The Sceptic's Tarot

I love creativity, and no wonder: the more creative you are, the easier you find it to come up with excellent solutions for wicked problems. (And we specialize in solving problems creatively at The Sceptic's Tarot. Here you will find special techniques to solve problems with tarot cards, as well as tarot spreads to solve problems. You're welcome to browse freely!)

And remember: being creative may hone your tarot-reading skills!

We have looked at how a good mood may make you more creative and explored fun stuff to do that might enhance your creativity. Now we'll be looking at a personality trait. (Don't worry, you can become more curious. We'll come to that.)

Creative curiosity

Curiosity has long been associated with creativity. It's understandable: curiosity leads to exploration, trying new things, acquiring knowledge, and becoming more at ease with uncertainty. Some of the most creative people were intensely curious about the world around them. Consider the insatiable curiosity of Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, and Larry Page. They were famous for their curiosity.

However, research into the link between curiosity and creativity has been lacking. A 2017 study addressed the gap.

Curiosity and your personality

Curiosity is a dimension of 'openness to experience' in the five-factor model of personality (which measures openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism).

Openness has a direct relationship with creativity. An open mind explores, questions assumptions, revels in new information, and is open to new experiences. Curiosity leads us to be less wary of ambiguous, uncertain situations, which in turn means that it makes us more willing to stay with a complex problem until we have solved it.

Curiosity is also a trait that drives survival. It helps us adapt to changes in our surroundings.

On an individual level, curiosity and exposure to new information make you more interested and excited about solving a complex problem.

In a recent study, researchers focused on two types of curiosity.

Specific curiosity makes you anxious in uncertain situations, and you strive to reduce uncertainty by filling in gaps in your knowledge; this type of curiosity takes a deep dive into a topic.

Diversive curiosity encourages you to explore unfamiliar topics and learn something new. This happens, for example, when you are bored. Unlike specific curiosity, diversive curiosity does not look for depth but a broad understanding of a topic, and makes you want to research a topic with no particular goal in mind. (Like looking up something and falling into the rabbit hole of linked information.)

They found that diversive curiosity has strong links to creativity. Solving a problem triggers the desire to gather necessary information and generate creative solutions.

Specific curiosity does not do that.

It seems you're more creative if you're curious about things in general rather than having a specific goal in mind.

So, investing time in a complex problem rather than settling on the first answer makes it more likely you'll find creative and usable solutions. After all, creativity is a skill that can be learned and enhanced.

Interestingly, research usually focuses on specific, goal-directed rather than diversive curiosity, which some see as directionless, hedonistic, and unproductive.

So, how does one become more curious?

If you're more creative when you're curious, how can you become curious? By:

• asking more questions,
• exploring new topics,
• talking to more people,
• listening to others who differ from you instead of dismissing their opinion from the start,
• reading widely, and
• stepping out of your comfort zone regularly (there's a spread for that!).

So, what topics will you be exploring next? Let me know!

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