Can any group members refer me to studies in the area of DNA/genetic
inheritance and creativity?

In Industrial Design practice in recent years there has been a discussion of
"Design Thinking". Particularly the idea that the approach used in design to
solve problems may be a better approach than is commonly used in other areas
of business activity to deal with a changing environment. That design
thinking can be taught and that environments that facilitate creative
solutions can be constructed to improve the creative output of anyone. I
agree with the basic concepts of this discussion but I feel that it does not
recognize the nature of highly creative individuals such as Henry Ford,
James Dyson and Steve Jobs. I believe that such individuals were born with a
type of creative intelligence unusual in the general population or at least
that potential. I wondered whether studies have been made of the family
trees of creatively successful individuals such as Renaissance artists to
determine whether there are more members than the general population who
were creatively successful.

Are there genes responsible for creativity? If so what  is the relationship
between someone who is born with the potential to be unusually creative and
their environment? I came across one interesting study that isn't recent but
which is discussed below that may shed some light on my experience that
creative individuals often find it hard to work in typical corporate
environments.

My interest is related to a project in which I have been asked to suggest
how to help the cerativity of a corporate design group.

Companies today seem to concentrate for the most part on having an
environment that stimulates creativity rather than understanding, leveraging
differences between highly creative personalities and other employees.
Recent research may help us understand why the most creative people can be
difficult to manage using usual management techniques, why most large
companies do not employ creative people and suggest new methods of managing
creativity.

Research since the late 1800s suggests that creativity may be in part
genetically inherited. Research also suggests a genetic link between some
forms of inherited genetic related mental illness and creativity.

I have noticed when teaching design in different parts of the world that
families often seem to have a number of unusually creative individuals in 3
or 4 generations. These examples that I have seen could be the result of
creative nuture or nature or both.

Paul Pankhurst the owner of one of the largest ID companies in England was
the great grandson? of Emily Pankhust, the leader of the suffragette
movement who was partly responsible for getting women the vote throughout
the world.Gordon Andrews the graphic designer of the first Australian metric
currency and a very creative individual in many areas was the cousin? of
John Andrews a creative architect working internationally who designed the
highest building in the world whilst still a student Other members of their
family also worked in creative fields. Jasper Conran was the son of Sir
Terence Conran a creative designer and a mother who is a well known Author.

Jordan Peterson of the University of Toronto and colleagues at Harvard
University have found that decreased latent inhibition of environmental
stimuli appears to correlate with greater creativity among people with high
IQ.

Link: http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/001684.html

"The results of this study support an association between bipolar disease
and creativity and contribute to a better understanding of possible
mechanisms of transmission of creativity in families with genetic
susceptibility for bipolar disease,"

The study in the September issue of the Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology says the brains of creative people appear to be more open to
incoming stimuli from the surrounding environment. Other people's brains
might shut out this same information through a process called "latent
inhibition" - defined as an animal's unconscious capacity to ignore stimuli
that experience has shown are irrelevant to its needs. Through psychological
testing, the researchers showed that creative individuals are much more
likely to have low levels of latent inhibition.

"Scientists have wondered for a long time why madness and creativity seem
linked," says Carson. "It appears likely that low levels of latent
inhibition and exceptional flexibility in thought might predispose to mental
illness under some conditions and to creative accomplishment under others."

A less able mind has a greater need to be able to filter out and ignore
stimuli. A less intelligent person with a low level of latent inhibition for
filtering out familiar stimuli may well sink into mental illness as a
result. But a smarter mind can handle the effects of taking note of a larger
number of stimuli and even find interesting and useful patterns by
continually processing a larger quantity of familiar information.

The authors hypothesize that latent inhibition may be positive when combined
with high intelligence and good working memory - the capacity to think about
many things at once - but negative otherwise. Peterson states: "If you are
open to new information, new ideas, you better be able to intelligently and
carefully edit and choose. If you have 50 ideas, only two or three are
likely to be good. You have to be able to discriminate or you'll get
swamped."


Rob Curedale | President | Curedale Inc | 22148 Monte Vista Drive Topanga
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