Creativity often seems tough to pin down, and I’ve often found myself wondering how to engineer practices to be more creative in work and life. Being able to engineer creativity and understanding how to execute practices to ebb and flow with your own creative impulses can make you more resourceful in all areas of your life. My guest today has devoted his professional life to understanding the creative mind, and how to do just that.
Scott is a researcher, author, and speaker who is deeply interested in using psychological science to help everyone– all kinds of minds— live a creative, fulfilling, and meaningful life. A main takeaway from his work is that everyone is capable of creativity, the key is finding the thing that will let them shine the most.
Scott is the scientific director of the Imagination Institute, and conducts research in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also teach the popular undergraduate course Introduction to Positive Psychology. He received a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Yale University, and an M. Phil in experimental psychology from the University of Cambridge.
His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Scientific American, Psychology Today, and Harvard Business Review. He also writes a regular column at Scientific American called Beautiful Minds, and is the host of The Psychology Podcast, which was recently named by Business Insider as a podcast that “will change how you think about human behavior”.
We’ll dive into all things creativity and unpack some surprising findings on how you can start engineering creativity even if you don’t consider yourself a creative person.
We dive into topics like
- How to define creativity
- Why Scott got into studying creativity
- How psychology started off as a study of what’s wrong
- The emerging field of positive psychology
- A new way of thinking about personality disorders
- Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
- What it takes to really achieve high levels of creativity
- Developing a creative mindset
- The right brain left brain myth
- How flow state and creativity are related
- Creative minds are messy minds
- How openness to experience is the best predictor of creative achievement
- How to practice being open to experience
- Open monitoring meditation
- Being intellectually curious
- The link between HRV (heart rate variability) and well-being
- Scott’s work with the Imagination Institute and the Positive Psychology Center
Click to Tweet Scott’s quote
“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s heaven for?“
– Robert Browning
Connect with Scott on social media
Resources
You may also like these episodes
- Creating a Positive State, Crafting Daily Rituals, and How to Win the Day with Ian Ryan
- How to Use Your Mind to Change Your Brain and Your Life with Rick Hanson
- Life, Freedom, and The Practice of Happiness with Gillian Mandich
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