Creativity As A Character Strength
The definition of creativity: Thinking of novel and productive ways to conceptualize and do things; includes artistic achievement but is not limited to it. The essence of creativity is uniqueness that is practical. Seeing and doing things in different ways.
Creativity is one of the most common traits in young children. It is enhanced by supportive, open, informal, and reinforcing environments. Creativity is limited by time pressure, close supervision, and critical examination. Creativity is helpful for individuals engaging in trauma work, reparenting, and inner child work to name a few. Consider the following example as written by Peterson and Seligman (2004):
At age 68, Elizabeth Layton was a retired homemaker and aging grandmother, living out her final years in a small prairie town in Kansas (Layton, 1984). There was really nothing outstanding about her except for one fact: She frequently suffered profound depression. Indeed, for more than three decades she had undergone all kinds off therapy, including drugs and electroshock. Nothing really helped, but she managed to persevere. And then disaster struck. Her youngest son died after a prolonged illness, plunging here into the darkest despair ever. On several occasions she contemplated suicide as the only exit from her seemingly insurmountable depression. Yet following up her sister’s wise suggestion, she enrolled in a drawing class. Elizabeth’s art teacher recognized her elderly student’s talent even before the course was completed. Elizabeth just loved to draw and draw and draw, creating one sketch after another with great facility and expressiveness. Besides allowing her to release pent-up feelings and beliefs—about death, sadness, AIDS, racism, nuclear war, American commercialism, and other personal and social issues—painting gave Elizabeth something to look forward to each day. She found her mission in life. Her works began to be displayed in art museums and galleries, first locally and then in a traveling exhibit that toured the nation. By the time she died in 1993, she had produced nearly a thousand drawings that made a deep impression n admirers all over the United States. To be sure, Elizabeth will not go down in history as a Michelangelo or a Picasso. Yet that was never her intention, nor do her artistic accomplishments matter most from the standpoint of a positive psychology of character. The significant fact is that creativity allowed here to live out her final 15 years with a joy and a sense of purpose that she had been denied all the previous decades of her life. Moreover, while pursuing her vision, she managed to bring happiness and meaning to others. Elizabeth Layton’s long life and brief career thus amply illustrated creativity’s potential as a constructive human capacity (p. 109-110).
In what situations are you most creative?
How does creativity help you solve problems?
What holds you back from expressing your creativity?
Ryan M. Niemiec (2018) suggests individuals “be creative” before taking on a new thinking or problem-solving task. This is one of the oldest findings in the science of creativity.