

If you think your personality is fixed, we have some good news.