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Category Archives: Creativity
Stories for the new stars
Walking beneath the of faces of stars glowing from two story tall billboards, I glanced down at the stars embedded into the side walk—at least when they were not covered by the feet of the crowds on Sunset Strip. Above … Continue reading
Solving the problem of being finite
Whenever I see “problem solving” listed as a component of emotional intelligence, I tend to regard the rest of what the author says on that subject with skepticism. Typically problem solving is considered a combination of creativity and logic to … Continue reading
Creativity and Charisma
Look though recent articles on leadership and you will find that creativity to be in high demand. IBM’s Institute for Business Value conducted a survey of 1,500 chief executives and discovered that creativity had risen to top as the most … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Group psychology, Leadership
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Charisma and Emotions
Emotional expressiveness seems to be the major component of charisma. When other people can reflect our emotions, or show reactions to events that match our own, we are more likely to trust them. In order to reflect another person’s emotions … Continue reading
The origins of optimism
Optimism and pessimism are not two distinct styles but rather ends of a continuum. At the optimistic end people expect only good events to happen to them. They concentrate on stimuli that indicates a rosy outlook and ignore warning signs … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Gender differences, mental health, Optimism, pessimism, positive mental attitude
Tagged parenting, social economic status
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A proper repartee
The group of women sat around a table, discussing their mother’s instructions on being a “Southern Lady. ” In their story telling manner they competed with each to relate the most outlandish piece of advice. “I never could understand that … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Laughter and humor, Sarcasm
Tagged brain damage, brain disease, humor, regional humor, sarcasm, social cognition
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Laughter and learning
Imagine two different college classes: in one the instructors is always logical and serious; and in the other the instructor throws in frequent jokes only tangentially related the subject. In which class do students learn more? According to research it … Continue reading
The unprincipled conformist
The rebel with a cause is one of favorite heroic types in fiction. But the “foil” of the principled nonconformist, the unprincipled conformist, is also a common antagonist. What makes this character so villainous? Conformity requires that a person at … Continue reading
Characters and cohorts
In fiction most protagonists like most people are not complete loners. Interactions with their cohorts make up a good portion of novels, so creating these peers takes a bit of thought. What enables a real-life group to be innovative in business also makes … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Group psychology, Literature, Writer's resource
Tagged cohort, doppleganger, Foil, group diversity, maintaining status quo, work groups
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When characters confuse
When Edgar Allen Poe published “Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 1841 the murder mystery was a relatively new genre. He wrote a few more of these increasingly popular detective stories before leaving behind his own mystery. In 1849 he … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Writer's resource
Tagged MO. signature aspect, modus operandi, motivations, motive, signature behavior
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