Do YOU have an "Anti-Creativity Bias?"

[Christopher O'Brien]

[The introduction of "creativity" (or novelty and change) into any status quo-driven cultural system
is what the "trickster" mechanism is all about. The old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it"
is a perfect analogy of how difficult it can be to introduce new thinking & creative ideas--chris]


People are biased against creative ideas, studies find
By Mary Catt

Article HERE:

The next time your great idea at work elicits silence or eye rolls, you might just pity those co-workers. Fresh research indicates they don't even know what a creative idea looks like and that creativity, hailed as a positive change agent, actually makes people squirm.

"How is it that people say they want creativity but in reality often reject it?" said Jack Goncalo, ILR School assistant professor of organizational behavior and co-author of research to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science. The paper reports on two 2010 experiments at the University of Pennsylvania involving more than 200 people.

The studies' findings include:

• Creative ideas are by definition novel, and novelty can trigger feelings of uncertainty that make most people uncomfortable.
• People dismiss creative ideas in favor of ideas that are purely practical -- tried and true.
• Objective evidence shoring up the validity of a creative proposal does not motivate people to accept it.
• Anti-creativity bias is so subtle that people are unaware of it, which can interfere with their ability to recognize a creative idea.

For example, subjects had a negative reaction to a running shoe equipped with nanotechnology that adjusted fabric thickness to cool the foot and reduce blisters.

To uncover bias against creativity, the researchers used a subtle technique to measure unconscious bias -- the kind to which people may not want to admit, such as racism. Results revealed that while people explicitly claimed to desire creative ideas, they actually associated creative ideas with negative words such as "vomit," "poison" and "agony."

Goncalo said this bias caused subjects to reject ideas for new products that were novel and high quality.

"Our findings imply a deep irony," wrote the authors, who also included Jennifer Mueller of the University of Pennsylvania and Shimul Melwani of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Uncertainty drives the search for and generation of creative ideas, but "uncertainty also makes us less able to recognize creativity, perhaps when we need it most," the researchers wrote. "Revealing the existence and nature of a bias against creativity can help explain why people might reject creative ideas and stifle scientific advancements, even in the face of strong intentions to the contrary. ... The field of creativity may need to shift its current focus from identifying how to generate more creative ideas to identify how to help innovative institutions recognize and accept creativity."

The study, "The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject Creative Ideas," might validate the frustrations of creative people, Goncalo said.

Mary Catt is assistant director of communications at the ILR School.

 

[Randall]

Here we go with yet another study to inform us of the obvious ( I wonder what this one cost ). But I'm gonna bite anyway because it's such a pet peeve. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the phrase, "don't get creative ... just get the job done". The fact is that there is a huge bias against creativity, even when it means you can get the job done faster and better. Furthermore, it's a threat to those in positions of power and control because it means they didn't think of it, and therefore someone might notice you are coming up with better ideas than your boss. Chances are that if your immediate supervisor can't take credit for it, they'll just squash it. The other thing is that it means change from the status quo, and that's reflected in statements like, "But this is the way it's always been done." So any change to the system that's already in place will normally meet with resistance or rejection ... even if the idea makes sense and the system hasn't got anything to lose by trying it. Furthermore we all think we would never be like that, until we are faced with someone who wants to change what we're doing. In other words, "You can be as creative as you want, just so long as it doesn't affect what I'm doing." Yes the world is full of hypocrisy and self-serving protectionism ... and for creative people ... it can be really frustrating ... good thing we have these people at Cornell University to tell us about it or we'd have never figured it out for ourselves. Why not spend all that research time telling us something we didn't know? For example:



NOTE: The above is an actual example ... I didn't just make this up. It was in one of the top 10 stupid studies done during one year. But get this ... they even monitor it from space !



Image of penguin poop monitored from Landsat Image Mosaic Of Antarctica (LIMA), compiled by Nasa, USGS, National Science Foundation (NSF) and BAS, provide a high-resolution satellite view of penguin pooping grounds.

j.r.

