The Contradictions of Creativity

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a psychologist who spent a lifetime studying creativity. One of his books, Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention, explored the topic from many angles. But there's one section that particularly intrigued me, a section called: 

The 10 Dimensions of Complexity

Here's a very condensed version, in Csikszentmihalyi's own words, of the seeming contradictions that make up the creative personality. 

Are there then no traits that distinguish creative people? If I had to express in one word what makes their personalities different from others, it would be complexity. By this I mean that they show tendencies of thought and action that in most people are segregated. They contain contradictory extremes—instead of being an 'individual,' each of them is a 'multitude.' 

It might be easier to illustrate this conclusion in terms of ten pairs of apparently antithetical traits that are often both present in such individuals and integrated with each other in a dialectical tension.

1. Creative individuals have a great deal of physical energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest. 

2. Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time…. As Howard Gardner remarked in his study of the major creative geniuses of this century, a certain immaturity, both emotional and mental, can go hand in hand with deepest insights.

3. There is no question that a playfully light attitude is typical of creative individuals. But this playfulness doesn’t go very far without its antithesis, a quality of doggedness, endurance, perseverance. 

4. Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy at one end, and a rooted sense of reality at the other. Both are needed to break away from the present without losing touch with the past.

5. Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion… In current psychological research, extroversion and introversion are considered the most stable personality traits that differentiate people from each other and that can be reliably measured. Creative individuals, on the other hand, seem to express both traits at the same time.

6. Creative individuals are also remarkably humble and proud at the same time.

7. In all cultures, men are brought up to be “masculine” and to disregard and repress those aspects of their temperament that the culture regards as “feminine,” whereas women are expected to do the opposite. Creative individuals to a certain extent escape this rigid gender role stereotyping... and can interact with the world in terms of a much richer and varied spectrum of opportunities. 

8. Generally, creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent. Yet it is impossible to be creative without having first internalized a domain of culture.

9. Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well. Without the passion, we soon lose interest in a difficult task. Yet without being objective about it, our work is not very good and lacks credibility. 

10. Finally, the openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to suffering and pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.