How Creativity Works

Portrait of Bob Dylan in 1965

It was the early Summer of 1965. Bob Dylan was winding up an exhaustive tour of England. He felt he had been ruined by fame. He was performing the same songs night after night. Reporters were asking him questions ranging from what is truth to why is there a cat on your last album cover? Bored and soul sick, Dylan was giving inane answers like his music was the result of "chaos, watermelon, and clocks." He thought "what good is it having everyone dig your music if you yourself don't dig it." After a bout of severe food poisoning in Spain, he made a decision - he would quit making music forever. He might paint. He might write a novel . But he wouldn't compose any more songs. He was done.

Arriving in America, he headed toward upstate New York on his motorcycle. He didn't even take his guitar with him. But a short time later, something extremely bizarre happened. He was seized by an uncontrollable urge to write something down. He grabbed a pencil and began scribbling frantically. He later called it "a long piece of vomit" that poured from him "as if a ghost was writing." He headed to a recording studio. He and his session band worked on the product. The result was Dylan's masterpiece "Like a Rolling Stone." It revolutionized all of rock and roll. Rolling Stone magazine has repeatedly selected "Like a Rolling Stone" as the greatest rock song ever written. Bruce Springsteen calls the first time he heard the song on the radio "one of the most important moments of my life."

For science writer Jonah Lehrer, the Dylan example is just one of those creative moments of insight in mankind's story which provide the world with something new and true. Archimedes with his eureka moment in the bathtub. Sir Issac Newton with his theory of gravity literally falling from a tree.

Tonight, Lehrer appeared at Politics and Prose to discuss his new best-selling book Imagine: How Creativity Works. Lehrer said that while much study remains to be done, scientists are now finding that insightful creative ideas come from the portion of the human brain that is also involved in understanding metaphors and laughing at jokes.

"Things go through a mental blender. There are remote associations that bring together ideas," Lehrer said. These creative insights are linked to brain-produced alpha waves. Hooking subjects up to brain scanners, scientists have found that there is about an 8 second advance warning that one of these break-through insights is about to occur. "It's sort of like they can say 'sorry buddy, you are wasting your time or in about 7-and-a-half seconds you are going to have an epiphany,'" Lehrer said.

So is there a way to bring on these moments? Yes, Lehrer says, but it the exact opposite of how most people struggle for the break through. It won't come from stressing at a computer or laboring over a problem. It comes through relaxation. "Take a hot shower. Lie on the couch. Drink a beer. Take a walk. Do whatever puts you at ease. Turn the spotlight inward. You just may hear that voice you need," he said.

But what then is the proper place of work and refinement in creativity? Well, they are definitely part of the process.  For example, the great composer Beethoven was known to try hundreds of variations of notes in a passage before he was satisfied that he had created masterful music.

Scientists are finding that truly creative people are not smarter than others, but "are a little more open to experience." They are also finding that time again, the truly creative exhibit "grit", which they define as "refusing to quit."  J. K. Rowling is a prime example. Lehrer suggested that you consider the case of the author of the wildly popular Harry Potter series, then a British mother on welfare, surrounded by a pile of rejection letters, continuing to write in a coffee house with her infant by her side until today she finds herself one of the most-read authors in history and richer than the Queen of England.

But this grit factor can not be tested by any short term measure. It only reveals itself over an extended period of time. That idea is anathema in today's test-happy world where everything must be measured immediately. As a prime example of such fallacious thinking, Lehrer cited the National Football League's combine for prospective draft picks. The candidates are given all kinds of tests. But studies have shown that only 1 - the 40-yard dash for running backs - shows any relationship to later success. "The NFL combine is a big waste of time and money," Lehrer says.

It comes down to grit. "Grit is what allows you to show up again and again and again and again. You can't measure that with some kind of multiple choice test," Lehrer said, adding that creativity is as difficult to produce as it is to measure. "If it (some great insight or performance that leads to a great accomplishment) were easy, it already would have been done," he maintained.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
During the question-and-answer portion of the program, Lehrer was asked how the findings examined in his book could be applied to helping solve America's alarming crisis in education. He briefly outlined a 4-part beginning plan:

• since studies show that the greatest learning gap begins around 4th grade that should be the target area for most of the resources
• there should be much less emphasis on testing and more on promoting creativity at every level and in every learning
• all students should be given mulitiple activities and opportunities to increase their "grit."
• the entire process we use to produce world class athletes should be replicated in the educational world. "The United States is really good at producing athletes," Lehrer says "We have wonderful mechanisms. We need to apply these same basic lessons to our schools. We need to celebrate creativity not just on (football) Sunday, but every day as a culture."