 

[exo_doc]

"Revealing the existence and nature of a bias against creativity can help explain why people might reject creative ideas and stifle scientific advancements, even in the face of strong intentions to the contrary. ..."

Finally! Something we all knew to begin with , but until it's an actual, identified behavior it's just hearsay.

 

[bbridges]

Now come on! wouldn't you have to allow for the density and weight of the expelled matter. The JREP boys would shred this pseudoscience!

 

[The Pair of Cats]

Now come on! wouldn't you have to allow for the density and weight of the expelled matter. The JREP boys would shred this pseudoscience!

JREP, Bll? Is that the James Randii Expulsion of Poo forum? Lol, sorry i couldn't resist

 

[bbridges]

Perhaps there is a hidden clue here. The 'Penquin is actually the secret id of 'Randy James?"

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

OK, yeah---its all a giggle: a joke for the ages... trickster wha?

I suggest ya'll knuckle down and start coming up with solutions to what may be a troubling and potent emerging survival/food crisis...

"the Missouri River floods and blown levees flooded the Nebraska grain belt and more; the state of Texas has over 200 counties in drought declared a state disaster and the cattlemen have sold all their cattle because there is no feed; Mississippi/Louisiana has a large decrease in rice and other crops; Congress has turned Central Calif. into a dust bowl by taking water away from farmers and...there are dead orchards, empty fields and a gloom over the richest farming valley in the US, as well as all the [Fukashima] radiation contaminating all the food; the entire west coast of n america is a radioactive food basket and the N Pacific fisheries are all contaminated..."

Call me "chiken'little" but we have some serious problems that need to be dealt with CREATIVELY.
Got a problem with that? I do...

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Chris ,
You hit on the head and solar warming is playing its major part creating these earthquakes, floods etc .
Will we have an ice age in next decade?

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Chris ,
You hit on the head and solar warming is playing its major part creating these earthquakes, floods etc .
Will we have an ice age in next decade?

I don't even pretend to know the answer(s), but I do suspect that those who (WILL) formulate the viable approaches to address the many problems facing our "world" aren't sitting at their computers attempting to dazzle each other w/ their pithy reparte'!

 

[bbridges]

My apology Chris- I completely missed the point on this. To be fair, there was no indication in your original post where you were going with this, other than to draw attention to a problem many of us recognize without a study. I am personally financially invested with a cutting edge group working with new combinations of algae for both high yield biodeisel and superfoods. You are absolutely right, we are on the verge of the collapse of the food chain. We need to to wake up fast and address what is already past the crisis stage. We have been developing above ground, fast turnaround garden beds using minimum water in our backyard.My son, Matt has switched to a major in organic chemistry with an eye on developing sustainable, local food production. Brazil is investing heavily in this area. My former partner's son has helped teach local communities techniques to create local sustainable food growing co-ops, with government subsidies, to reduce the cost of transporting food as well as recycling waste water and restoring nitrogen to soils more quickly. The key here is sustainability.

 

[mike]

IMO the biggest problem facing the world, and the heart of every environmental issue we have, is human population.

BROADCASTER and naturalist Sir David Attenborough has questioned the ‘strange silence’ about population growth in public debate, and urged members of environmental organisations to discuss the subject openly and often.In a speech to the Royal Society of Arts in London on 10 March, hosted by its president, the Duke of Edinburgh, Sir David said there seemed to be some 'bizarre taboo’ around population.
“I meet no one who privately disagrees that population growth is a problem. No one - except flat-earthers - can deny that the planet is finite,” he said. “So why does hardly anyone say so publicly?”
He went on: “What can each of us do - you and I? Well, there is just one thing that I would ask. Break the taboo, in private and in public - as best you can, as you judge right.
"Wherever and whenever we speak of the environment - add a few words to ensure that the population element is not ignored.”
A full transcript of Sir David's speech is avaialable here. The Royal Society of Arts has an MP3 audio file of the address and the following Q&A session is available here. It's a 17meg file. Right click on the button and "save target as ..." to download the file to your computer.

Broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough presents the 2011 RSA President’s Lecture.

The dangers facing the earth’s ecosystems are well known and the subject of great concern at all levels. Climate change is high on the list. But argues Sir David Attenborough, there is an underlying and associated cause – population growth


http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/2011/rsa-presidents-lecture-2011


http://www.bing.com/search?FORM=IEFM1&q=david+attenborough+population&src=IE-Address

This is the "creativity" thats killing us and everything else on the planet.

The local news is doing a story tonight of the 77 year old local who's just had his 20th child.......

If the 6 billion humans on the planet paired off and followed that example, we'd add 60 billion to the population.

Solving this problem is hindered by the fact that as biologicals we are hard wired to breed.

All the other problems stem from this one

Sir David is quite right, we have no problems discussing the symptoms, but there is a taboo about talking about the disease itself

 

[Wade]

Chris ,You hit on the head and solar warming is playing its major part creating these earthquakes, floods etc . Will we have an ice age in next decade?

Not to mention a burgeoning world population that has acquired a taste for meat (which is "crop intensive") droughts in russia and australia the us gov paying our farmers to let some land go fallow and grow other crops for bio fuels. Then there's the inevitable hoarding .some people may have already forgotten there were food riots in mexico a few years back because they couldn't afford the corn prices to even make tortillas... a basic staple . So we don't even need the sun's misbehavior to paint us in a corner we are managing to do that on our own .

 

[bbridges]

Well then, my apologies, Chris. To be fair, there was no indication where you hoped your post to lead, except to present an article citing a study to confirm what you and many of us already know. The 'pithy repartee' comment sounds a bit 'pithy' itself. That aside, since you have steered your remarks into the eminent world food shortage that is already at crisis stage, you are absolutely on it. My wife and son and I have been experimenting the last few years to develop above ground, low water, quick turnaround, sustainable vegetable gardens, without chemical pesticides on our property. We eat something from it almost every day. My son, Matt, has switched his major to organic chemistry as a result. My friend's son moved to Brazil ten years ago and worked for the government in rural areas developing local farming co-ops based on recycling waste water, and restoring nitrogen more quickly and efficiently to soils using poop. Their goal is to reduce the cost of growing and transporting food while lowering carbon emissions at the same time. The key is sustainability. We are also invested in a startup company with a very creative Ph.D. in algae research who is developing some promising genetic crossbreeds that yield a high grade biofuel in a three week start-to-harvest turnaround. Additionally, companies with a need to dispose of their excess CO2 emissions can provide them to us to feed the algae. The goal here as well is to be able to produce and refine the biofuel in localized operations, eliminating the need for wasteful, polluting, and CO2-producing transport. We are already in the patent process-a delicate time, by the way, with the large energy consortiums trying to steal and co-opt our efforts.The guiding principles here are localization and sustainability of production, both in the area of fuel and food, without increasing pollution and green house gases. I think this is the best path to follow: local, renewable and ecologically friendly. We have to think in new ways: local and sustainable.

---------- Post added at 07:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:39 PM ----------

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Excellent post BBridges and permi-culture policy has brought huge benefits to many parts of Africa , Asia etc when people discover the joy of home garden production and we just finished a fundraiser for our local primary school for a organic garden and yes I will be supplying organic seeds. I use Fruit nets ,garlic /chilli sprays rather than chemical pesticides against fruit fly. Mike, yes the World's population is a major issue! but nature has ways of controlling the balance when it gets out of hand not just man made

 

[bbridges]

Excuse the redundant post. I left the computer to feed the dog without realizing that I had accidentally posted it. Thinking it was lost ,
i wrote it again.

 

[mike]

Mike, yes the World's population is a major issue but nature has ways of controlling the balance when it gets out of hand not just man made

As Attenbourough points out though, man has circumvented many of natures control factors.
We store food and water against famine and drought, we use medicine to circumvent disease.

I am not an economist, nor a sociologist nor a politician, and it is their disciplines that should provide the solutions. I am a naturalist. But being one means that I do know something of the factors that keep populations of different species of animals within bounds. I am aware that every pair of blue tits nesting in my garden is able to lay over twenty eggs a year but as a result of predation or lack of food, only one or two will, at best, survive. I have seen how lions ravage the hundreds of wildebeeste fawns that are born each year on the plains of Africa. I have seen how increasing populations of elephants can devastate their environment until, one year when the rains fail on the already over-grazed land, they die in hundreds.
But we are human beings. We have ways of escaping such brutalities. We have medicines that prevent our children from dying of disease. We have developed ways of growing increasing amounts of food. That has been a huge and continuing advance that started several thousand years ago, a consequence of our intelligence, our increasing skills and our ability to look ahead. But none of these great achievements will be of any avail if we do not control our numbers.

Make a list of all the environmental and social problems that today afflict us and our poor battered planet. – not just the extinction of species and animals and plants, that fifty years ago was the first signs of impending global disaster, but traffic congestion, oil prices, pressure on the health service , the growth of mega-cities, migration patterns, immigration policies, unemployment, the loss of arable land, desertification, famine, increasingly violent weather, the acidification of the oceans, the collapse of fish stocks, rising sea temperatures, the loss of rain forest. The list goes on and on. But they all share an underlying cause. Every one of these global problems, environmental as well as social becomes more difficult – and ultimately impossible - to solve with ever more people

 

[Wade]

Not to come off as a dick but my fear is that man will attempt to get the jump on nature and try to address the balance as nature tends to move at a snails pace . What we are talking about here is food insecurity and mankind doesn't handle insecurity too well. When backed into a corner instead of finding a creative way to get out of it ( to get back to our original theme) we find it's easier to use force and intimidation. The first victims will usually be those without a voice and least able to defend themselves by that i mean refugees and immigrants. Let the scapegoating begin. And i am sorry for being such a downer. A tip of the hat to blowfish and bbridges for their creative efforts

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

IMO the miggest [sic] problem facing the world, and the heart of every environmental issue we have, is human population...

fwiw: call me selfish, but, I have NO kidz in the fight...

 

[The Pair of Cats]

I don't even pretend to know the answer(s), but I do suspect that those who (WILL) formulate the viable approaches to address the many problems facing our "world" aren't sitting at their computers attempting to dazzle each other w/ their pithy reparte'!

Sorry Chris. I had no idea that this was where you were going with this post. There was just no indication at all from your OP. But now that you have brought it up, The business of food is indeed a very timely subject. In fact just the other day i watched a doco named "FOOD inc." which highlighted the monopolization of the food industry in the USA and indeed the world. Water, also, is also a huge issue. Here in Australia due to the incredible amounts of rain and flooding experience in many centres a large amount of our drought problems have receded, for the moment. But it has come at a terrible cost to life and property. The same thing is happening in other areas of the world as witnessed by the hurricane you guys have just experienced.
People we need to wake up. Water and food are being controlled by giant multi-national Corporations who have zero interest in our welfare or well being. Possibly our next round of wars could be fought over theses same commodities.

Here is a trailer to the aforementioned documentary that i have found.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVll-MP3I
If we are talking about creativity then it's about time we all got "creative" and put a stop to this shit infested mess.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Sorry Chris. I had no idea that this was where you were going with this post...

My apologies... Sometimes I need to remind myself that this is a forum that is supposed to address "paranormal" subjects, not those subjects that we all know are as real as real can get: too bad this important aspect of our consensual reality is being trumped by other more (ahem) pressing issues: food, water, 911, the ME, US imperialism, freedom, survival, your kidz and mother-in-law blah, blah gawk... Oh well, onwards and outwards--DAMN them you-foes if they ain't part of any solutions and if they are: take notes...!